Killing Dragons – The Conquest of the Alps –

“A hair-raising and hilarious account of the development of mountaineering.

In the eighteenth century the snowy and inaccessible peaks of the Alps were believed to be home to dragons and other fantastical monsters. This attitude changed during the Enlightenment period when scientific gentlemen and ‘natural philosophers’ dragged their barometers, theodolites, roast fowl, gallons of good wine and reluctant servants onto the virgin heights. However, it was the arrival of the early British explorers which turned mountaineering into an obsession, an art form and a competitive sport. The dragons were gradually slain, one by one.”