Mont Aiguille (and its legend)

Mount Aiguille, which our ancestors called the Inaccessible Mount, was said to be the refuge of the Gods and Goddesses banished from Olympus.

But one day, the hunter Ibicus surprised them. Enraged, Jupiter hurled his thunderbolts at these desecrated heights. Fire devoured the forests, the rocks crumbled, separating the sacred peak from the neighboring range. The imprudent Ibicus, a victim of his curiosity, was transformed into an ibex and condemned to wander the mountain slopes until the end of time.

The mountain was also home to nymphs. For generations, mystery surrounded the divine mountain. In 1489, on his way to Embrun, Charles VIII, passing near the marvel, was struck by its flat summit. He ordered his captain, Dom Julien, to climb the inviolable mountain.

The captain took three years to decide. However, having built a ladder half a league long, he attempted the siege on June 25, 1492, accompanied by a dozen men. The success was complete. At the summit, they found a large meadow covered in flowers and a herd of chamois, but no deity.

This ascension is considered the very first example of mountaineering in France.