A double holiday
This year, today happens to be a double holiday here in Kyrgyzstan … it’s Orozo Ait – the last day of Ramadan and an official public holiday. I have written a brief postcard about this holiday before … so let me move onto the second reason for celebration …
Apparently it is also Dehn Alpininsta; the International Day of Mountaineering or the Day of the Climber.
Mountain Peaks
To be honest, I don’t think I have noticed this day being commemorated in the past … it’s possible, of course, that I have simply missed it – after all, I am not an “alpinist” myself – but it’s just as likely to be because all the serious mountaineers are actually out there, climbing mountains.
Over 90% Kyrgyzstan is classified as mountainous – that is, it is over 1500m above sea level … the average height being 2750m; just about the height of Naryn above sea level. To give you an idea of the statistics … here’s a postcard I wrote about Kygyzstan’s Mountains back in 2009.
The date of 8th August for the International Day of Mountaineering was apparently chosen to commemorate the ascent of Mont Blanc by two Swiss mountaineers, Doctor Michel Gabriel Paccard, (1757-1827), and mountain guide Jacques Balmat, (1762-1834), in 1786.
Mont Blanc is the highest point in the Alps at 4810m above sea level and straddles the French Italian border. There are three towns at the foot of the mountain slopes: Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy, and both Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France, (the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924).
From the middle of the 18th century, people would come to Chamonix in order to try and climb the mountain accompanied by locals who acted as mountain guides. All seemed doomed to failure, and culminated in 1760 by the Swiss geologist, botanist and mountain climber, (it’s also said that he was one of the founders of modern meteorology), Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, (1740-1799), announced a “large sum” as a prize for the first people to succeed in conquering the mountain.
There were many attempts on the summit in the subsequent years, (including one by Saussure himself in 1785), but unfortunately, many of them ending in tragedy, it took some 26 years before Paccard and Balmat were finally able to claim it.
The couple met during the summer and Paccard was no novice when it came to making attempts on the mountain – his first being in 1783 and the following year he made several attempts with another Balmat – Pierre Balmat. This time Jacques Balmat persuaded the good doctor to make another attempt … claiming that he “knew an easy route”.
It was planned to make the attempt on 7th August, but it was only at 18:23 the following day that the two found themselves standing on the top of the peak surveying all below them. Despite Balmat’s claim of knowing an easy route it turned out to be far from easy – but rathger a feat of endurance. It seems that, several times, Paccard was ready to turn back … but Balmat, driven on by thoughts of the prize money, urged his compatriot on … (but that might simply have been Balmat playing up his role and and downplaying that of Paccard in his autobiography – which was highly criticized as “cloudily romantic and largely fictional”).
Indeed, it was Paccard who made the summit first and had the honour of planting a flag and taking readings of temperature and air pressure … and taking time out to draw some sketches of neighbouring peaks.
Oddly enough, I can’t find how much they were awarded for their feat, but Balmat was given the honorary title of le Mont Blanc by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia – which governed Savoy at that time, (and I thought Kyrgyz history was complex!).
He also went on to guide other parties to the summit, including a party of 18 with Saussure himself in 1787.
Interestingly … Paccard went on to marry Jacques’ sister and become a Justice of the peace.
Their achievement is recognized, if not the start of modern mountaineering, at least as as one of the great moments in mountaineering …
Nowadays the summit of Mont Blanc is conquered by an estimated 20,000 mountaineers/tourists every year and is considered by some to be an easy, (albeit long), ascent for someone who has be well trained and used to the altitude. Having said that, the mountain claims many victims each year.
So, … Happy Holidays! … Happy Climbers’ Day!
Bishkek