To the impartial observer Britain does not appear to have any mountains. Yet the British invented the sport of mountain climbing and for two periods in history British climbers led the world in the pursuit of this beautiful and dangerous obsession. Unjustifiable Risk is the story of the social, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of the scientists and poets, parsons and anarchists, villains and judges, ascetics and drunks that have shaped its development over the past two hundred years. The history of climbing inevitably reflects the wider changes that have occurred in British society, including class, gender, nationalism and war, but the sport has also contributed to changing social attitudes to nature and beauty, heroism and death. Over the years, increasing wealth, leisure and mobility have gradually transformed climbing from an activity undertaken by an eccentric and privileged minority into a sub-division of the leisure and tourist industry, while competition, improved technology and information, and increasing specialisation have helped to create climbs of unimaginable difficulty at the leading edge of the sport. But while much has changed, even more has remained the same. Today's climbers would be instantly recognisable to their Victorian predecessors, with their desire to escape from the crowded complexity of urban society and willingness to take "unjustifiable" risk in pursuit of beauty, adventure and self-fulfilment.

Unjustifiable Risk was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker prize in 2011.

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Before 1854: In Search of the Sublime

From gloom to glory
Aesthetes and heroes

Chapter 3 1854–65: A Conscious Divinity

Chapter 4 1865–1914: Gentlemen and Gymnasts

The Alps
The Lake District
North Wales
Scotland
Outcrops
The Greater Ranges

Chapter 5 1914–39: Organised Cowardice

The Lake District
North Wales
Scotland
Outcrops
The Alps
The Greater Ranges

Chapter 6 1939–70: Hard Men in an Affluent Society

North Wales
The Lake District
Scotland
Outcrops
The Alps
The Greater Ranges

Chapter 7 After 1970: Reinventing the Impossible

Rock climbing
Mountaineering

Chapter 8 Because it’s there?

Notes
List of Photographs

Appendix I A Note on Grades

Appendix II Glossary of Climbing Terms

Selected Bibliography

Index

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