Walks in Courmayeur

For centuries, it was known as Mont Maudit, Mont Mallet, Mont Malay - names that commanded both fear and respect. Later, the horizontal exploration of the globe complete, we turned our sights to the vertical expanses, and the cursed mountain became the white mountain - Mont Blanc. Its foreboding connotations all but forgotten, the mountain began to be seen with fresh eyes, as a peak to study, to observe, to admire - but most of all - to climb. Its superior altitude led Mont Blanc to be the first "4000er" to be summited, a genuine race to the top won by Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard, spurred on in no small part by the ardent motivation and enthusiasm of Horace Bénédicte De Saussure. The date of that first ascent - 8 August 1786 - is traditionally considered the birth of modern mountaineering.
Today Mont Blanc is a symbol, a name that automatically evokes the concept of mountains and summits. Easily observable from the surrounding valleys, like most spectacular mountain ranges Mont Blanc has also become a somewhat stereotypical image. The dense network of paths often take hikers away from the fortresses of ice and rock that form the massif itself, often the exclusive domain of mountaineers, yet these paths nonetheless enable those who tread them to understand the great complexities of this mountain range, to discover its secrets, and to explore its grand and surprising landscapes. Broad grassy ridges, small summits, glacial shelves and scenic valleys offers all visitors the chance to admire vast horizons and to appreciate the sheer complexity and diversity of the Mont Blanc microcosm. Meanwhile, the solitary valleys and silent hollows of the La Thuile valley and the paths that encircle the base of the Valdigne mountains offer an even more authentic experience of the entwined stories of human and nature. Perhaps it is these mountains, so firmly lodged in the collective imagination, that hold the most surprising secrets, whether seen through the fresh eyes of the modern visitor, or the old eyes of the first explorers of those majestic peaks.