August 12, 2009

The Golden Age of Alpinism

150th anniversary of first ascent of the Bietschhorn.

150 years ago, British climber Leslie Stephen became the first to scale the almost 4,000 metre Bietschhorn in the Bernese Alps. His humorous description of the ascent appeared in the first edition of the Alpine Journal in 1863, the mouthpiece of the elite British institution, the Alpine Club. His article helped to draw streams of climbers to the Swiss Alps, and this period became known as the Golden Age of Alpinism. Julie Hunt retraced the footsteps of Leslie Stephen and visited the home of his Swiss guide, Johann Siegen. (Julie Hunt, swissinfo.ch, 13.08.2009)