Since the 1894 Olympic Congress, during which the IOC was founded, it had been planned to award an Olympic gold medal for alpinism or mountaineering. This intention had not come to fruition until 1924, when it was decided to award a gold medal to the most notable alpinism feat of the past Olympiad.
The medal was awarded during the closing ceremony of the 1924 Winter Olympics, which were not officially Olympic at the time, and gained their status only later. One could thus make the case that this medal was really awarded as part of the 1924 Summer Olympics. Due to the moment of the award, we have chosen to count it as part of the Winter Games, however. Subsequent medals were awarded during the 1932 and 1936 Summer Games.
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