The Summits of Modern Man: Mountaineering after the Enlightenment

363 Pages·2013·4.48 MB·English

by  Peter H. Hansen

The Summits of Modern Man
PETER H. HANSEN
The Summits of Modern Man
MOUNTAINEERING AFTER THE ENLIGHTENMENT
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
2013
Copyright © 2013 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved
Jacket art: Departure from the Great Mulets: The Arrival at the Summit: The Ascent of
Mont Blanc by Albert Smith, engraved by George Baxter, 1855 (color litho) after J. J.
MacGregor. Private collection/Flammarion/ The Bridgeman Art Library Author photo:
Worcester Polytechnic Institute Jacket design: Jill Breitbarth The Library of Congress
has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Hansen, Peter H.
The summits of modern man : mountaineering after the enlightenment / Peter H.
Hansen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-674-04799-0 (alk. paper) 1. Mountaineering—History.
2. Mountaineering—Philosophy. I. Title.
GV199.89.H36 2013
796.522—dc23 2012040365
For Allison
Contents
1 Beginnings
2 Discovery of the Glacières
3 Ascent and Enfranchisement
4 Who Was First?
5 Temple of Nature
6 Social Climbers
7 Age of Conquest
8 History Detectives
9 Almost Together
10 Bodies of Ice
Abbreviations
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index
Illustrations
FIGURES
1. Ascent of the Rothorn, 1864
2. Scheuchzer’s Swiss dragon, 1723
3. Petrarch’s “most delightful transalpine retreat,” ca. 1350
4. Mont Inaccessible, 1492/1701
5. Les Glacières in G.T. Borgonio, Carta Generale de Stati di Sua Altezza
Reale, 1680
6. Pierre Martel’s map and sketch of Mont Blanc, 1744
7. Circular view of the mountains from the summit of the Buet, 1779
8. Louis Bacler d’Albe, Jacque Balmat dit le Mont-Blanc, 1788
9. Louis Bacler d’Albe, Michel-Gabriel Paccard, docteur en médecine à
Chamouni en Savoie, 1788
10. Marquardt Wocher, Voyage de Mr de Saussure à la cime du Mont Blanc au
mois d’août 1787—La descente—2ème planche, 1er état, 1790
11. Marc-Théodore Bourrit, Temple à la Nature at Montanvert, 1795
12. Temple à la Philosophie at the Festival of Reason, Paris, 1793
13. Samuel Birmann, À la Flégère, ca.1826
14. Henri Deville, Henriette d’Angeville dans sa tenue du Mont-Blanc, ca. 1838
15. Mr. Albert Smith’s Ascent of Mont Blanc in Miniature, ca. 1855
16. Edward Whymper, The Club-Room of Zermatt in 1864
17. Emil Rittmeyer, The Alpine Summit, 1861
18. Monument to Saussure and Balmat, 1887
19. Summit Observatory and the Chasseurs Alpins, Le Petit Journal, 1901
20. Alpine bookplate, ca. 1920s
21. Poster for Der ewige Traum, 1934
22. Tenzing Norgay with the flags of India, Nepal, and Britain, 1953
23. Paccard Statue in Chamonix, 2011
24. The Iceman/Der Mann aus dem Eis/L’Uomo venuto dal ghiaccio, 1991
MAPS
1. The Alps
2. Mont Blanc and the Western Alps
Map 1 The Alps.
Map 2 Mont Blanc and the Western Alps.