Mont Blanc massif less than 21 hours. The main mountain passes, or cols, that connect different valleys and towns around the Mont Blanc massif are: The first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard initiated the sport of alpine mountaineering, and it was during the golden age of alpinism (185465) and the silver age of alpinism (186582) that the majority of the main summits of the massif were first attained. Members of the England-based Alpine Club were instrumental in many of the first ascents, usually accompanied by guides from the towns of Chamonix or Courmayeur, such as Michel
The Mountain the Gironde, but between the aggressive antics of the minority of the Mountain and the rest of the Convention. The Mountain was not entirely unified as a party and relied on leaders like Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton and Jacques Hébert, who themselves came to represent different factions. Hébert, a journalist, gained a following as a radical patriot Mountaineer (members who identified with him became known as the Hébertists) while Danton led a more moderate faction of the Mountain party (followers came to be known as Dantonists). Regardless of the divisions, the nightly sessions of the Jacobin club, which met in