The Alps in 1864

Description

Published by David Douglas, Edinburgh, 1902, 1st Public Edition, cloth faded especially spine, V.G. sound copy.   Adolphus Warburton Moore (1841-1887), generally known as A.W. Moore, was a British mountaineer prominent in the ‘Golden Age’ of mountaineering.  He made the first ascent of a number of well known routes, namely the Fiescherhorn  in 1862 (with H.B. George and guides Christian Almer and Ulrich Kaufmann) and the Barre des Ecrins in 1864 (with Edward Whymper, Horace Walker and guides Michel Croz and Almer), followed in 1865 by Piz Roseg (with Walker and guide Jakob Anderegg), the Ober Gabelhorn (with Walker and Anderegg), the Pigne d’Arolla (with Walker and Anderegg), and the Brenva Spur on Mont Blanc (with Walker, Frank Walker, George Spence Mathews and guides Anderegg and Melchior Anderegg).  This final route, the Brenva Spur, on the southern side of the massif was at the time by far the most difficult route on the mountain.  Moore also went to the Caucasus with Douglas Freshfield, Charles Comyns Tucker and guide Francois Devouassoud in 1868, making the first ascent by a non-native of Mount Elbrus (lower summit) and the first ascent of Kazbek with the same party.  Originally published privately in 1867 in a limited edition of 100 copies, this first public edition included much material from his unpublished diaries, including his excellent account of the first ascent of the Brenva Spur on Mont Blanc.