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
First Architect to the King First Architect to the King Under the Ancien Régime, the First Architect to the King () was the direct assistant to the general director of the building industries, arts and manufactures of France and, consequently, number 2 of the Bâtiments du Roi, forming part of the Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi. The Premier Architecte du Roi was, in theory, in charge of the works of maîtrise d'œuvre on behalf of the building industries of King. Hence, Ange-Jacques Gabriel was in charge of the design of the Place de la Concorde chosen from the best ideas submitted to