Mountaineering is an umbrella term that can variously be used to describe the actions of climbing, hillwalking and scrambling. In its usual sense, however, it concerns the ascent of mountains of various stature, using various types and amounts of mountaineering equipment. In this latter sense it is also known as alpinism.
Mountaineering is the art of moving about safely in mountain regions, avoiding or overcoming the hazards incidental to them, and attaining high points with typically difficult access. It may be said to consist of two main aspects, rock-craft and snow-craft. Rock-craft consists in the intelligent selection of a line of passage (route finding) and in gymnastic and technical skill to follow the line chosen. In snow-craft, the choice of route result from a full understanding of the behaviour of snow under a multitude of varying conditions; it depends largely upon experience, and much less upon gymnastic ability.
Crampons are also most useful on ice or hard snow, as by them step-cutting can sometimes be avoided, and the footing at all times rendered more secure. True ice slopes are rare in Europe, though common in tropical mountains, where newly-fallen snow quickly thaws on the surface and becomes sodden below, so that the next night's frost turns the whole into a mass of solid ice. An ice slope can only be surmounted by step-cutting. For this an ice axe is needed, the common form being a small pick-axe on the end of a pole as long as from the elbow of a man to the ground. This pole is used also as a walking-stick, and is furnished with a spike at the foot.
Summer thunderstorms may produce intense lightning which are attracted to the highest points on the ground. If a climber happens to be standing on or near the summit, they may now in fact be the highest point. There are many cases where people have been struck by lighting while climbing mountains. In most mountainous regions, local storms develop by late morning and early afternoon. Many climbers will often begin ascents "alpine style"; that is before or by first light so as to be on the way down when storms are intensifying in activity and lightning and other weather hazards are a distinct threat to safety.
In 1492 the ascent of Mont Aiguille was made by order of Charles VIII of France. The Humanists of the 16th century adopted a new attitude towards mountains, but the disturbed state of Europe nipped in the bud the nascent mountaineering of the Zurich school.
Leonardo da Vinci climbed to a snow-field in the neighborhood of the Val Sesia and made scientific observations.
Konrad Gesner and Josias Simler of Zurich visited and described mountains, and made regular ascents. The use of axe and rope were locally invented at this time. No mountain expeditions of note are recorded in the 17th century.
Pococke and Windhams historic visit to Chamonix was made in 1741, and set the fashion of visiting the glaciers.
In 1744 the Titus was climbed, the first true ascent of a snow-mountain.
The first attempt to ascend Mont Blanc was made in 1775 by a party of natives. In 1786 Dr Michel Paccard and Jacques Balmat gained the summit for the first time. De Saussure followed next year.
The Jungfrau was climbed in 1811, the Finsteraarhorn in 1812, and the Breithorn in 1813. Thereafter, tourists showed a tendency to climb, and the body of Alpine guides began to come into existence in consequence.
Systematic mountaineering, as a sport, is usually dated from Sir Alfred Willss ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854. The first ascent of Monte Rosa was made in 1855.
The Alpine Club was founded in London in 1857, and soon imitated in most European countries. Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 marks the close of the main period of Alpine conquest, during which the craft of climbing was invented and perfected, the body of professional guides formed and their traditions fixed.
Passing to other ranges, the exploration of the Pyrenees was concurrent with that of the Alps. The Caucasus followed, mainly owing to the initiative of D. W. Freshfield; it was first visited by exploring climbers in 1868, and most of its great peaks were climbed by 1888.
Trained climbers turned their attention to the mountains of North America in 1888, when the Rev. W. S. Green made an expedition to the Selkirks. From that time exploration has gone on apace, and many English and American climbing parties have surveyed most of the highest groups of snow-peaks; Pikes Peak (14,147 ft.) having been climbed by Mr E. James and party in 1820, and Mt. Saint Elias (18,024 ft.) by the Duke of the Abruzzi and party in 1897. The exploration of the highest Andes was begun in 1879-1880, when Whymper climbed Mount Chimborazo and explored the mountains of Ecuador. The Cordillera between Chile and Argentina was attacked by Dr Gussfeldt in 1883, who ascended Maipo (17,752 ft.) and attempted Aconcagua (23,393 ft.). That peak was first climbed by the Fitzgerald expedition in 1897.
The Alps of New Zealand were first attacked in 1882 by the Rev. W. S. Green, and shortly afterwards a New Zealand Alpine Club was founded, and by their activities the exploration of the range was pushed forward. In 1895 Mr E. A. Fitzgerald made an important journey in this range.
Of the high African peaks, Kilimanjaro was climbed in 1889 by Dr Hans Meyer, Mt. Kenya in 1889 by J. E. S. Mackinder, and a peak of Ruwenzori by H. J. Moore in 1900.
The Asiatic mountains were initially surveyed on orders of the British Empire. In 1892 Sir William Martin Conway explored the KarakoramHimalayas, and climbed a peak of 23,000 ft. In 1895 A. F. Mummery made a fatal attempt to ascend Nanga Parbat, while in 1899 D. W. Freshfield took an expedition to the snowy regions of Sikkim. In 1899, 1903, 1906 and 1908 Mrs Fannie Bullock Workman made ascents in the Himalayas, including one of the Nun Kun peaks (23,300 ft.). A number of Gurkha sepoys were trained as expert mountaineers by Major the Hon. C. G. Bruce, and a good deal of exploration was accomplished by them.
The first mountains of the arctic region explored were those of Spitzbergen by Sir W. M. Conway's expeditions in 1896 and 1897.
