ABSTRACT
In the European Alps of France and Switzerland, one sneaks up on the mountains through endless miles of narrow winding valleys. In Great Britain, the mountains of the Lake District, Wales, and Scotland are invariably introduced by preludes of rolling lower hills. The region of interface between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, commonly known as the Front Range, has been of major importance in Colorado’s rock climbing history. Longs Peak is the dominant mountain in the Park, and its massive square top can be seen from miles in every direction. Close to Rocky Mountain Park lies the thronged-with-tourists-in-the-summer-but-virtually-a-graveyard-in-the-winter township of Estes Park. Mountaineering, in the classic sense, involves climbing mountains by ridges and faces, where the attainment of the summit is the prime objective. Rock climbing is more specialized than mountaineering, but rock climbers are inspired by no single motivational force.
