The Alps . ense climbers from theobligation of fasting in Lent. CHAPTER IV THE STORY OF MONT BLANC The history of Mont Blanc has been madethe subject of an excellent monograph, andthe reader who wishes to supplement thebrief sketch which is all that we can attemptshould buy The Annals of Mont Blanc, byMr. C. E. Mathews. We have already seenthat De Saussure offered a reward in 1760 toany peasant who could find a way to thesummit of Mont Blanc. In the quarter-of-a-century that followed, several attempts weremade. Amongst others, Bourrit tried on twooccasions to prove the accessibility of MontBla
The Alps . ense climbers from theobligation of fasting in Lent. CHAPTER IV THE STORY OF MONT BLANC The history of Mont Blanc has been madethe subject of an excellent monograph, andthe reader who wishes to supplement thebrief sketch which is all that we can attemptshould buy The Annals of Mont Blanc, byMr. C. E. Mathews. We have already seenthat De Saussure offered a reward in 1760 toany peasant who could find a way to thesummit of Mont Blanc. In the quarter-of-a-century that followed, several attempts weremade. Amongst others, Bourrit tried on twooccasions to prove the accessibility of MontBlanc. Bourrit himself never reached agreater height than 10,000 feet; but someof his companions attained the very respect-able altitude of 14,300 feet. De Saussureattacked the mountain without success in1785, leaving the stage ready for the entranceof the most theatrical of mountaineers. Jacques Balmat, the hero of Mont Blanc,impresses himself upon the imagination asno other climber of the day. He owes his 60. en S3 5 c ^-« «5 aj w _J 2z e3 C5 S S o w5 wS ^ 32 ^ B—-3_ - s a 3<n OS oo ^ S . - - s - - <caOQ 61 62 THE ALPS fame mainly, of course, to his great triumph,but also, not a little, to the fact that he wasinterviewed by Alexandre Dumas the Elder,who immortalised him in Impressions deVoyage, For the moment, we shall notbother to criticise its accuracy. We knowthat Balmat reached the summit of MontBlanc; and that outstanding fact is aboutthe only positive contribution to the storywhich has not been riddled with destructivecriticism. The story should be read in theoriginal, though Dumas vigorous French loseslittle in Mr. Gribbles spirited translationfrom which I shall borrow. Dumas visited Chamounix in 1883. Balmatwas then a veteran, and, of course, the greatperson of the valley. Dumas lost no time inmaking his acquaintance. We see them sit-ting together over a bottle of wine, and wecan picture for ourselves the subtle art withwhich the great inte
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booki, booksubjectmountaineering
