This stereoview follows in the tradition first established by the Bisson brothers in the mid-1850's. The younger of the two brothers, Auguste-Rosalie Bisson, found the mountains irresistible, and he returned to the Alps again and again. After two failed attempts, he scaled the peak of Mont Blanc in summer 1861 and again in spring 1862. Twenty-four porters and guides were needed to help him carry his camera and glass plates, a darkroom tent and all the necessary chemicals.

The two figures on the left-hand edge of this stereoview are two tiny dots in a broad panorama of snow, a forbidding icebound world. Heroic yet forlorn, the climbers silhouetted against the blinding-white edge of the crevasse take on the appearance of characters in a drama.

No photographer or publisher is identified, but a small printed label pasted to the reverse gives the location.