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Mountaineering
by excur elevante
http://www.climbingexcursion.com
Mountain climbing just for the fun of it is a fairly modern
idea. Of course, mankind has lived amongst mountains for
thousands of years - lived high on the sides on mountains
and passed over mountains to get from one place to another.
But up until fairly recently humans have treated the very
high mountains with respect and awe.
The Inca people worshipped the mountains and the high peaks
of Peru. They felt the peaks brought them closer to the sun
god 'Inti'. This was important for them as they believed
that the sun god looked after their crop and the animals.
The Andean mountains are full of sites, which were used by
the people to worship the sun god. So far, 115 such sites
have been discovered on 30 different mountains in the Andes
range and all of them at a height of over fifteen thousand
feet.
The Sherpas of Nepal are another famous mountain people who
lived at the foot of some of the world's highest peaks
without ever scaling them. They too believed in the
sanctity of the mountains like the Inca people and
initially when the effort to scale them was started by the
Westerners, they were quite unhappy.
Mountain climbing became a rich person's pastime in England
during the Victorian age, and trips would sometimes involve
a full dinner service and table being carried up a mountain
by servants. The 'golden age between was between 1854 and
1884. This period was kicked off by Alfred Wills who climbed
the Wetterhorn and came to an end when Edward Whymper
conquered the Matterhorn. Both these peaks form part of the
Swiss Alps.
The Swiss Alps or for that matter other ranged of the world
are nothing compared to the mighty ranges of Asia. These
ranges were not explored till as late as the twentieth
century when competition brewed amongst the powerful
nations of Europe to try to conquer these peaks. So efforts
increased to conquer the fourteen peaks in Asia that rose
to over eight thousand meters.
Despite bold efforts from France, Britain, Germany and
Italy, it wasn't until after the Second World War that man
stood atop any of these peaks. In 1953 an English led
expedition managed to get a New Zealander and a Sherpa on
the very crest of the globe - Edmund Hillary and Tensing
Norgay climbed Mount Everest!
After this feat, all the fourteen highest peaks were
successfully scaled one after the other. The Shishapangma
was the last to be climbed by a Chinese party in 1964. The
mountaineering genius, Rheinhold Messner has the sole
distinction of climbing all fourteen peaks successfully
without oxygen. Some experts call him the greatest climber
of all times for his feats.
The history of mountain climbing would not be complete
without mentioning George Mallory. He, with his partner
Andrew Irwine was one of the first mountaineers to make an
attempt to climb Mount Everest. They set out to conquer the
peak but never made it to the top. In fact, they never
returned. Their claim to fame is in the fact that they
attempted the seemingly impossible and their attitude. When
Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb the mountain,
he gave the classic reply 'Because it is there'.
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