Attitudes toward Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 472

FIGURE 9.5 An alpinist on the Aiguille du Midi, with Mont Blanc in the background. The first ascent
of Mont Blanc in 1786 marked the birth of the modern sport of alpinism in the West. (Photo by E.
Bernbaum.)
In 1857 the (British) Alpine Club was formed, and shortly thereafter other mountain-
eering clubs were established on the continent of Europe. It was the British, however,
who inundated the Alps during the ensuing decades. An article on the history of the
Alpine Club states: “It is impossible to dwell in detail on this wonderful period, and a
mere enumeration of its first ascents and first passages would be intolerably tedious. At
the end of it hardly any of the greater summits of the Alps remained unconquered, and
of the new ascents made, a very large share had fallen to the British climbers” (Mumm
1921). The Matterhorn tragedy of 1865 gave the Alpine Club, and the world, pause for
thought but, after a few years, other younger members took up the challenge of un-
conquered peaks with renewed zeal (Fig. 9.5).
Alpine clubs gradually spread around the world (the first in the United States, the
Appalachian Mountain Club, was formed in 1876), and many of these were quite exclus-
ive: One had to be invited to join, and the requirements for admission were not eas-