Chamonix & Mont-Blanc

Chamonix lies at the foot of Mont Blanc, at 4,805 m the highest mountain in the Alps, and is regarded as the cradle and world capital of alpinism. The first Olympic Winter Games were held here in 1924. From the town several mountain railways open up the high-mountain world, above all the Aiguille du Midi and the Mer de Glace.

Highlights

• At the foot of Mont Blanc (4,805 m)
• Cradle of alpinism, first Winter Games 1924
• Starting point for the Aiguille du Midi and Mer de Glace
• High-alpine ski and tour classics (Vallée Blanche)

Good to know

Practical info

Background & History

Chamonix lies in a deep valley at the foot of Mont Blanc, which at 4807 metres is the highest peak in the Alps and rises above the town as a tremendous fortress of ice and rock. The mountain is regarded as the birthplace of modern mountaineering: in 1786 the crystal hunter Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard reached the summit for the first time, spurred on by a reward offered by the Geneva naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who climbed up himself the following year. This first ascent made the once remote mountain village world-famous and from then on drew researchers, artists and adventurers from all over Europe.

In 1924 the very first Winter Olympic Games in history took place in Chamonix and consolidated the town's reputation as an important alpine metropolis. Above the valley stretches the Mer de Glace, the longest glacier in France, which the travellers of the Romantic era already marvelled at and which is reachable by a historic rack railway from 1908. Today cable cars such as the one to the Aiguille du Midi connect the valley with the glaciated world of the high mountains. Around Chamonix also runs the Tour du Mont Blanc, one of the most famous long-distance hikes in the world, which circles the tremendous massif across three countries in many day stages.