Michel-Gabriel Paccard 1784, he made several attempts with Jacques Balmat before they made the first ascent of Mont Blanc together on 8 August 1786. Balmat and Paccard's ascent of Mont Blanc was a major accomplishment in the early history of mountaineering. C. Douglas Milner wrote "The ascent itself was magnificent; an amazing feat of endurance and sustained courage, carried through by these two men only, unroped and without ice axes, heavily burdened with scientific equipment and with long iron-pointed batons. The fortunate weather and a moon alone ensured their return alive." Eric Shipton wrote "Theirs was an astounding achievement of courage and
Alexis Paccard Alexis Paccard Alexis Paccard (12 June 1813 – 18 August 1867) was a French architect. Paccard entered the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1830 in the workshops of Louis-Hippolyte Lebas and Jean-Nicolas Huyot. He won the Second Grand Prix in 1835 for a medical school, and won the Prix de Rome in 1841 for a "Palace of an ambassador in a foreign country." His work includes a study of the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens, which also earned him a medal at the Universal Exhibition of 1855. On his return he became official inspector and architect