http://stravaiger.com/blog/tags/ethics/ Recent content in Ethics on eBothy Blog Hugo en-us Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://stravaiger.com/blog/2008/02/23/what-is-a-mountaineer/ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000 http://stravaiger.com/blog/2008/02/23/what-is-a-mountaineer/ <p>I&rsquo;m reading <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Dragons-Conquest-Fergus-Fleming/dp/1862074534/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1203767178&amp;sr=8-1" title="Killing Dragons">Killing Dragons</a> at the moment, a superbly readable, entertaining and humourous account of the development of mountaineering in the Alps. I&rsquo;m up to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Whymper" title="Edward Whymper">Whymper</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyndall" title="John Tyndall">Tyndall</a>, having started with the greats of early Alpine exploration, Balmat and Paccard when they <a href="http://www.montblanc.to/uk/mtblanc/texte1.html" title="Mont Blanc ascent">first climbed Mont Blanc</a>, followed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace-B%C3%A9n%C3%A9dict_de_Saussure" title="Horace-Bénédict de Saussure">Saussure</a> and watched from afar all the time by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Theodore_Bourrit" title="Marc Theodore Bourrit">Bourrit</a>. The characters come alive in the book and you get a feel for what it must have been like to be a mountaineer in those far off days, of quaffing champagne on the summits and sleeping rough where there are now Alpine huts. But it also got me thinking about what it is to be a mountaineer.</p>