On 29 August 1879, the Petit Dru (3,730 m) was conquered! It was a feat that would go down in the annals of mountaineering.
Jean Esteril Charlet Stratton, Proper Payot and Frédéric Folliguet made the first ever ascent of the Petit Dru (3,730 m), one of the most impressive and feared peaks in the Mont Blanc massif.
A summit reputed to be ‘inaccessible’
For years, the Petit Dru, with its vertiginous, smooth granite face, had defied the best climbers. Its slender silhouette, visible from the Chamonix valley, fuelled the stories and fantasies of European mountaineers. Many considered it impregnable.
