Europe

Australia

Japan

United States

Yosemite Valley 1950’s

Yosemite Valley 1960’s

Yosemite Valley 1970’s

Yosemite Valley 1980’s

Yosemite Valley 1990’s

John Muir and Cathedral Peak, 1869

Half Dome, 1875

The Lake District, The Dolomites, and The Elbe Sandstone Mountains, 1880’s

The First Ascent of Mont Blanc, 1786

Mont Aiguille and the beginning of Mountaineering, 1492

High atop Mont Aiguille, the birth of mountaineering is said to have taken place. Mont Aiguille, formerly known as “Mount Inaccessible,” was a Goliath to be conquered by Charles VIII of France in June of 1492, though in reality it was his courtiers, Lord Antoine de Ville and a group of a dozen or more others who attained the first ascent of the now 2,085 meter plateau.

De Ville was originally in charge of leading the siege of walled towns, so siege techniques consisting of large grappling hooks, ladders, and ropes were used in the ascent of Mont Aiguille. Once again, the modern sport of climbing has taken its roots from warfare and siege techniques. Just like in Alexander’s great empire, the French used their methods of scaling man-made stone walls in order to conquer mountains. Upon reaching the top of Mont Aiguille, De Ville’s climbing party found a field of grass and flowers, many colored birds, and several small goats (Cite: Clark’s The Alps).

Ancient China, 200/400 BC

The origins of rock climbing, according to every website or book on the subject, were first documented in China in 400 BC (Or 200 BC, depending on which Wikipedia article they choose to cite). Google search “climbing history” online, and every source will say that there exists watercolors depicting men climbing rocks, yet finding these alleged watercolors becomes difficult. More likely the case, is that there were durable paintings done on walls or silk of men scrambling up and over rock to flee enemies during wartime in China.

Standard climbing history also states that the Anasazis (not just a shoe model name) in the Southwestern United States were prominent cliff dwellers in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico and surrounding areas. The Anasazis were able to carve out cliff faces to create dwellings that could easily be defended during an attack. Rock climbing takes its origins from necessity, spirituality, and just wanting to conquer that which is enormous and immovable.

Alexander the Great, 330BC

One of the first recorded accounts of climbing for competition dates back to the first half of 300 BC, and the reign of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. This account is contained in the pages of the Anabasis of Alexander, written by Arrian of Nicomedia, a military historian in the early years of AD. Arrian wrote the Anabasis of Alexander, using the biography of Alexander by Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s leading generals. A written account of a brutal climbing competition is as follows:

Alexander sent a herald through the camp, offering prizes to scale the rocks; twelve talents (fourteen thousand five hundred dollars) to the first who succeeded, nine to the second, and so on, down to three hundred Darics (eleven hundred dollars); and excited the ambition of many. Of those who were expert climbers, having learned in sieges and mountain training how to scale walls and cliffs, three hundred in number volunteered.

They provided themselves with ropes, took their iron tent pegs, and selecting the most dangerous, because least watched, spot, began the ascent at midnight, by driving the pegs into the crevices of the rocks, or into the ice or frozen ground. The operation was hazardous in the extreme, and thirty of the climbers fell and were killed. The inaccessibility of the ledges is shown by the fact that none of the bodies could be recovered for burial. But by dawn the heights were occupied, and the men made great parade of themselves, waving their white scarfs in token of success.

Modern climbing competitions could be easily compared to the difficulty of this competition. But then why are today’s climbers not falling to their deaths as frequently? The answer of course, is technology and improved climbing techniques. Alexander’s empire may have had fearless men willing to scale walls of ice to win a few pieces of gold or silver, but what didn’t exist in the first half of 300 BC was modern methods of steel manufacturing or other modern technologies. Steel did exist during the age of Alexander, though it was made with impurities in the metal which caused its strength and durability to weaken.