Jacques Balmat it turns out, possesses an extraordinary mountaineering sense, an unerring instinct for the crevasses and seracs of the glaciers ..." After the successful ascent, Balmat collected the reward offered 25 years before by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure to the first man who could climb Mont Blanc. On 3 August 1787 he assisted de Saussure himself to reach the summit with a party of about 17 people. During the Napoleonic Wars, Savoy fell under French control, and Citizen Jacques Balmat became a member of the council of the commune. He led an unsuccessful attempt to introduce Merino sheep into the Chamonix valley.
San Gabriel Peak into the center of an amphitheater at the top of Eaton Canyon, forming one of the most sustained steep slopes in the Western San Gabriel mountain range. San Gabriel Peak San Gabriel Peak is a summit in the San Gabriel Mountains in the U.S. state of California. It was named by the United States Geological Survey in 1894 and is located in the Angeles National Forest. This peak was first named "The Commodore" for Commodore Perry Switzer. The name is derived from the Misión del Santo Arcangel San Gabriel de los Temblores. From this mission had already come the names