Overview

Modern mountaineering had its beginnings in the 1700s when humans began to take to the peaks for reasons of scientific discovery and adventure. The names of Michel-Gabriel Paccard (1757-1827), Jacques Balmat (1762-1834), and Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799) and their initial climbs up the 15,771-ft (4,807 m) tall Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe, are often cited as the starting point for the present-day sport of mountaineering, or alpinism. Paccard and Balmat were the first to the top of the Mont Blanc in 1786. Saussure followed a year later.

Background

The interest in the natural world heightened in the 1700s as humans began to explore more and more of Earth, to find new plants and animals, and to wonder about the science behind their discoveries. One area of particular interest involved the mountains. At the time, few tall mountains had been...