Unjustifiable Risk? The Story of British Climbing

by Thompson, Simon

• ISBN13: 9781852846275
• ISBN10: 1852846275
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-01
• Publisher: Cicerone Press Limited

Summary

To the impartial observer Britain does not appear to have any mountains. Yet the British invented the sport of mountain climbing and for two periods in history British climbers led the world in the pursuit of this beautiful and dangerous obsession. Unjustifiable Risk is the story of the social, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of the scientists and poets, parsons and anarchists, villains and judges, ascetics and drunks that have shaped its development over the past two hundred years.Over the years, increasing wealth, leisure and mobility have gradually transformed climbing from an activity undertaken by an eccentric and privileged minority into a sub-division of the leisure and tourist industry, while competition, improved technology and information have helped to create climbs of unimaginable difficulty at the leading edge of the sport.Today's climbers would be instantly recognizable to their Victorian predecessors, with their desire to escape from the crowded complexity of urban society and willingness to take 'unjustifiable' risk in pursuit of beauty, adventure and self-fulfillment.

Author Biography

Simon started climbing at age 16 and has been fascinated by the sport ever since. A former director of Anglo American and chairman of Tarmac, he has lived in seven different countries and currently sits on the boards of companies headquartered in Russia, Sweden, the UK and the USA, but he continues to escape to the mountains whenever time permits.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. x
Introduction	p. 1
Before 1854: In Search of the Sublime	p. 7
From gloom to glory	p. 8
Aesthetes and heroes	p. 15
1854-65: A Conscious Divinity	p. 29
1865-1914: Gentlemen and Gymnasts	p. 51
The Alps	p. 57
The Lake District	p. 79
North Wales	p. 91
Scotland	p. 99
Outcrops	p. 104
The Greater Ranges	p. 107
1914-39: Organised Cowardice	p. 123
The Lake District	p. 136
North Wales	p. 142
Scotland	p. 151
Outcrops	p. 156
The Alps	p. 158
The Greater Ranges	p. 169
1939-70: Hard Men in an Affluent Society	p. 189
North Wales	p. 205
The Lake District	p. 218
Scotland	p. 221
Outcrops	p. 234
The Alps	p. 237
The Greater Ranges	p. 248
After 1970: Reinventing the Impossible	p. 261
Rock climbing	p. 282
Mountaineering	p. 296
Because it's There?	p. 323
Notes	p. 341
A Note on Grades	p. 359
Glossary of Climbing Terms	p. 361
Selected Bibliography	p. 363
Index	p. 379
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