mountaineering

Ice climbing, Canada. Ice climbing is an increasingly popular sport. The ability to scale massive glaciers and ice-covered slopes is an essential skill in mountain climbing at high altitudes and latitudes.

Ice climbing, Canada. Ice climbing is often a necessary part of alpine mountaineering at high altitudes, but is increasingly a popular sport in its own right.

Art and practice of mountain climbing. For major peaks of the Himalayas it was formerly thought necessary to have elaborate support from the native Sherpas, fixed ropes, and oxygen at high altitudes (siege-style climbing). In the 1980s the Alpine style was introduced. This dispenses with these aids, and relies on human ability to adapt to high altitude.

In 1854 Wetterhorn, Switzerland, was climbed by Alfred Wills, thereby founding the sport; 1865 Matterhorn, Switzerland-Italy, by Edward Whymper; 1897 Cerro Aconcagua, Argentina, by Zurbriggen; 1938 Eiger (north face), Switzerland, by Heinrich Harrer; 1953 Everest, Nepal-Tibet, by Edmund Hillary and Norgay Tenzing; 1981 Kongur, China, by Chris Bonington.