A high mountain tour (German : Hochtour) is usually multi-day hiking and scrambling that takes place in the higher-altitude zone that is covered by ice all year round, the nival zone. High mountain tours require special additional preparation and equipment to the standard hiking and scrambling requirements.
In the Alps, a high mountain tour is known in the German-speaking areas as a Hochtour where, above a height of about 3,000 metres (High Alps), many mountains are at least partly glaciated. Important historic milestones in the development of high mountain touring in the Alps were the first ascents of the Ankogel (3,262 m) in 1762, Mont Blanc (4,810 m) in 1786, the Großglockner (3,798 m) in 1800 and the Ortler (3,905 m) in 1804 as well as the conquest of many high western Alpine summits during the golden age of Alpinism around the middle of the 19th century. [1] In other parts of the world the term may be misleading. For example, in many non-Alpine areas, such as the polar regions, much lower mountains are glaciated. On the other hand, the summits of much higher peaks in the tropics are not always in the nival zone. As a result, their ascent cannot automatically be described as a high mountain tour using the Alpine definition, even if they share some of the features of Alpinism, such as requiring a certain acclimatization. Mountaineering expeditions in which elevation plays a particularly important role, especially those from about 7,000 m are no longer referred to as high mountain tours, but tend to be described by the term high altitude mountaineering. [2]
In glaciated terrain the risk of crevasses means that even technically easy walks require the use of rope, crampons, and ice axes as well as knowledge of safety and rescue techniques. Techniques and equipment include crevasse rescue gear, the T-anchor, the ice screw, and snow protection. Walking with a rope requires a roped team to be formed and makes trekking alone dangerous. A greater level of fitness and height acclimatization is needed, especially for mountain tours in very high altitudes such as the Himalayas, the Karakorum or the Andes, which reach elevations of over 6,000 metres above sea level (and temperatures can be very low). [3]
The more difficult 'classic high mountain tours' require not just sure-footedness and a head for heights but also the ability to handle basic rock and ice climbing and/or mixed climbing techniques. [3]
The dangers and problems presented by high mountain touring, are caused less by the actual technical difficulty of climbing than by the (often rapidly changing) external conditions. The description of the requirements of a tour with the aid of climbing grade scales is therefore problematic. As a result, such scales attempt to take into account to a greater extent the severity of a route or its fitness requirements. An example of an established rating system for Alpinism is the SAC Mountain and High Mountain Tour Scale. [4]
Map reading and the ability to read the weather may also be important in high mountain touring. When snow falls a knowledge of avalanche behavior is necessary, even in the summer months. High Alpine terrain is currently subject to a particularly high degree of change in terms of glacier retreat and climate change, which can both increase or decrease the difficulty and dangers of high mountain touring. [5]
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports in their own right. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, and bouldering are also considered variants of mountaineering by some, but are part of a wide group of mountain sports.
Jim Wickwire is the first American to summit K2, the second highest mountain in the world. Wickwire is also known for surviving an overnight solo bivouac on K2 at an elevation above 27,000 ft or 8,200 m; considered "one of the most notorious bivouacs in mountaineering history".
The Jungfrau, at 4,158 meters (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the northern canton of Bern and the southern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall of mountains overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.
Glossary of climbing terms relates to rock climbing, mountaineering, and to ice climbing.
Crevasse rescue is a set of techniques in mountaineering where climbers use their equipment to pull a climber, who has just fallen into a crevasse, to safety. Crevasse rescue is considered a core skill set in alpine climbing, but difficult to do efficiently. It is typically encountered by rope teams on glaciers.
The Großglockner, or just Glockner, is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauern range, situated along the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps and the Alpine divide. The Pasterze, Austria's most extended glacier, lies on the Grossglockner's eastern slope.
The Aiguille du Midi is a 3,842-metre-tall (12,605 ft) mountain in the Mont Blanc massif within the French Alps. It is a popular tourist destination and can be directly accessed by cable car from Chamonix that takes visitors close to Mont Blanc.
The self-arrest is a climbing technique mostly used in mountaineering and alpine climbing where a climber who has fallen and is sliding uncontrollably down a snow or ice-covered slope 'arrests' their fall by themselves by using their ice axe and their crampons.
Großvenediger is the main peak of the Venediger Group within the Hohe Tauern mountain range, on the border of the Austrian state of Tyrol with Salzburg. It is generally considered to be Austria's fourth highest mountain. The summit, covered by glaciers, is part of the Hohe Tauern National Park.
Michael Fowler is a British rock climber, ice climber, mountaineer and climbing author. He is internationally noted for his alpine climbing and was awarded the Piolet d'Or three times, with Paul Ramsden, in 2003, 2013, and 2016, for alpine-style first ascents of faces in the Himalayas. Fowler was one of the first British rock climbers to free an E6-graded traditional rock climbing route, and the first ice climber to free a consensus grade VI mixed Scottish winter route.
Robert Lock Graham Irving, was an English schoolmaster, climbing writer and mountaineer. As an author, he used the name R. L. G. Irving, while to his friends he was Graham Irving. He is noted for being the person who introduced George Mallory to mountaineering.
The Cosmiques Hut is a mountain hut in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps at an altitude of 3,613 m. It is a large structure capable of accommodating 148 mountaineers. It was constructed in 1990 on a rock promontory situated between the Col du Midi and the base of the Cosmiques Arête which descends southwards from the Aiguille du Midi. It gives access to a number of classic alpine mountaineering routes, and has proved to be extremely popular with mountaineers, so much so that in the summer months prior booking a few days beforehand is essential in order to secure a bed. The Hut is wardened between mid-February and mid-October. In winter the nearby Abri Simond Hut is left unlocked, although this has no cooking facilities, heating or water.
The Alpine Club Guides were the standard series of alpine climbing guidebookss that cover all the important mountain groups in the Eastern Alps. They were produced jointly by the German (DAV), Austrian (ÖAV) and South Tyrol Alpine Clubs (AVS). They had been published since 1950 by the firm of Bergverlag Rother in Munich, Germany.
Three-thousanders are mountains with a height of between 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), but less than 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above sea level. Similar terms are commonly used for mountains of other height brackets e. g. four-thousanders or eight-thousanders. In Britain, the term refers to mountains above 3,000 feet (910 m).
Armand Charlet was a French mountaineer and mountain guide.
Henri Cordier or Henry Cordier was a French mountaineer. In his short two-year career, he became the first Frenchman to reach the level of the English members of the Alpine Club, in the silver age of alpinism in the second half of the 19th century, which was dominated by the development of mountaineering in the Alps. With some of the Alpine Club's mountain guides and mountaineers, he led significant first ascents in the Mont Blanc massif and in the Dauphiné Alps.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly equipped teams who carry their equipment, and do all of the climbing.
The Tour Ronde is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps, situated on the border between France and Italy. It is a prominent mountain, some 3.5 km north-east of Mont Blanc, but is effectively part of a continuation of the south eastern spur of Mont Maudit which forms a frontier ridge between the two countries. It is easily accessible to mountaineers and provides not only a very good viewpoint from its summit of the Brenva face and the major peaks on the southern side of Mont Blanc, but it also offers a popular introduction to alpine climbing of all grades, including a north face ascent.
Wolfgang Nairz is an Austrian mountain climber, who did many tours in the Himalayas as an expedition leader. He was one of the first three Austrians to stand on top of Mount Everest.
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