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MOUNTAINEERING

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 939 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MOUNTAINEERING , the See also:

art of moving about safely in See also:mountain regions, avoiding the dangers incidental to them, and attaining high points difficult of See also:access. It consists of two See also:main divisions, See also:rock-See also:craft and See also:snow-craft. Rock-craft consists in <he intelligent selection of a See also:line of route and in gymnastic937 skill to follow the line chosen. In snow-craft the choice of route is the result of a full understanding of the behaviour of snow under a multitude of varying conditions; it depends largely upon experience, and much less upon gymnastic skill. The dangers which the craft of climbing has been See also:developed to avoid are of two main kinds: the danger of things falling on the traveller and the danger of his falling himself. The things that may fall are rocks, See also:ice and snow; the traveller may fall from rocks, ice or snow, or into crevasses in ice or snow. There are also dangers from See also:weather. Thus in all there are eight See also:chief dangers: falling rocks, falling ice, snow-avalanches, falls from difficult rocks, falls from ice slopes, falls down snow slopes, falls into crevasses, dangers from weather. To select and follow a route avoiding these dangers is to exercise the climber's craft. Falling Rocks.—Every rock mountain is falling to pieces, the See also:process being specially rapid above the snow-line. Rock-faces are constantly swept by falling stones, which it is generally possible to See also:dodge. Falling rocks tend to See also:form furrows in a mountain See also:face, and these furrows (couloirs) have to be ascended with caution, their sides being often safe when the See also:middle is See also:stone-swept.

Stones fall more frequently on some days than on others, according to the See also:

recent weather. See also:Local experience is a valuable help on such a question. The direction of the See also:dip of rock strata often determines whether a particular face is safe or dangerous; the See also:character of the rock must also be considered. Where stones fall frequently debris will be found below, whilst on snow slopes falling stones cut furrows visible from a See also:great distance. In planning an ascent of a new See also:peak such traces must be looked for. When falling stones get mixed in considerable quantity with slushy snow or See also:water a mud See also:avalanche is formed (See also:common in the See also:Himalaya). It is necessary to avoid camping in their possible line of fall. Falling Ice.—The places where ice may fall can always be determined beforehand. It falls in the broken parts of glaciers (seracs) and from overhanging cornices formed on the crests of narrow ridges. Large icicles are often formed on steep rock-faces, and these fall frequently in See also:fine weather following See also:cold and stormy days. They have to be avoided like falling stones. Seracs are slow in formation, and slow in arriving (by See also:glacier See also:motion) at a See also:condition of unstable See also:equilibrium.

They generally fall in or just after the hottest See also:

part of the See also:day, and their debris seldom goes far. A skilful and experienced ice-See also:man will usually devise a safe route through a most intricate ice-fall, but such places should be avoided in the afternoon of a hot day. See also:Hanging glaciers (i.e. glaciers perched on steep slopes) often See also:discharge themselves over steep rock-faces, the snout breaking off at intervals. They can always be detected by their debris below. Their track should be avoided. Snow Avalanches.—These mainly occur on steep slopes when the snow is in See also:bad condition, See also:early in the See also:year, or after a recent fresh fall. Days when snow is in bad condition are easily recognized; on such days it may be inadvisable to See also:traverse snow-slopes which at another See also:time may be as safe as a high-road. Beds of snow collected on rock-ledges in bad weather fall off when a thaw comes, and are dangerous to rock-climbers. Snow that has recently fallen upon ice slopes is always liable to slip off bodily. Such falling masses generally make the See also:lower part of their descent by couloirs. Snow avalanches never fall in unexpected places, but have their easily recognizable routes, which can beavoided in times of danger by experienced mountaineers. Falls from Rocks.—The skill of a rock-climber is shown by his choice of handhold and foothold, and his See also:adhesion to those he has chosen.

Much depends on a correct estimate of the firmness of the rock where See also:

weight is to be thrown upon it. Many loose rocks are quite See also:firm enough to See also:bear a man's weight, but experience is needed to know which can be trusted, and skill is required in transferring the weight to them without jerking. On all difficult rocks the rope is the greatest safeguard for all except the first man in the ascent, the last in the descent. In such places a party of three or four men roped together, with a distance of 15 to 20 ft. between one and another, will be able to hold up one of their number (except the See also:top man) if one only moves at a time and the others are firmly placed and keep the rope tight between them, so that a falling individual may be arrested before his velocity has been accelerated. In very difficult places help may be obtained by.throwing a loose rope See also:round a See also:projection above and pulling on it; this method is specially valuable in a difficult descent. The rope usually employed is a strong See also:Manila See also:cord called Alpine See also:Club rope, but some prefer a thinner rope used See also:double. On rotten rocks the rope must be handled with See also:special care, lest it should start loose stones on to the heads of those below. Similar care must be given to handholds and footholds, for the same See also:reason. When a See also:horizontal traverse has to be made across very difficult rocks, a dangerous situation may arise unless at both ends of the traverse there be firm positions. Even then the end men gain little from the rope. Mutual assistance on hard rocks takes all manner of forms: two, or even three, men climbing on one another's shoulders, or using for foothold an ice-See also:axe propped up by others. The great principle is that of co-operation, all the members of the party climbing with reference to the others, and not as See also:independent See also:units; each when moving must know what the man in front and the man behind are doing.

After bad weather steep rocks are often found covered with a See also:

veneer of ice (verglas), which may even render them inaccessible. Climbing-irons (crampons, steigeisen) are useful on such occasions. Ice Slopes.—Climbing-irons 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 See also:Europe, though common in tropical mountains, where newly-fallen snow quickly thaws on the See also:surface and becomes sodden below, so that the next See also:night's See also:frost turns the whole into a See also: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 See also:pole as See also:long as from the See also:elbow of a man to the ground. This pole is used also as a walking-stick, and is furnished with a spike at the See also:foot. Snow Slopes are very common, and usually easy to ascend. At the foot of a snow or ice slope is generally a big See also:crevasse, called a See also:bergschrund, where the final slope of the mountain rises from a snow-See also:field or glacier. Such bergschrunds are generally too wide to be strided, and must be crossed by a snow See also:bridge, which needs careful testing and a painstaking use of the rope. A steep snow slope in bad condition may be dangerous, as the whole See also:body of snow may start as an avalanche. Such slopes are less dangerous if ascended directly than obliquely, for an oblique or horizontal track cuts them across and facilitates See also:movement of the mass.

New snow lying on ice is specially dangerous. Experience is needful for deciding on the advisability of advancing over snow in doubtful condition. Snow on rocks is usually rotten unless it be thick; snow on snow is likely to be See also:

sound. A day or two of fine weather will usually bring new snow into sound condition. Snow cannot See also:lie at a very steep See also:angle, though it often deceives the See also:eye as to its slope. Snow slopes seldom exceed 400. Ice slopes may be much steeper. Snow slopes in early See also:morning are usually hard and safe, but the same in the afternoon are quite soft and possibly dangerous; hence the See also:advantage of an early start. Crevasses.-These are the slits or deep chasms formed in the substance of a glacier as it passes over an uneven See also:bed. They may be open or hidden. In the lower part of a glacier the crevasses are open. Above the snow-line they are frequently hidden by arched-over accumulations of See also:winter snow.

The detection of hidden crevasses requires care and experience. After a fresh fall of snow they can only be detected by See also:

sounding with the pole of the ice-axe, or by looking to right and See also:left where the open See also:extension of a partially hidden crevasse may be obvious. The safeguard against See also:accident is the rope, and no one should ever See also:cross a snow-covered glacier unless roped to one, or better to two, companions. Weather.—The main See also:group of dangers caused by bad weather centre round the See also:change it effects in the condition of snow androck, making ascents suddenly perilous which before were easy, and so altering the aspect of things as to make it hard to find the way or retrace a route. In See also:storm the man who is wont to rely on a See also:compass has great advantage over a merely empirical follower of his eyes. In large snow-See also:fields it is, of course, easier to go wrong than on rocks, but a trained intelligence is the best See also:companion and the surest See also:guide. See also:History.—The first recorded mountain ascent after Old Testament times is See also:Trajan's ascent of See also:Etna to see the See also:sun rise. The See also:Roche See also:Melon (11,600 ft.) was climbed in 1358. See also:Peter III. of See also:Aragon climbed Canigou in the See also:Pyrenees in the last See also:quarter of the 13th See also:century. In 1339 See also:Petrarch climbed Mt Ventou near See also:Vaucluse. In 1492 the ascent of Mt See also:Aiguille was made by See also:order of See also:Charles VIII. of See also:France. The Humanists of the 16th century adopted a new attitude towards mountains, but the disturbed See also:state of Europe nipped in the bud the nascent mountaineering of the See also:Zurich school.

Leonardo da See also:

Vinci climbed to a snow-field in the neighbourhood of the Val Sesia and made scientific observations. Konrad See also:Gesner and Josias See also:Simler of Zurich visited and described mountains, and made See also:regular ascents. The use of axe and rope were locally invented at this time. No mountain expeditions of See also:note are recorded in the 17th century. In 1744 the Titlis was climbed—the first true snow-mountain. See also:Pococke and See also:Windham's historic visit to See also:Chamonix was made in 1741, and set the See also:fashion of visiting the glaciers. The first See also:attempt to ascend Mont See also:Blanc was made in 1775 by a party of natives. In 1786 Dr See also:Michel Paccard and Jacques Balmat gained the See also:summit for the first time. De See also:Saussure followed next year. The See also:Jungfrau was climbed in 18r,, the Finsteraarhorn in 1812, and the See also:Zermatt Breithorn in 1813. Thenceforward tourists showed a tendency to climb, and the body of Alpine guides began to come into existence in See also:con-sequence. Systematic mountaineering, as a See also:sport, is usually dated from See also:Sir See also:Alfred See also:Wills's ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854.

The first ascent of See also:

Monte See also:Rosa was made in 1855. The Alpine Club was founded in See also:London in 1857, and soon imitated in most See also:European countries. See also:Edward See also:Whymper's ascent of the See also:Matterhorn in 1865 marks the See also:close of the main See also:period of Alpine See also:conquest, during which the craft of climbing was in-vented 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 See also:Alps. The See also: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 See also:attention to the mountains of See also:North See also:America in 1888, when the Rev. W. S. See also:Green made an expedition to the Selkirks. From that time exploration has gone on apace, and many See also:English and See also:American climbing parties have surveyed most of the highest See also:groups of snow-peaks; See also:Pike's Peak (14,147 ft.) having been climbed by Mr E. See also:James and party in 182o, and Mt See also:Saint See also:Elias (18,024 ft.) by the See also:duke of the Abruzzi and party in 1897.

The exploration of the highest See also:

Andes was begun in 1879-188o, when Whymper climbed Chimborazo and explored the mountains of See also:Ecuador. The See also:Cordillera between See also:Chile and See also:Argentina was attacked by Dr Gussfeldt in 1883, who ascended Maipo (17,752 ft.) and attempted See also:Aconcagua (23,393 ft.). That peak was first climbed by the See also:Fitzgerald expedition in 1897. The Andes of See also:Bolivia were explored by Sir See also:Martin See also:Conway in 1898. Chilean and See also:Argentine expeditions revealed the structure of the See also:southern Cordillera in the years 1885-1898. Sir Martin Conway visited the mountains of Tierra del Fuego in 1898. The Alps of New See also: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 See also:

journey in this range. Of the high See also:African peaks, See also:Kilimanjaro was climbed in 1889 by Dr Hans See also:Meyer, Mt See also:Kenya in 1889 by J. E. S. Mackinder, and a peak of See also:Ruwenzori by H. J. See also:Moore in 1900. The See also:Asiatic mountains have as yet been little climbed, though those that lie within the See also:British See also:Empire have been surveyed. In 1892 Sir Martin Conway explored the Karakoram Himalayas, and climbed a peak of 23,000 ft. In 1895 A. F. Mummery made a fatal attempt to ascend See also:Nanga Parbat, whilst in 1899 D.

W. Fresh-field took an expedition to the snowy regions of See also:

Sikkim. In 1899, 1903, 1go6 and 1908 Mrs Fannie See also:Bullock Workman made ascents in the Himalayas, including one of the See also:Nun Kun peaks (23,300 ft.). A body of See also:Gurkha sepoys were trained as See also:expert mountaineers by See also:Major the Hon. C. G. See also:Bruce, and a See also:good See also:deal of exploration has been accomplished by them. The only mountains of the See also:northern polar region that have been explored are those of Spitzbergen by Sir Martin Conway's expeditions in 1896 and 1897, and the peaks in the north of See also:Norway and the Lofotens by various Alpine Club and See also:Norwegian parties. (W. M.

End of Article: MOUNTAINEERING

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