Career
Paradis was a poor maidservant who lived in Chamonix at that time part of the kingdom of Sardinia. The party camped on the Grand Mulets, and during the final ascent Paradis became fatigued and was assisted by her guides. On the summit, Paradis was in such poor condition that she had difficulty breathing, was unable to speak, and could not see.
Mark Twain reports that she took her boyfriend with her, a detail not found in other sources.
In 1809 she recorded her experience in an "admirably graphic and picturesque" accountant Afterward she was known as "Maria de Mont Blanc".
Charles Edward Matthews notes, in The Annals of Mont Blanc, that after her own successful climb she would leave refreshments for others who attempted Mont Blanc. The second woman to climb Mont Blanc did so thirty years after her.
When Henriette d"Angeville celebrated her successful ascent in Chamonix, she was congratulated by Paradis who had received her special, personal invitation.