Since its release on YouTube on Saturday, September 14, the story of the Ascension of Everest by Inoxtag, followed by more than 8.3 million subscribers on the platform, has caused a lot of ink to flow. His documentary, Kaizenretraces its preparation over a year, then the ups and downs of this mountaineer neophyte on the slopes of the highest peak in the world (more than 8,800 meters). A total cardboard on YouTube.
The young Youtubeur is not the only show of his film. Mountaineering – and all that surrounds it – is also one of the stars of the video. The opportunity to come back to the birth of this practice, which finds its source in the Middle Ages, especially through an episode little known in the history of France: that of a king who was fighting against a mountain making him shadow.
The “Inaccessible Mont”
We are in 1492, Christopher Columbus is preparing to discover America, the Andalusian city of Granada is taken by the Catholic kings and … The King of France Charles VIII (1483-1498) makes a small walk in the Dauphiné. There he falls on a mountain. Or rather a kind of advanced tooth that stands out in the eastern cliff of the Vercors massif. An imposing pebble which rises to almost 2,087 meters in the Trièves (current Isère). It’s Mont Aiguille.
At the time, however, Mount bore a completely different name, that of “Mont inaccessible”. And for good reason: all those who had tried to climb it had failed, so that some authors, even from across the Channel, presented the top of the mountain as unattainable. Worse, the inhabitants of the corner imagined the presence of a dragon or demons at the top, or a possible point of access to earthly paradise. However, seeing part of his unexplored territory was a heresy for Charles VIII, who then tried to establish his authority over the kingdom.
The King of France missioned one of his captains to tame this Mount once and for all. He chooses a certain Antoine de Ville. It is far from a coincidence: man is then a renowned poliorcetic soldier, in other words, he is an expert in the art of taking fortresses. He has scales, strings and above all he likes to climb. But he does not intend to do it alone.
Shock team and first “mountaineers”
Antoine de Ville then rides a small team worthy of the Avengers. He surrounds himself in particular of a “scale” (or “staircaser”) of the king, specialist in the ladders for the assault of fortified places, but also of a stonemason, a carpenter and premises. Together, they bring together-and probably invent-which is similar to mountaineering equipment, such as ropes, pitons and perhaps even notched shoes. They are ready and set out to attack the inaccessible Mount.
On June 26, 1492, they reached the summit! With him, a priest plants three crosses visible since the surroundings and a bailiff draws up a report to attest to the success of the expedition. The mountain is then renamed: goodbye the “inaccessible mont”, hello the “needle-safe”.
Historians also found a letter in which Antoine de Ville says he saw at the top of the lilies in flower, symbol of the King of France, reports Mountains Magazine. A description which has surely delighted Charles VIII, which can thus boast that no Mont, as imposing as it is, is resistant to it.
When climbing becomes a hobby
Before mountaineering, the mountains were not really popular. They were perceived as haunts of demons or witches, rather than hiking spots. Before Antoine de Ville, there were some timid attempts. In 1276, the king of Aragon would have climbed the Canigou (Pyrénées-Orientales) and, in 1336, the Italian poet Petrarch made a small trip to Mont Ventoux (Vaucluse), just “to see”. Each time, there was a preparation, a team and the dazzling of the summit. A bit like the spirit of modern mountaineers, but without selfies.
The ascent of Mont Aiguille in 1492 remains unique: it is the first officially documented expedition, with equipment, techniques and above all, a clear objective. Mont Aiguille thus becomes the cradle of mountaineering in France. It will take 530 years for a team of historians-researchers to retry the adventure in the conditions of the time.
It’s in the XIXe a century that mountaineering became a sport in its own right. It all starts with the Swiss naturalist and physicist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who, in a good visionary, offers a bonus to the first daring who would revolve Mont Blanc, the roof of Europe. On August 8, 1786, Jacques Balmat, crystal clear by his state, and Michel Paccard, a fearless doctor, won the jackpot by planting their flag for the first time on this emblematic summit. This is how the race towards the summits begins … and it will not stop anymore.
In a century, everything changes and the taste of mountain adventure explodes. The first alpine clubs and shelters are created, while the profession of high mountain guide is born. The British are the first to seize this passion and launched out of the highest passes, like the essential Edward Whymper who, until 1865, climbed the peaks like others collect stamps. It was not until 1953 to see the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Nepalese Terzing Norgay arriving for the first time at the Everest summit… more than seven decades years before stainlessness.
