Jacques Balmat for gold in the Sixt valley in 1834. Jacques Balmat Jacques Balmat, called "le Mont Blanc" (1762–1834) was a mountaineer, a Savoyard mountain guide, born in the Chamonix valley in Savoy, at this time part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. A chamois hunter and collector of crystals, Balmat completed the first ascent of Mont Blanc with physician Michel-Gabriel Paccard on 8 August 1786. For this feat, King Victor Amadeus III gave him the honorary title "le Mont Blanc". Balmat and Paccard's ascent of Mont Blanc was a major accomplishment in the early history of mountaineering. C. Douglas Milner wrote "The
Deaf climbers with an artificial leg, and a person with epilepsy. Only two of the individuals in the group did not reach the summit. Heidi Zimmer is the first deaf woman to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley in Alaska. She is the first deaf individual to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, as well as Mt. Elbrus in the Republic of Russia which has an elevation of 18,510 feet. She has a goal of completing the seven summits which consist of the highest peak in each continent. This is considered a huge accomplishment in the climbing world. Yasayuki Okobu,