Mountaineers: Great Tales of Bravery and Conquest

362 Pages·2015·0.61 MB·English

by  Ed Douglas

MOUNTAINEERS

t he a l pine c l u b
MOUNTAINEERS
great tales of bravery and conquest
r oya l g e o g r a phic a l s o c ie t y
Senior Editor Bob Bridle
Senior Art Editor Sharon Spencer
Jacket Designer Silke Spingies
Production Editor Tony Phipps
Production Controller Erika Pepe
Managing Editor Stephanie Farrow
Managing Art Editor Lee Griffiths
Produced for Dorling Kindersley by
TALL TREE LTD
Managing Editor David John
Senior Editor Rob Colson
Senior Designer Ben Ruocco
Editor Debra Wolter
Designers Peter Laws, Malcolm Parchment
Picture Researcher Louise Thomas
Written by Ed Douglas
Additional writing Richard Gilbert,
Philip Parker, Alasdair Macleod
Published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd in association
with the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
and The Alpine Club
First published in Great Britain in 2011
This edition published in 2015
by Dorling Kindersley Limited
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
A Penguin Random House Company
15 16 17 18 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001–179532–May/2015
Copyright © 2011 Dorling Kindersley Limited
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without prior permission of the
copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-2411-9890-2
Colour reproduction by
Media Development Printing Ltd, UK
Printed and bound by
Star Standard, Singapore
www.dk.com

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 8 james hutton 56 THE GOLDEN AGE
mountaineering OF ALPINISM 112
THE EARLY innovations: ice axe 58
MOUNTAINEERS 10 horace-bénédict INTRODUCTION 114
de saussure 60
INTRODUCTION 12 franz josef hugi 64 A FASHION FOR CLIMBING 116
james david forbes 66 alfred wills 118
CLIMBING FOR SURVIVAL 14 mountain portrait: john ball 120
ötzi the iceman 16 mont blanc 68 christian almer 122
hannibal 20 alexander von humboldt 70 mountain lives: alpine guides 124
louis agassiz 72 melchior anderegg 126
WHAT MOUNTAINS MEAN 22 mountain lives: john tyndall 128
fa xian the monk 24 ice mummies 74 leslie stephen 134
mountain portrait:
kilimanjaro 26 THE CULTURAL HEIGHTS 76 THE PRICE OF ADVENTURE 136
kukai 28 caspar wolf 78 charles hudson 138
mountain lives: pueblo people 32 gabriel and mathias lory 80 mountain portrait:
j m w turner 82 matterhorn 140
MOUNTAINS AND experiencing the edward whymper 142
CHRISTIANITY 34 mountains: poetry 84 jean-antoine carrel 146
petrarch 36 john ruskin 86 experiencing the mountains:
antoine de ville 38 spreading the word 148
josias simmler 40 THE FIRST SUMMITEERS 90
mountaineering william windham 92 “AN EASY DAY FOR A LADY” 150
innovations: rope 42 paccard and balmat 94 walker and brevoort 152
conrad gesner 44 mountaineering elizabeth le blond 156
john evelyn 46 innovations: crampons 98 freda du faur 158
paradis and d'angeville 100
the meyer family 102 BIRTH OF
CLIMBING FOR gottlieb studer 104 MODERN ALPINISM 160
SCIENCE AND ART 48 placidus à spescha 106 adolphus moore 162
peter carl thurwieser 108 clinton dent 164
INTRODUCTION 50 albert smith 110 alexander burgener 166
albert frederick mummery 168
A NEW FRONTIER 52
zsigmondy brothers 172
johann jakob scheuchzer 54 eugen guido lammer 174
paul preuss 176
BEYOND george mallory 228 THE UNWRITTEN RULES 294
THE ALPS 178 mountaineering walter bonatti 296

innovations: oxygen gear 232 don whillans 298
INTRODUCTION 180 paul bauer 234 chris bonington 300
willo welzenbach 236 yvon chouinard 302
THE GREATER RANGES 182 willy merkl 238 doug scott 304
martin conway 184 abalakov brothers 240 mountain portrait:
douglas freshfield 186 cerro torre 306
mountain lives: pundits 190 BACK OF AN ENVELOPE 242 reinhold messner 308
fanny bullock workman 192 tilman and shipton 244 jerzy kukuczka 312
alexander kellas 194 charles houston 248
oscar eckenstein 196 fritz wiessner 250 WOMEN MOUNTAINEERS 314
the duke of the abruzzi 198 experiencing the mountains: wanda rutkiewicz 316
experiencing the mountains: film-making 252 catherine destivelle 318
photography 200 kitty calhoun 322
THE HIMALAYAN mountaineering
CLIMBING IN THE GOLDEN AGE 254 innovations: protection 324
NEW WORLD 202 herzog and lachenal 256
conrad kain 204 hermann buhl 258 FAST AND LIGHT 326
mountain portrait: denali 206 kurt diemberger 260 wojciech kurtyka 328
matthias zurbriggen 208 mountain lives: sherpas 262 alex macintyre 330
edmund hillary 264 andrej stremfelj 332
ALPINISM IN JAPAN 210 tenzing norgay 266 erhard loretan 334
aritsune “yuko” maki 212 compagnoni and lacedelli 270 experiencing the mountains:
mountaineering band and brown 272 climbing bestsellers 336
innovations: mapping 214 couzy and terray 276 mick fowler 338
hornbein and unsoeld 278 thomas and alex huber 340
rolando garibotti 342
SLAYING steve house 344
THE GIANTS 216 THE AGE OF the giri-giri boys 346
mountain lives:
EXTREMES 282
INTRODUCTION 218 professional climbers 348
INTRODUCTION 284
THE GREATEST SHOW
ON EARTH 220 THE NORTH FACES 286
MOUNTAIN DIRECTORY 350
francis younghusband 222 emilio comici 288
INDEX 352
somervell and norton 224 anderl heckmair 290
mountain portrait: everest 226 riccardo cassin 292 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 358
INTRODUCTION
C
limbing mountains serves no Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner defying
obvious purpose. The risk of life local superstitions to ascend Mount Pilatus.
and limb to summit a great peak is The accounts of Gesner and others of their
often for no better reason than “because it is experiences, and of the delight they found in
there”, as George Mallory famously put it. the mountains themselves, inspired others to
Yet in pursuit of such unformulated goals follow their lead, and by the middle of the
mountaineers have pushed themselves to the 19th century, alpinism was enjoying its “Golden
very limits of the physical – to achieve ever Age”. Gentlemen climbers, particularly from
higher, more difficult, or simply more beautiful Britain, raced to claim the first ascents of the
climbs. It is not surprising, therefore, that their highest peaks in the Alps, and the modern
exploits have captivated a wide audience. sport of mountaineering was born. In the
freedom of the mountains, women also
For millennia the world’s mountain ranges began climbing, feeling less restricted by
were largely devoid of people. Homes to the constraints of society.
gods and monsters, mountains were seen
as dangerous, inhospitable, and mysterious, The sport’s first disaster was not long in
avoided by all but a few traders or religious coming, as Edward Whymper’s first ascent
sects in search of solitude. In Europe, popular of the Matterhorn in 1865 turned to tragedy
fear of the mountains was beginning to change when four of his party died on the descent.
by the Renaissance, with climbers such as Thus began a debate that continues today.