Mont Blanc (the name was not officially used until about 1740) stands by traditional measurements at approximately 4,807 m, the tallest mountain of the Alps and in all of Western Europe. The summit of Mont Blanc, however, is a perpetual dome of snow and ice, so the exact height of the mount is continuously fluctuating.
Because Mont Blanc stretches across the border between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Haute-Savoie, France, ownership of the summit has been in dispute. A treaty signed by Napoleon I in 1796 and an agreement between Napoleon III and Italian King Vittorio Emanuele II in 1860 helped define the border as the highest point on the mountain. The border was redefined in 1947 and 1963, but the issue concerning Mont Blanc was then ignored.
Chamonix, France, a town near the foot of Mont Blanc, hosted the very first winter Olympic Games in 1924, back when the winter and summer Olympics were held during the same year. It is just one of a handful of Olympics to be hosted near the Alps.
Mont Blanc is known as one of the birthplaces of modern mountaineering. The summit was first climbed on August 8th, 1786, by Jacques Balmet and Michel Paccard, but attempts to reach the summit had stretched back to 1760, when Horace Benedict de Saussure climbed part way up the mountain and started a new movement called Alpinism--or mountaineering. Numerous hiking and climbing spots allow 20,000 skilled tourists to ascend the dangerous yet exciting mountain every year.
Between 1957 and 1965, an 11.6 km tunnel, called the Mont Blanc tunnel, was built through the mountain to connect Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy, together. It is one of the major trans-Alpine routes in Europe.
