In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:
It is good to be reminded of this mega-classic of Alpine literature.
Two quibbles. One, I think you are a bit harsh in omitting any mention of Whymper's great classic 'Scrambles Amongst the Alps' - arguably the greatest piece of all mountain literature. Two, I'm rather surprised you don't tell us more about the Mummery Crack, which I've been told by those who've done it is possibly as hard as 5B, and so would have been E1 done with no protection, as Mummery did it in 1887, or whenever it was.
Actually, a third quibble too. The omission of Stephen's 'Playground of Europe'. This is an unquestionably finer piece of literature, in terms of literary style, yet the books are not really comparable, because Stephen's work is rooted in the traditional values of the Golden Age of Victorian mountaineering, whereas Mummery's represents something entirely new in its bold modernity, far ahead of its time. And Mummery's final paragraph remains one of the great classics of mountain literature:
'Happily for us, the great brown slabs bending over into immeasurable space, the lines and curves of the wind-moulded cornices, the delicate undulations of fissured snow, are old and trusted friends, ever luring us to fun and laughter and enabling us to bid a study defiance to all the ills that time and life oppose.'
Post edited at 09:26