Mountaineering

thumb|Climbers ascending [[Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak, United States]]

Mountaineering is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports. In everyday language, the term "mountaineering" means mountain climbing or alpinism.

Unlike most sports, mountaineering lacks widely applied formal rules, regulations, and governance; mountaineers adhere to a large variety of techniques and philosophies (including grading and guidebooks) when climbing mountains. Numerous local alpine clubs support mountaineers by hosting resources and social activities. A federation of alpine clubs, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), is the International Olympic Committee-recognized world organization for mountaineering and climbing. The consequences of mountaineering on the natural environment can be seen in terms of individual components of the environment (land relief, soil, vegetation, fauna, and landscape) and the location/zone of mountaineering activity (hiking, trekking, or climbing zone). However, it should be borne in mind that tourism in mountain areas, by shifting the sector from agriculture to services, has a positive balance of change - agriculture is more invasive. Mountaineering impacts communities on economic, political, social, and cultural levels, often leading to changes in people's worldviews influenced by globalization, specifically foreign cultures and lifestyles. In terms of both its impact on the natural environment and local communities, the significance of this impact depends on the location in the vertical (altitude above sea level) and horizontal (zone) dimensions, and is therefore an example of environmental determinism.

History

Early mountaineering

Humans have been present in mountains since prehistory. The remains of Ötzi, who lived in the 4th millennium BC, were found in a glacier in the Ötztal Alps. However, the highest mountains were rarely visited early on, and were often associated with supernatural or religious concepts. Nonetheless, there are many documented examples of people climbing mountains prior to the formal development of the sport in the 19th century, although many of these stories are sometimes considered fictional or legendary.

For most of antiquity, climbing mountains was a practical or symbolic activity, usually undertaken for economic, political, or religious purposes. A commonly cited example is the 1492 ascent of Mont Aiguille () by Antoine de Ville, a French military officer and lord of Domjulien and Beaupré.

In the Andes, around the late 1400s and early 1500s, many ascents were made of extremely high peaks by the Incas and their subjects. The highest they are known for certain to have climbed is 6739 m at the summit of Volcan Llullaillaco.

Conrad Gessner, a mid-16th Century physician, botanist and naturalist from Switzerland, is widely recognized as being the first person to hike and climb for sheer pleasure.

The beginning of mountaineering as a sport in the UK is generally dated to the ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854 by English mountaineer Sir Alfred Wills, who made mountaineering fashionable in Britain. This inaugurated what became known as the Golden Age of Alpinism, with the first mountaineering club – the Alpine Club – being founded in 1857.

One of the most dramatic events was the spectacular first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 by a party led by English illustrator Edward Whymper, in which four of the party members fell to their deaths. By this point, the sport of mountaineering had largely reached its modern form, with a large body of professional guides, equipment, and methodologies. The first president of the Alpine Club, John Ball, is considered to be the discoverer of the Dolomites, which for decades were the focus of climbers like Paul Grohmann and Angelo Dibona. At that time, the edelweiss also established itself as a symbol of alpinists and mountaineers.

Expansion around the world

thumb|British mountaineer [[William Cecil Slingsby became known as the father of Norwegian mountaineering and contributed greatly to its popularization with his classic book Norway, the Northern Playground.]]

In the 19th century, the focus of mountaineering turned towards mountains beyond the Alps. One of the earliest mountain areas to be explored beyond the Alps in the 19th century were the mountains of Norway—particularly Jotunheimen—where British mountaineers such as William Cecil Slingsby, Harold Raeburn and Howard Priestman were early pioneers. Slingsby's book Norway, the Northern Playground contributed greatly to the popularization of mountaineering in Norway among the international mountaineering community. Around the turn of the century, a young generation of Norwegian mountaineers such as George Paus, Eilert Sundt and Kristian Tandberg appeared, and later founded Norsk Tindeklub, the third oldest mountaineering association in the world. By the turn of the 20th century, mountaineering had acquired a more international flavour.

In 1897, Mount Saint Elias () on the Alaska-Yukon border was summitted by the Duke of the Abruzzi and party. In 1879–1880, the exploration of the highest Andes in South America began when English mountaineer Edward Whymper climbed Chimborazo () and explored the mountains of Ecuador. It took until the late 19th century for European explorers to penetrate Africa. Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa was climbed in 1889 by Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller and German geologist Hans Meyer, Mount Kenya in 1899 by Halford Mackinder.

thumb|left|upright|Mountaineers,

The last frontier: The Himalayas

The greatest mountain range to be conquered was the Himalayas in South Asia. They had initially been surveyed by the British Empire for military and strategic reasons. In 1892, Sir William Martin Conway explored the Karakoram Himalayas, and climbed a peak of . In 1895, Albert F. Mummery died while attempting Nanga Parbat, while in 1899 Douglas Freshfield took an expedition to the snowy regions of Sikkim.

In 1899, 1903, 1906, and 1908, American mountaineer Fanny Bullock Workman (one of the first professional female mountaineers) made ascents in the Himalayas, including one of the Nun Kun peaks (). A number of Gurkha sepoys were trained as expert mountaineers by Charles Granville Bruce, and a good deal of exploration was accomplished by them.

thumb|upright=1.2|[[Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest, 29 May 1953|alt=Image of Hillary and Norgay after ascending Mt Everest]]

By the 1950s, all the eight-thousanders but two had been climbed starting with Annapurna in 1950 by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal on the 1950 French Annapurna expedition. The highest of these peaks Mount Everest was climbed in 1953 after the British had made several attempts in the 1920s; the 1922 expedition reached before being aborted on the third summit attempt after an avalanche killed seven porters. The 1924 expedition saw another height record achieved but still failed to reach the summit with confirmation when George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared on the final attempt. The summit was finally reached on 29 May 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay from the south side in Nepal.

Today

thumb|314x314px|Historically important mountaineering sites, like Everest, increasingly have changing, sometimes dangerous conditions because of the effects of climate change. Already dangerous routes, such as iceflows become less predictable with seasonal changes.

Long the domain of the wealthy elite and their agents, the emergence of the middle-class in the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in mass interest in mountaineering. It became a popular pastime and hobby of many people. The field has, however, also opened up to Indigenous climbers, such as Cecilia Llusco Alaña, a member of the Bolivian cholita climbers, who, like the Himalayan sherpas previously worked as porters, high altitude cooks or guides but who now climb peaks in their own right.

Organisation

Activities

There are different activities associated with the sport.

Traditional mountaineering involves identifying a specific mountain and route to climb, and executing the plan by whatever means appropriate. A mountain summit is almost always the goal. This activity is strongly associated with aid climbing and free climbing, as well as the use of ice axe and crampons on glaciers and similar terrain.
Ski mountaineering involves skiing on mountainous terrain, usually in terrain much more rugged than typical cross-country skiing. Unlike traditional mountaineering, routes are less well-defined and summiting may not be the main goal.
Peak bagging is the general activity of ascending peaks that are on a list of notable mountains, such as the 4000m peaks of the Alps.
Enchainment is climbing more than one significant summit in one outing, usually on the same day.
Climbing via ferratas involves traversing ladder-like paths on highly exposed terrain.
Ice climbing which involves proceeding on steep sections of blank ice with crampons and ice axes. This activity often requires progressing on steep and blank sections of ice. Most mountaineers have to rely on ice climbing skills to climb upon the higher peaks in the European Alps, Himalayas and Canadian ranges.

Rules and governance

Mountaineering lacks formal rules – though appropriately empowered bodies make many pertaining to specific use of mountains and practices on them. In theory, any person may climb a mountain and call themselves a mountaineer. In practice, the sport is defined by the safe and necessary use of technical skills in mountainous terrain: in particular, roped climbing and snow travel abilities. A variety of techniques have been developed to help people climb mountains that are widely applied among practitioners of the sport. which has expanded from a single recognition to multiple. While there are many competitions, particularly in toproped climbing wall disciplines, there are no "official" world championships or other similar competitions for mountaineering broadly.

Terrain and techniques

thumb|right|Antique climbing tools

Mountaineering techniques vary greatly depending on location, season, terrain, and route. Both techniques and hazards vary by terrain, spanning trails, rock, snow, and ice. Mountaineers must possess adequate food, water, information, equipment, stamina, and skill to complete their tasks. To traverse this terrain, mountaineers hike long distances to a base camp or the beginning of rough terrain, either following trails or using navigation techniques to travel cross-country. Hiking may be a strenuous activity, and adequate physical fitness and familiarity with the wilderness is necessary to complete a hike; it is also a prerequisite of success in all aspects of mountaineering.

When open and staffed, the huts are generally run by full-time employees, but some are staffed on a voluntary basis by members of alpine clubs. The manager of the hut, termed a guardian or warden in Europe, will usually also sell refreshments and meals, both to those visiting only for the day and to those staying overnight. The offering is surprisingly wide, given that most supplies, often including fresh water, must be flown in by helicopter, and may include glucose-based snacks (such as candy bars) on which climbers and walkers wish to stock up, cakes and pastries made at the hut, a variety of hot and cold drinks (including beer and wine), and high carbohydrate dinners in the evenings. Not all huts offer a catered service, though, and visitors may need to provide for themselves. Some huts offer facilities for both, enabling visitors wishing to keep costs down to bring their own food and cooking equipment and to cater using the facilities provided. Booking for overnight stays at huts is deemed obligatory, and in many cases is essential as some popular huts, even with more than 100 bed spaces, may be full during good weather and at weekends. Once made, the cancellation of a reservation is advised as a matter of courtesy – and, indeed, potentially of safety, as many huts keep a record of where climbers and walkers state they plan to walk to next. Most huts may be contacted by telephone and most take credit cards as a means of payment.

Snow cave

Where conditions permit, snow caves are another way to shelter high on the mountain. Some climbers do not use tents at high altitudes unless the snow conditions do not allow for snow caving, since snow caves are silent and much warmer than tents. They can be built relatively easily, given sufficient time, using a snow shovel. The temperature of a correctly made snow cave will hover around freezing, which relative to outside temperatures can be very warm. They can be dug anywhere where there is at least four feet of snow. The addition of a good quality bivouac bag and closed cell foam sleeping mat will also increase the warmth of the snow cave. Another shelter that works well is a quinzee, which is excavated from a pile of snow that has been work hardened or sintered (typically by stomping). Igloos are used by some climbers, but are deceptively difficult to build and require specific snow conditions.

From 1947 to 2018, in the United States "2,799 people were reported to be involved in mountaineering accidents and 43% of these accidents resulted in death." Climbers themselves are responsible for nearly all climbing accidents. The best treatment is to descend immediately. The climber's motto at high altitude is "climb high, sleep low", referring to the regimen of climbing higher to acclimatise but returning to lower elevation to sleep. In the Andes, the chewing of coca leaves has been traditionally used to treat altitude sickness symptoms.

Common symptoms of altitude sickness include severe headache, sleep problems, nausea, lack of appetite, lethargy and body ache. Mountain sickness may progress to HACE (high-altitude cerebral edema) and HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema), both of which can be fatal within 24 hours.

In high mountains, atmospheric pressure is lower and this means that less oxygen is available to breathe. Generally speaking, mountaineers start using bottled oxygen when they climb above 7,000 m. Exceptional mountaineers have climbed 8000-metre peaks (including Everest) without oxygen, almost always with a carefully planned program of acclimatisation.

Exposure to hot environments or activities involving exertion cause heat to build up in the body. A heat-related illness can occur when the body is unable to lose that heat through the skin.

Common symptoms of heat stroke can be an altered state of mind, rapid pulse and respiratory rate, headache, hot skin, loss of coordination, and possible seizures. This is a life-threatening illness that must be dealt with right away. While mountaineering, snow and ice can be used to cool the body and head.

Problems that can arise from the cold include wind chill, hypothermia, frost nip, frostbite, and immersion foot.

Motivations and spirituality

Alpinism is often a spiritual and personal pursuit. Many climbers describe their experiences in the mountains as moments of transformation, transcendence, and profound meaning. The solitude of high altitude environments, the exposure to natural elements, and the life or death stakes can bring up existential questions.

Research in psychology supports these claims of transcendence. Elite mountaineers and base jumpers score highly in traits related to self transcendence, personality features associated with spirituality, mindfulness, and a search for meaning. Monisterio and Cloninger give three character traits associated with self transcendence: self directedness or a sense of purpose, cooperativeness meaning empathy and a sense of connectedness with others, and the capacity to feel part of something greater than oneself. These traits help explain why some individuals are drawn to high-risk, high-reward experiences like mountaineering.

thumb|[[K2, the second highest mountain in the world]]

Personal calling is often also a motivation behind mountaineering. Climbers express that alpinism is a vocation and spiritually fulfilling. Earlier work has also revealed that climbers often experience spiritual growth, emotional release, and a stronger sense of self through their expeditions.

Much of this is due to the way mountains have long been regarded as sacred in numerous cultures, and seen as bridges between the earthly and the divine. Alex Honnold, famous for his ropeless ascent of El Capitan, has been noted for his risk tolerance and mental discipline. Stephanie Denning framed his climbing as a form of mindfulness practice that challenges conventional understandings of fear and focus.

Styles of mountaineering

thumb|Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of [[expedition climbing|expedition style mountaineering.]]

There are two main styles of mountaineering: expedition style and alpine style.

Expedition style

The alpine style contrasts with "expedition style". With this style, climbers will carry large amounts of equipment and provisions up and down the mountain, slowly making upward progress. Climbing in an expedition style is preferred if the summit is very high or distant from civilization. Mountaineers who use this style are usually, but not always, part of a large team of climbers and support staff (such as porters and guides). To cover large distances with their massive amounts of gear, sleds and pack animals are commonly used. Climbers will set up multiple camps along the mountain, and will haul their gear up the mountain multiple times, returning to a lower camp after each haul until all the gear is at a higher camp; and repeating this procedure until they reach the summit. This technique is also helpful for acclimatization.

External links

A Climber's Glossary
Military Mountaineering, Army Field Manual FM 3–97.61 (Aug 2002) − Federation of American Scientists (PDF)
International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) – official organisation of mountaineering and climbing recognised by International Olympic Committee

<!-- how do these links add to the subject of mountaineering? see WP:DIRECTORY

British Mountaineering Council
Mountaineering Council of Scotland -->
Climbing the clouds – virtual exhibit of British Columbia mountaineering