The Story of Alpine Climbing

Alpine climbing is distinctly a modern enterprise. As a sport it is usually dated from the ascent of the Wetterhorn by Mr. Justice Wills, then Mr Alfred Wills of the junior bar, in 1854; and the English Alpine Club - which was the first of all the Alpine Clubs - was not formed until three years later. Explorers and men of science, however, had had adventures on the mountains before the sportsmen repaired to them for athletic exercise, so that the threads of the story of the pastime have to be picked up from somewhat further back. First let us note that the attitude of our fore-fathers towards the mountains was very different from ours. The Hebrews, indeed, had a regard for them, speaking with reverence of "high places," and relating that the Table of the Law was delivered to Moses upon one mountain, and that the prophets of Baal were put to confusion by Elijah upon another. Sinai and Carmel, however, are quite minor eminences; and the Hebrew view was, in any case, exceptional.