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
Jacques Gabriel of de Cotte's retirement in December 1734 and held the post until he was succeeded by his "vastly more gifted" son, Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1742. Gabriel's work in Paris has been much remodelled. Mariette's "Architecture françoise" offers plates illustrating several "hôtels particuliers" by Gabriel. He completed the Palais Bourbon (begun by Giardini, continued by Pierre Cailleteau Lassurance). He completed the Hôtel de Lassay nearby. He was responsible for the Hôtel Peyrenc de Moras (de Biron), 1728-31. "Il étoit expert dans la conduite du bâtiment, mais il n'auroit pas pu dessiner le moindre bout d'ornement"; ). Jacques Gabriel Jacques Gabriel (1667–1742)