Mont Blanc and snowboarding. The three towns and their communes which surround Mont Blanc are Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy; and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France. The latter town was the site of the first Winter Olympics. A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain range from Courmayeur to Chamonix, through the Col du Géant. The 11 km (7¼-mile) Mont Blanc Tunnel, constructed between 1957 and 1965, runs beneath the mountain and is a major trans-Alpine transport route. The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc was on 8 August 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard. This climb, initiated
Geladaindong Peak on the same expedition. Mark Newcomb was a guide with Exum Guides from Grand Teton National Park. Although a dangerous peak to climb, Geladaindong is popular among Chinese mountain climbers. In 1994, the Mountaineering Association of Peking University (MAPKU) became the first Chinese climbing team to reach the summit of Geladaindong. Geladaindong Peak Geladaindong Peak (also spelled Geladandong, Geladaintong or Kolha Dardong) is a snow-covered mountain (or massif) located in southwestern Qinghai province of China near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region. It is the tallest mountain in the Tanggula Mountain Range of the Tibetan Plateau with an elevation of