MARCEL WIBAULT (1904-1998)
La dent du Géant (4,013 m -13,166 ft)
France - Italy
The mountain
The Dent du Géant (4,013 m -13,166 ft) (« Giant's tooth") is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy. The Dent du Géant remained unclimbed during the golden age of alpinism, and was a much-coveted peak in the 1870s, repelling many parties who attempted it mostly from the Rochefort ridge. In 1880 the strong team of Albert F. Mummery and Alexander Burgener tried to force a passage via the south-west face but were repelled by a band of slabs, causing Mummery to exclaim 'Absolutely inaccessible by fair means!'
The mountain has two summits, (27m-88 ft) apart and separated by a small col :
- Pointe Sella (4,009 m), first ascent via the south-west face by Jean Joseph Maquignaz with son Baptiste Maquignaz and nephew, Daniel Maquignaz on 28 July 1882.
- Pointe Graham (4,013 m), first ascent by W. W. Graham with guides Auguste Cupelin and Alphonse Payot on 20 August 1882.
The artist
Marcel Wibault is a french painter known especially for his numerous paintings of mountains representing Mont-Blanc, Chamonix, the great peaks of the Alps and their "chalets". He made his débuts in art by ketching soldiers of the 60th Infantry Regiment of Besançon. Later he discovered, as a Member of the French Alpine Club, the Alps and its grandiose landscapes. At the start of the 1930s, he settled in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and discovered, in these troubled times, the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie. Encouraged by his wife, Marcel Wibault painted the mountain and its surroundings. Living in Chamonix, he travels the surroundings with his painting equipment. He could produce works in one sitting. Commissioned by the Museum of Natural History and the city of Geneva in Switzerland, as a true knowledgeable geologist, he painted numerous rocks. In the 1960s, he also testified, through his painting, of the construction of the Mont-Blanc Tunnel. Marcel Wibault received many commissions from art lovers and was able to live in part from his art. He was also a teacher for his son Lionel Wibault who, too, is a painter. In his Chamonix chalet, Alpenrose, he made some of his furniture and sculpted many characters.
