ravishing a view. In spite of my own intrepidity, I had too much trouble in gaining the summit of this wintry giant." Feeling proud of his achievement he wrote a few months later to the Genevese traveller Marc Theodore Bourrit: "The prospect from the Buet is magnificent but the Velan, which is hardly less than 100 toises lower than the highest point of Mont Blanc, would have delighted you; you would have seen the universe under your feet, the points and needles of the highest hills looking like a tumultuous sea ... I believe I ascended one of the first great peaks ever climbed in Europe." See also List of mountains of Switzerland References External links Mont Vélan on Hikr Mont Vélan on Summitpost Mountains of the Alps Alpine three-thousanders Mountains of Switzerland Mountains of Aosta Valley Italy–Switzerland border International mountains of Europe Mountains of Valais