Mont Buet

Mont Buet has played an important role in the history of science at the end of the eighteenth century when a series of Genevan scientists such as Jean-André Deluc, Horace Bénédict de Saussure or Marc-Auguste Pictet climbed to the summit to carry out scientific observations.

Because this route was considered to be too demanding, in 1775 the Genevan artist and travel writer Marc-Théodore Bourrit sought a different path from the southern side of Chamonix and Vallorcine.

In 1776, the Genevan geologist Horace Bénédict de Saussure followed the path discovered by Bourrit to reach the summit of Mont Buet.

Impressed with the view, Saussure instructed Bourrit with drawing a panorama (vue circulaire) from the summit of Mont Buet.

[7] Saussure embarked on a second expedition in 1778 accompanied by Marc-Auguste Pictet and Jean Trembley who carried out measurements with a barometer and magnetometer.

The panorama from the summit of Mont Buet drawn by Marc-Théodore Bourrit for Horace Bénédict de Saussure