Jacques Balmat it turns out, possesses an extraordinary mountaineering sense, an unerring instinct for the crevasses and seracs of the glaciers ..." After the successful ascent, Balmat collected the reward offered 25 years before by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure to the first man who could climb Mont Blanc. On 3 August 1787 he assisted de Saussure himself to reach the summit with a party of about 17 people. During the Napoleonic Wars, Savoy fell under French control, and Citizen Jacques Balmat became a member of the council of the commune. He led an unsuccessful attempt to introduce Merino sheep into the Chamonix valley.
The Night Climbers of Oxford The Night Climbers of Oxford The Night Climbers of Oxford is a secret society, dedicated to nocturnally scaling College and town Buildings in Oxford, England. The society is particularly renowned for its political activism, controversial acts ,and urban exploration. The society was likely inspired by their Cambridge counterparts, The Night Climbers of Cambridge Their activities are forbidden by the University authorities, meaning that acts are completed under the cover of darkness, to avoid detection. Acts of nocturnal climbing in Oxford are reported to date back as early as the 1930's, with members of the Alpine Club and Oxford University Mountaineering