Auberges et refuges de la voie royale" open-air exhibition

From the end of the 18th century, scientists, including the young Genevan scientist Horace Bénédict de Saussure, attempted to climb the summit of Mont Blanc. Initially unsuccessful, these early mountaineers were forced to set up the first high-altitude bivouacs. With the first ascents came the first shelters, hostels and refuges along the route of the Royal Route, opened in August 1855 by the British climbers Hudson, Kennedy and Smythe without guides via the north-west ridge. On 18 July...