Peak Pursuits : The Emergence of Mountaineering in the Nineteenth Century

An interdisciplinary cultural history of exploration and mountaineering in the nineteenth century European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of “conquering” alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene. European forays to mountain summits began in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of 'conquering' alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavours as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This text examines how written and artistic depictions of 19th century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of "conquering" alpine summits. Mountains inspired Romantic idealizations of nature and became a refuge from the industrializing West. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, a new model of masculinity emerged that was fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness "Rather than documenting the history of Alpinism, recounting the ascents of peaks, or giving a portrayal of the most renowned climbers, this book presents a kind of Humboldtian history of mountaineering in the long nineteenth century (ca. 1789-1914) when both scientific progress and aesthetic reverence became available through the embodied experience of the mountaineer"-- Provided by publisher