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
Gabriel Jacques Surenne who also published books on French military subjects. Gabriel Jacques Surenne Gabriel Jacques Surenne FSA FASE (1777-1858) was a 19th-century French-born military historian living in Scotland who authored numerous publications in the fields of warfare and battle analysis and also in French grammar. He was born in Compiegne in France on 25 October 1777. His early life is unclear other than various references made by himself as to having been trained in Paris. A newspaper epitaph mentions his war service with Napoleon Bonaparte in his successful Italian Campaign. He appears in Edinburgh around 1830, both as a teacher and prodigious