Systematic mountaineering, as a sport, is usually dated from Sir Alfred Wills' ascent of the Wetterhorn in 1854. The first ascent of Monte Rosa was made in 1855. The Alpine club was founded in London in 1857 and soon imitated in most European countries. Edward Whymper's ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 marks the close of the main period of Alpine conquest, during which the craft of climbing was invented and perfected, the body of professional guides formed and their traditions fixed.
Passing to other ranges, the exploration of the Pyrenees by Ramond, Packe, Russell and others was concurrent with that of the Alps. The Caucasus followed, mainly owing to the initiative of D. W. Freshfield; it was first visited by exploring climbers in 1868, and most of its great peaks were climbed by 1888. Trained climbers turned their attention to the mountains of North Amer ica in that year when the Rev. W. S. Green made an expedition to the Selkirks. From that time exploration has gone on apace, and English and American climbing parties have surveyed most of the highest groups of snowpeaks. The Alps of New Zealand were first attacked in 1882 by the Rev. W. S. Green, and shortly afterwards a local Alpine club was founded and by its activities the range was explored. In 1895 E. A. Fitzgerald made an important journey in this group. Of the high African peaks Kilimanjaro was climbed in 1889 by Dr. Hans Meyer; Mt. Kenya in 1889 by J. E. S. Mac kinder and a peak of Ruwenzori by H. J. Moore in 1 90o.
The Asiatic mountains have as yet been little climbed, though those that lie within the British empire have been surveyed. In 1892 Sir Martin Conway explored the Karakoram Himalayas and climbed a peak of 23,00o ft. In 1895 A. F. Mummery was lost while exploring Nanga Parbat ; in 1899 D. W. Freshfield journeyed to the snowy regions of Sikkim, and in 1899, 1903, 1906 and 1908 Dr. and Mrs. Workman made numerous ascents in the Himalaya, including one of the Nun Kun peaks (23,300 ft.). A number of Gurkhas trained in mountaineering by Brig.-Gen. C. G. Bruce have done good service to many explorers.
In 1907 C. G. Bruce, T. G. Longstaff and A. L. Mumm ex plored the mountains of Garhwal and Kumaon, and Longstaff with A. and H. Brocherel ascended Trisul (23,406 ft.). In 1906 an ex pedition under the leadership of the Duke of the Abruzzi explored the range of Ruwenzori, on the borders of Uganda and the Congo, and among his ascents were those of Margherita Peak (16,815 ft.)
the highest point, Alexandria Peak ft.), Elena Peak (16, 388 ft.) and Savoia Peak (16,339 ft.).
The most important event of the period 1910-25 was, of course, the assault on Mt. Everest, which is the subject of a separate article (q.v.). Everest, however, did not monopolize the attention of Himalayan explorers. Useful work was accomplished by the Workmans during 1911 and 1912 in the Karakoram, by C. F. Meade in the Garhwal Himalaya, by Mr. and Mrs. Visser, by Kellas (who reached a height of 22,700 ft. on Kangchinjhau), and Major H. D. Minchinton, who lost his life in the Himalaya in 1927, did good work in 1926 while on a survey expedition to the Shaksgam district.
The main exploration of the New Zealand Alps was completed before 1910, but Harold Porter's two expeditions (1923 and 1925) proved that interesting pioneer work still awaits the explorer. The Caucasus has been closed to mountaineers since the World War. A British expedition in 1914 made a number of new ascents. Nor way still offers the prospect of virgin climbs. Stedtind, described by Cecil Slingsby as "probably the most natural obelisk in the world and the greatest prize in all Scandinavia" was climbed in 1910 by C. W. Rubenson and friends. Three Oxford expeditions to Spitsbergen in 1921, 1923 and 1924, accomplished some excel lent work.
Alpine Climbing.—In the Alps practically every peak had been ascended by 1910. No individual climber has a longer list of successes to his credit than G. W. Young. In 1911, with Professor H. 0. Jones (killed soon afterwards in the Mt. Blanc range), he completed the ascent of the Brouillard ridge of Mt. Blanc, and achieved the first complete traverse of the great west ridge of the Grandes Jorasses and the first descent of the ridge that descends to the Col des Hirondelles. With Jones and Todhunter, G. W. Young made the first ascent of the Mer de Glace face of the Grepon, and climbed the Gespaltenhorn by the terrible west ridge, perhaps his finest performance. His leading guide on all these climbs was Joseph Knubel, of St. Niklaus. Among other first-class climbs by British mountaineers may be mentioned the con quest of the south face of Mt. Blanc by Oliver and Courtauld with the brothers Aufdenblatten in 1923, and the first crossing of the north face of the Dent d'Herens by a guideless party led by George Finch. The direct ascent of this face was achieved by Weizenbach and Allwein in 1925. The guideless conquest by Raeburn and Ling of the north face of the Disgrazia deserves mention, and also the new Brenva route made in 1927 by F. S. Smythe and T. G. Brown, for the British mountaineers with new climbs to their credit dur ing this period have mostly had to divide it with their guides. On the other hand the Everest expeditions were guideless, as was some of the work done on the American continent by men of the Anglo-Saxon race.