Eccles made the first ascent of the upper part of the Peuterey ridge, having failed in an attempt on 28 July 1877. Milner writes that Eccles had also failed in an earlier attempt in 1875, intimidated by the Innominata face. Back in London, while walking down the Strand, he saw displayed in a shop window a telephoto showing Mont Blanc and that amphitheatre taken from Crammont. This photo revealed the best exit from the amphitheatre, by the couloir to the Peuterey ridge. Milner implies that photo was the key to success of the climb. On their successful ascent, Eccles's party reached the foot of the climb by crossing the Innominata ridge from the Brouillard glacier, thereby gaining the Frenay glacier. From there they climbed onto the Peuterey ridge above the Grand Pilier d'Angle via a steep couloir, reaching the summit of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur nine hours after leaving their bivouac under Pic Eccles. When Eccles reached the summit of Mont Blanc itself he was appalled by the amount of litter that he found. The party descended to Chamonix in the swift time of three hours and forty minutes.