On August 8, 1786, two Frenchmen made history.

Michael Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat became the first people to ascend the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps and one of the most sought-after climbs in the entire world. Now, 229 years after the pair reached the summit, unofficially sparking modern mountaineering, the accomplishment is being celebrated in the August 8 Google Doodle.

1. Frenchmen Michael Gabriel Paccard & Jacques Balmat Were the First to Reach the Top in 1786:-
After hundreds of failed attempts by dozens of aspiring mountaineers, Frenchmen Michael Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat made history when they became the first people to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps. The mountain rises 15,711 feet above sea level and is ranked No. 11 in the world in topographic prominence. The pair, who lived in the town at the base of the mountain in Chamonix, ascended the summit on August 8, 1786, climbing the mountain from the Chamonix valley.

The accomplishment was, and still is, considered historic and a watershed moment in mountaineering. Eric Shipton, a British Himalayan mountaineer, described the feat, writing in his book Mountain Conquest:

Theirs was an astounding achievement of courage and determination, one of the greatest in the annals of mountaineering. It was accomplished by men who were not only on unexplored ground but on a route that all t.