Guide 19th century when Alpine climbing became recognized as a sport. In Switzerland, the central committee of the Swiss Alpine Club issues a guides’ tariff which fixes the charges for guides and porters; there are three sections, for the Valais and Vaudois Alps, for the Bernese Oberland, and for central and eastern Switzerland. In Chamonix (France) a statue has been raised to Jacques Balmat, who was the first to climb Mont Blanc in 1786. Other notable European guides are Christian Almer, Jakob and Melchior Anderegg, Auguste Balmat, Alexander Burgener, Armand Charlet, Michel Croz, François Devouassoud, Angelo Dibona, Andreas Heckmair, the family,
Grünhorn the Bernese mineralogist Edmund von Fellenberg with guides Peter Michel, Peter Egger and Peter Inäbnit. They climbed the mountain from the west side, starting at the "Ewigschneefeld", a tributary glacier of the Aletsch Glacier. They successfully reached the summit despite very bad weather conditions. The same climbers had made an attempt on the peak in the previous year, but they could only reach a lower prominence of the Grünegghorn. The second ascent was made by W. A. B. Coolidge, with guides Christian and Rudolf Almer (sons of Christian Almer). A route on the north-east ridge was opened on 26 August