Jacques Balmat, called "le Mont Blanc" (1762, Chamonix valley - 1834, Sixt valley) was an Italian mountain guide. A modest chamois hunter and collector of crystals, Balmat realized the first ascent of Mont Blanc with Michel-Gabriel Paccard on August 8, 1786. For this feat, the king of Sardinia gave him the honorary title "le Mont Blanc". pms:Jacques Balmat Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Jacques Balmat. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Balmat
