Athletes and Artists: New Chapters

The late 20th century saw Chamonix become synonymous with extreme sports. Climbers like Catherine Destivelle and Christophe Profit pushed technical standards. The arrival of snowboarding, paragliding, and base jumping attracted new tribes of adventurers. The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, founded in 2003, created a new form of mass-participation mountain sport.

"Chamonix stopped being just about going up," explains Kilian Jornet, the Catalan mountain runner who made Chamonix his base. "It became about moving through mountains in every way imaginable—running, flying, skiing, climbing. The mountains became a gymnasium, but also a cathedral."

This proliferation of mountain sports democratized adventure while raising new questions. Did making the mountains accessible to all diminish their wildness? Could the valley absorb ever-increasing numbers seeking their personal summit? How should traditional mountaineering culture adapt to Instagram-age adventurers?