W. S. Jackson

“ To most men, who have done somewhat more than the ordinary show-peak climbing, who have got beyond the educational drudgery of the art, and grown enthusiastic for the most dehghtful of all forms of outdoor exercise, there comes the desire of conquering a virgin peak. ”

“ In the Alps there are none such left to conquer, though there is at least one whereon, though sometimes climbed, the foot of man has never stood. The mountaineer thirsting for fame is reduced to forcing new paths by forbidden routes up or down the oft-climbed peaks. ”

“ A vague idea at first, then a shadowy possibility, it soon becomes a positive yearning to stand where no human foot has stood before, scale at least one soaring point free from cairns and luncheon cans, before axe and rope are laid by for ever. ”