Under the shadow of Mont Blanc — the birthplace of mountaineering and alpinism
Chamonix sits at the base of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps at 4,808 metres, in a valley that was visited by the first British tourists in the 1740s and hosted the first Winter Olympics in 1924. Today it's the world's most serious mountaineering resort — a base for ascents of Mont Blanc, the Aiguilles, and the Grandes Jorasses, but equally a destination for cable car rides to 3,842-metre viewing terraces, the famous Vallée Blanche off-piste ski run (the longest in the world), and summer trekking on the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit that crosses three countries in 10 days.
Richard Pococke and William Windham became the first documented foreign visitors to the Mer de Glace glacier in 1741, publishing accounts that sparked the Romantic-era fascination with Alpine wilderness. Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard made the first documented ascent of Mont Blanc in August 1786 — the moment generally taken as the birth of modern mountaineering. The town grew rapidly after the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix was founded in 1821 (the world's first mountaineering guide company, still active). The 1924 Winter Olympics brought international attention; the 1965 Mont Blanc Tunn…