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Although the ''practice'' of rock climbing was an important component of Victorian mountaineering in the Alps, it is generally thought that the ''sport'' of rock climbing began in the last quarter of the 19th century in at least three areas: Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Saxony near Dresden,〔Goldammer, Albert & Wächtler, Martin (1936). "Bergsteigen in Sachsen", Dresden〕 the Lake District of England,〔Jones, Owen Glynne (1900). "Rock Climbing in the English Lake District", G. P. Abraham & Sons, Keswick〕 and the Dolomites in Italy.〔"Bergakrobaten: Die Dolomiten und die Erfindung des Kletterns", Città di Bolzano, Bolzano 2006〕 Rock climbing evolved gradually from an alpine necessity to an athletic sport in its own right, making it imprudent to cite a primogenitor of the latter in each of these three locales. Nevertheless, there is some general agreement on the following: *Heralded as a sport in England in the late 1880s after the (well publicised) solo first ascent of the ''Napes Needle'' by Walter Parry Haskett Smith, rock climbing attracted increasing numbers of participants. An early benchmark approaching modern levels of difficulty was the ascent, by O. G. Jones, of ''Kern Knotts Crack'' (VS) in 1897. Jones was attracted to the new sport by a photo of the Needle in a shop window in the early 1890s. By the end of the Victorian era as many as 60 enthusiasts at a time would gather at the Wastwater Hotel in the Lake District during vacation periods.〔Hankinson, Alan (1972). "The First Tigers", J. M. Dent & Sons, London〕 *Inspired by the efforts of late 19th century pioneers such as Oskar Schuster (''Falkenstein'', Schusterweg 1892), by 1903 there were approximately 500 climbers active in the Elbe Sandstone region, including the well-known team of Rudolf Fehrmann and the American, Oliver Perry-Smith; their 1906 ascent of ''Teufelsturm'' (at VIIb) set new standards of difficulty. By the 1930s there were over 200 small climbing clubs represented in the area.〔 *The solo first ascent of ''Die Vajolettürme'' in 1887 by the 17-year-old Munich high school student, Georg Winkler, encouraged the acceptance and development of the sport in the Dolomites.〔 As rock climbing matured, a variety of grading systems were created in order to more accurately compare relative difficulties of climbs. Over the years both climbing techniques and the equipment climbers use to advance the sport have evolved in a steady fashion. == Some historical benchmarks == *400 BC: Chinese watercolors that depict men climbing rocks. *14th century AD: The Anasazis in the southwest United States drilled holes for posts and carved steps up the steep rock cliffs in Chaco Canyon. There are cliff dwellings scattered throughout the southwest. Given the difficult approaches to some of these cliff dwellings it seems reasonable to assume that the natives had the skills necessary to ascend what would now be considered technical climbing terrain. *1492 : Antoine de Ville ascends Mont Inaccessible, Mont Aiguille, a 300 meter rock tower south of Grenoble, France. Under orders from his king, he used the techniques developed for sieging castles to attain an otherwise unreachable summit. The ascent is described by François Rabelais in his Quart Livre. *1695 : Martin Martin describes the traditional practice of fowling by climbing with the use of ropes in the Hebrides of Scotland, especially on St Kilda.〔Martin, Martin (1703) ("A Voyage to St. Kilda" in ''A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland'' ). Retrieved 3 March 2007.〕 *1786 : The first ascent of Mont Blanc is often referred to as the start of mountaineering’s “modern era”. It took another century before history documents the use of devices similar to today’s fixed anchors: pitons, bolts and rappel slings. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of rock climbing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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