New Delhi: Mont Blanc is one of the most famous mountains in the world, a place which has become immensely popular in today’s age due to outdoor activities like hiking, climbing, trail running and winter sports like skiing, and snowboarding. Nowadays, mountaineering has become a common activity among the seekers of adventures who are aided by the modern gears and equipment in their quest to conquer a peak. However, as you can guess, the situation was vastly differently some 200 years back, when mountaineers had to climb mountains without many of basic safety equipment that we see today.
Mont Blanc is not only the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, but it is also the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains. Its height is around 15,766 ft above sea level and is located on the border between France and Italy. After Mount Elbrus, it is Europe’s second-most prominent mountain. And more than 200 years ago, Marie Paradis became the first woman to climb the mountain against all odds.
The accidental fame of Marie Paradis
Marie Paradis was never interested in climbing and unironically, Mont Blanc remains the only mountain she ever climbed. She was a poor maidservant in Chamonix which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. On July 14, 1808, she climbed Mont Blanc in the company of the famous mountain guide Jacques Balmat.
It is said that during the time of the final ascent, Paradis was so fatigued that she suffered from faints, nervous breakdowns, then lack of breath, and dizziness. In the end, her companions dragged and sometimes carried her up the higher slopes to the top. According to reports, after reaching the summit, Paradis was in such poor condition that she was facing extreme breathing difficulty, could not see and was unable to speak. She even begged her companions to throw her into the nearest crevasse so that her misery would come to an end.
Thankfully, Marie made it back safely after reaching the summit and never tried to climb any other mountain in her life. The singular achievement in her life fetched Marie fame and fortune, and after returning to Chamonix, her feat was celebrated by the residents there. She became an innkeeper in Chamonix and came to be known as ‘Maria de Mont Blanc’. After her successful expedition, she would leave refreshments for others who attempted to climb Mont Blanc. It would be another 30 years before the next woman would climb Mont Blanc, when Henriette d’Angeville celebrated her successful ascent in Chamonix and she was congratulated by Paradis. From a maidservant to first female climber of Mont Blanc in an age when mountaineering gears were scant, Marie Paradis was truly a pioneer in every sense of the term.
Marie Paradis, a poor maidservant, became the first woman to summit Mont Blanc in 1808. Her arduous climb, marked by exhaustion and despair, contrasted sharply with modern mountaineering. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
