Maria Paradis

For the composer, see Maria Theresia von Paradis.

Maria Paradis (1778 – 1839) was the first woman to climb Mont Blanc.

Paradis was a poor maidservant who lived in Chamonix. On 14 July 1808, in the company of renowned mountain guide Jacques Balmat (possibly instigated by some of his sons, also guides), she became the first woman to climb Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain.^[1] The party camped on the Grand Mulets, and during the final ascent Paradis suffered from fatigue and was assisted by her guides.^[2] Mark Twain reports that she took her boyfriend with her, a detail not found in other sources.^[3] In 1809 she recorded her experience in an "admirably graphic and picturesque" account.^[4]

Afterward she was known as "Maria de Mont Blanc";^[5] Charles Edward Matthews notes, in The Annals of Mont Blanc, that after her own successful climb she would leave refreshments for others who attempted Mont Blanc.^[6] The second woman to climb Mont Blanc did so thirty years after her; when Henriette d'Angeville celebrated her successful ascent in Chamonix, she was congratulated by Paradis who has received her special, personal invitation.^[7]

References

1. ^ Brown 3–11.
2. ^ Matthews 118-19.
3. ^ Twain 171.
4. ^ Le Blonde 203–204.
5. ^ Clark et al. 24–25.
6. ^ Matthews 118-19.
7. ^ Brown 26–28.

Bibliography

• Brown, Rebecca A. (2002). Women on High: Pioneers of Mountaineering. Appalachian Mountain Club Books. ISBN 192917317X. 
• Clark, Edmund; H. H. Jackson (1826). Ascents of Mont Blanc. Colburn's New Monthly Magazine. http://books.google.com/books?id=0iY9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA25. 
• Le Blond, Aubrey (1903). True tales of mountain adventures for non-climbers young and old. Unwin. http://books.google.com/books?id=KQUPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA203. 
• Mathews, Charles Edward (1898). The annals of Mont Blanc. Unwin. http://books.google.com/books?id=oestAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA118. 
• Twain, Mark (1907). A Tramp Abroad. Harper and brothers. http://books.google.com/books?id=drw-AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA171.