The first recorded appearance of Chamonix can be found in 1091 when the Chamonix Valley was donated to the Abbey Saint Michel (in Italy) by the Count of Genevois. At that time the valley’s sole occupants were sheep farmers and their flock, and the valley - far from being appreciated as an area of outstanding natural beauty - was deplored for its difficult terrain and inaccessibility.
What could be classified as the first era of tourism for the ‘Vallee de Chamouny’ began in 1741 with two English explorers Windham and Pocock who ‘discovered’ Montenvers. Their enthusiastic retelling of their exploits initiated the first trickle of visitors to the valley. In 1760 this led a Swiss doctor, de Saussure, to offer a prize to the first person to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. However, it was to be another 26 years before Dr Paccard and Jaques Balmat, two Chamonix locals, set foot on the summit for the very first time.
In 1770 the very first hotel for tourists was opened, L’Hotel d’Angleterre - at this point English visitors outnumbered other nationalities. Since then the Chamonix valley has hosted mountaineers, skiers, painters, tourists and writers - such as Byron and Shelley. The first woman to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, in 1803, was Marie Pardis. And, in 1821, following a serious accident on Mont Blanc, La Compagnie des Guides was founded to provide financial support to guides and their families should they be unable to work due to injury. La Compagnie des Guides was the first foundation of its type and remains the most famous, and prestigious, to this day.
In 1860, in recognition of the fact that the French had helped the Italians against the Austrians, the people of the Haute Savoie and Savoie voted to rejoin France. This in turn led to access routes to the valley being opened up with the construction of a new and improved road from Geneva to Chamonix in readiness for Napoleon III’s visit in September 1860.
With the opening up of the valley came a new era of exploration and mountaineering. Between 1863 and 1865 more than 100 peaks were summated, many by the English. In 1890, Joseph Vallot built an observatory for high mountain studies near the summit of Mont Blanc. A second observatory was completed in 1893 on the summit, but soon succumbed to an ice fall.
With the dawn of the 20th Century came a new flood of tourists. For the first time mountain guides were surpassed by hoteliers as the largest economic power in the valley. In 1908 the Montenvers rack railway opened to the Mer de Glace. The journey took 55 minutes and the train travelled at 7 km/hr; with electrification in 1954 the journey time was cut to 20 minutes. After the success of the build it was thought that it may be possible to reach the actual summit of Mont Blanc. The closest anyone came was with the construction of the Tramway du Mont Blanc in 1913 which reached the Nid d’Aigle at 2372m. Plans to complete the railway were abandoned after the war; although the train still operates today.
The construction and development continued unabated with Chamonix hosting the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924. The cable cars to Planpraz and Le Brévent were completed in 1928 and 1930 respectively, La Flégère was in service by 1956 but it wasn’t until 1997 that the areas of Brévent and Flégère were finally linked and 1946 saw the construction of the first ice grotto in the Mer de Glace (due to the movement of the glacier the cave has to be re made each year).
Chamonix’s most famous lift, the Aiguille du Midi, was not completed until 1955. An original attempt was started in 1905 and saw the completion of the first cable car in the valley in 1924. Eventually a second stage was completed to the Col du Midi, but not to the top. The second attempt was started in 1951 and completed in 1955 making it possible to reach the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842m. 1953 marked the beginning of the construction of the Tunnel du Mont Blanc connecting France to Italy. The project was finally completed in 1965 and, with the construction of the Autoroute Blanche, meant that Chamonix was now firmly established on the European road network. The last big development in the valley was the construction of Les Grands Montets. Work started in 1961 and the ski area was opened in 1963 offering an impressive 2200m of descent. |