The Museo Alpino Duca degli Abruzzi occupies a building in the centre of Courmayeur dedicated to the history of mountaineering in the Mont Blanc range. The collections include early climbing equipment, photographs, maps, and documents relating to the pioneering ascents of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — the era when Mont Blanc first became a magnet for adventurous Europeans and when Courmayeur began its long career as a mountaineering base.
The museum is worth an hour or two, particularly if you are interested in the history of alpinism or the development of Courmayeur itself. The exhibits place the modern ski resort in context: before the lifts and the boutiques, this was a place where climbers came to attempt the most difficult peaks in Europe, and many did not come back. The museum gives that history its proper weight.