International Mountaineering Day (08/08)

On August 8, the world celebrates International Mountaineering Day or Mountaineer Day, a holiday that knows no boundaries, uniting all real men and strong-willed women.

We owe the appearance of this holiday to two daredevil Swiss — doctors Michel-Gabriel Packard (1757–1827) and mountain guide Jacques Balmat (1762–1834). On August 8, 1786, they were the first of all climbers to reach the highest point of the Alps — of the Mont Blanc summit, whose height is 4810 meters above sea level.

To understand the full scale of their feat, let's turn to prehistory. Interest in the Mont Blanc summit among travelers dates back to the mid-18th century. Every year they came in the hundreds to the Chamonix Valley, where the peak is located, to try to get to the «-altitude pole of Europa», as it is sometimes called. In the ascent, rock climbers were usually accompanied by residents of Chamonix — peasants, who, seeing interest in their native places, retrained as mountain guides. However, all attempts ended in failure.

The massive desire to conquer Mont Blanc reached its apotheosis in the early 1760s, when Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–1799), a Swiss geologist, botanist and climber, unable to rise to the top, awarded a huge prize to the one who did it first. But in the next 26 years, all attempts to storm the mountain ended tragically for many guides.

Mont Blanc mountain range, Alps, France (Photo: pedrosala, licensed from Shutterstock.com)

But in the summer of 1786, the traveling doctor Michel-Gabriel Packard met with the local hunter and mountain guide Jacques Balme, and he invited him to climb to the top together, saying that he knew the easy way. The historic ascent, as it later turned out, was scheduled for August 7, and on August 8 at 18:23 Packard and Balma reached the peak of the Mont Blanc mountain peak.

By the way, the «light» trail, as it turned out as it progressed, was not so easy, and several times Packard was even ready to turn back, but Balma, driven by thoughts of reward, held on to his partner. Although the climb was quite difficult, the journey to the top took just over a day. An interesting fact is that Packard was the first to rise to the top, although Balma moved with great enthusiasm. It was Packard who set the flag on the summit of Mont Blanc and made notes in the diary about the temperature and pressure of the air, as well as sketches of neighboring peaks.

After the descent, Packard took up writing a book about the ascent, and Balma went to Saussure for a reward as the conqueror of Mont Blanc. Saussure's money did its job, so the world recognized Jacques Balme as the pioneer.

Since then, enthusiasts have conquered many more mountain peaks. Thus, in 1953, for the first time, a successful ascent to the highest peak of the planet Chomolungma (Everest) was made. She was conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Norgay Tenzing.

People involved in industrial mountaineering also consider this day their holiday (Photo: Pressmaster, licensed by Shutterstock.com)

But it was the date August 8 that became the holiday of all climbers — day, when the highest peak of the Alps was conquered. Moreover, not only conquerors of mountain peaks, but also people involved in industrial mountaineering consider this day their holiday. Every year there are more and more high-rise buildings in the world, and such specialists can wash windows and facades, paint and repair them, remove snow and icicles, install air conditioning and perform other operations on these structures, where the use of scaffolding is impossible.

The peaks still attract both professional athletes and amateurs. But it is important to remember that mountains are a place of increased danger to human life and health. Therefore, both must comply with safety rules.

All conquerors of heights (no matter whether it is a — mountain or a building) use their holiday as another reason for meetings, exchange of experience, setting new records, conquering new peaks and impressive spectacles. In some cities of different countries, sports clubs organize competitions, concerts and other festive events on this day.



Infographics – poster «8 August — International Mountaineer Day»

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