Ice axe 1786, Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard made the first ascent of Mont Blanc. Balmat, a chamois hunter and crystal collector, had experience with high mountain travel, and Paccard had made previous attempts to climb the peak. Illustrations show Balmat carrying two separate tools that would later be merged into the ice axe – an alpenstock (or baton) and a small axe that could be used to chop steps on icy slopes. According to the earliest manufacturer of ice axes, Grivel, these two tools were merged to create the first true ice axe around 1840. Early ice axes had a vertical
Michel Martin Drolling and precision of detail. He died in Paris. His most important pupils include Paul Baudry, , Jules Breton, Theodor Aman, Roger Fenton, , Charles Joshua Chaplin, Pierre-Victor Galland, Jean-Jacques Henner, Cornelius Krieghoff, Armand Laroche, , Charles Nègre, John Charles Robinson, Jules-Émile Saintin, Théophile Schuler and William Strutt. Michel Martin Drolling Michel Martin Drolling (7 March 1786 – 9 January 1851) was a neoclassic French painter, painter of history and portraitist. He was born in Paris. There, he began painting under the supervision of his father, the painter Martin Drolling. After 1806, he studied with Jacques-Louis David. He won the Prix