Alpenstock places they use sticks tipped with iron, by leaning upon which they climb steep slopes. These are called alpine sticks, and are principally in use among the shepherds." On August 8, 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 (whose respective functions would later be re-assigned to the ice axe): an alpenstock (or baton), and a small axe that could be used to chop steps
Jacques Gabriel Jacques Gabriel Jacques Gabriel (1667–1742) was a French architect, the father of the famous Ange-Jacques Gabriel. His mother was a cousin of Jules Hardouin-Mansart and his father, another Jacques Gabriel was a masonry contractor for the "Bâtiments du Roi", the French royal works, and the designer of the Château de Choisy for the king's cousin, La Grande Mademoiselle. The younger Jacques Gabriel was appointed one of the "controlleurs généraux" at the "Bâtiments du Roi" in 1688, at the age of twenty-one. Two years later he was sent to accompany Robert de Cotte on an eighteen-month sojourn in Italy, sharpening his