Lesson 7: Imagination

Question 1

Who said “landscape is the work of the mind, its scenery built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock”?

Answer 1

British historian Simon Schama.

Question 2

Early Europe:

During the Middle Ages and much of the Renaissance, many people in Europe…?

Answer 2

Many people in Europe shunned mountain ranges.

Recall: Yohans Shoytzer, dragons in mountains of Switzerland in early 1700s.

Question 3

Early Europe:

Earlier Europeans, like the ancient Greeks or the Celts, revered mountains as divine palaces. Give an example.

Answer 3

E.g. Mount Olympus. For the ancient Greeks, mountains often were features as the abodes of Gods, like Zeus.

Question 4

Early Europe:

The wilderness and isolation of mountains also impressed the Greeks. Give an example.

Answer 4

E.g. Homer’s 8th century epic poem Illiad, one of oldest extant works of western literature, vividly describes mountain weather.

Question 5

Early Europe:

Mount Olympus in Thessaly, Olympus word predates Greeks, likely used to define …?

Answer 5

Peak or moutanin in generic sense.

Question 6

Early Europe:

Italy, like Greece, is mountainous country, with ___ ruining its entire length and ___ alps form N borders.

Answer 6

Apennines

European

Question 7

Early Europe:

How did Romans view mountains?

Answer 7

Romans viewed mountains as obstacles to commerce and conquest. They were places to be dreaded.

Question 8

Early Europe:

Romans crossed Alps regularly by Caesar’s time. Give an example of a crossing.

Answer 8

E.g. Hannibal’s crossing.

Question 9

Early Europe:

What did Romans do before a crossing?

Answer 9

To appease Celtic deities of alpine passes, Romans made offerings of coins and small bronze tablets inscribed with the names of the deity and the traveller.

Question 10

Early Europe:

Later, medieval Europeans, like their Roman predecessors, …?

Answer 10

They seemed to pay little attention to the grander aspects of nature; there’re actually very few favourable references to mountains in either the literature or graphic art of the age.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, the natural sacred sites central to the practice of pre-Christian religions (e.g. Celtic traditions) were destroyed to a great extent. Mountains became dangerous places, sacred still, but in a negative, demonic sense.

Question 11

Early Europe:

How long did suspicions persist?

Answer 11

Well into the 18th and 19th century, when medieval fears would subside to a new Romantic enthusiasm.

Question 12

Early Asia:
Attitudes in the East greatly contrast with those of the West. In the East, the appreciation of mountains began much earlier. In Japan, China, Tibet, and India, mountains have also been long adored and worshipped. For how long?

Answer 12

They were considered sacred in China ta least 2,000 yrs bc.

Question 13

Early Asia:

The great ranges of China were often represented as ..?

Answer 13

A dragon. Dragons were benevolent, controlling the elements and guarding sources of wisdom.
China mountain dragon: rocks were bones, water blood, vegetation its hair, clouds and mist its breath.

Question 14

Early Asia:

Who was Hannibal?

Answer 14

Hannibal was a Carthaginian general in 281 BC.

Question 15

Early Asia:

What was the Korean people origin myth?

Answer 15

According to origin myth of Korean people, they are descended from the union of a sky god and a bear woman on the sacred volcano Mount Paektu, the highest mountain on the Korean Peninsula. Large crater lake on top, Heaven Lake.

Question 16

Early Asia:
Before the 3rd century (AD) - in China, mtns are dangerous places of supernatural powers; this changes by the 4th century, when mtns were increasingly seen as destinations for leisure purposes. What caused the shift?

Answer 16

4th century, shift in Chinese capital to more attractive mountains in S, and growing discontentment with imperial bureaucracy, people were increasingly traveling to mountains. Similar transformation wouldn’t happen for over 1000 yrs in west

Question 17

Early Asia:

Mountains became inspiration, places of scenic beauty. Give an example.

Answer 17

E.g. Hsieh Ling-Yun poem (AD 433).

Question 18

Early Asia:

For many in the East, sacred mountains were the focus of religious pilgrimage. Give an example.

Answer 18

E.g. Mount Kailash:
Tibet, perhaps most holy mountain on Earth, sacred to adherence of Hindu, Buddhust and the Jain and Bon religions. ~1/4 of world’s population.
Favourite site for circumambulation.
No one has ever stood on its summit. Climbing the mountain is sacrilegious.

Question 19

Early Asia:

What is circumambulation?

Answer 19

The act of walking around a sacred object or idol.

Question 20

Early Asia:

What does Kailash Mtn represent for certain religions?

Answer 20

For Hindu’s Kailash is home to Lord Sheva, one of the 3 major deities. For Buddhists, it’s the deity demshog, who represents supreme bliss.

Question 21

Early Asia:

Many of the higher peaks of the Himalayas are sacred to people of that region. Give examples.

Answer 21

Mount Everest is know in Nepal as Sagarmatha (forehead in the sky), to Tibet it is Chomolungma (Mother goddess of the world).
Access is restricted to certain mountains: Nepal’s Kangchenjunga, and Machapuchare.

Question 22

Americas:
In the European Alps, and the mountains of the Middle East, archeological sites indicate the presence of humans as far back as …?

Answer 22

100,000 ya (stone age)

Question 23

Americas:

In the Americas, radiocarbon dating (of bone, shells, and artifacts) reveals a human presence in mountains for…?

Answer 23

10 or 11,000 yrs (almost as long as humans have been known to have inhabited the Americas).

Question 24

Americas:
The Andes (thousands of ya, at elevations nearing 4500 m) contain perhaps the most spectacular display of human settlement in mountains anywhere. Give an example.

Answer 24

Machu Picchu, a 15th century Inca settlement located high in the Peruvian Andes. The structure appears to lie at the centre of a network of related Inca sites and landmarks that appear to align with astronomical events (e.g. the solstice sunset).
Incas had no written language and left no record as to why they built the site or how they used it before it was abandoned in the early 16th century.
We know that among their deities were the sun, moons, stars, and mountains.

Question 25

The western attraction to wild landscapes in relatively new. 250 yrs ago NAs and Europeans were not seeking wilderness experiences. As late as the 1700s, what words describe the term “wilderness”?

Answer 25

"Deserted"
"Desolate"
"Savage"
"Barren"
"Waste"
"Wasteland"

Question 26

Environmental historians have highlighted two main ideas that changed the way Westerners thought about landscapes. What are they?

Answer 26

The Sublime and The myth of the frontier.
Of 2 movements, sublime is older, more pervasive, more important expression of trans-Atlantic romantic movement.
Myth of frontier is more NA, American to be precise.

Question 27

The Sublime:

Aesthetic concept, first articulated by…?, referring to the thrill and danger of confronting untamed Nature.

Answer 27

Edmund Burke (mid-18th century).

Question 28

The Sublime:

Typically given to landscapes of…?

Answer 28

Vast, immense scale - places where one would feel insignificant , reminded of morality, but also where the supernatural lay just beneath the surface.
E.g. God was on the mountain top, in the chasms, the waterfalls, in thunderclouds and mists.

Question 29

The Sublime:

These landscapes became highly valued. Consider the places that NA first chose to set aside as their national parks.

Answer 29

In the US - Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grande Canyon, Rainier.
In Canada - Banff, Yoho, Glacier.
Yellowstone was first National park in US in 1872, first officially designated national park anywhere, best known for geothermal features like geysers.
Canada’s first national park was rocky mountains national park, later renamed Banff.

Question 30

The Sublime:

For early Romantic writers and artists, 1700s, to enter this space was far from pleasant. Give an example.

Answer 30

E.g. William Wordsworth, major English romantic poet, account of an experience in the Alps, “The Prelude”.

Question 31

The Sublime:
To enter the Sublime was to have a religious experience, but one with a wrathful God. It was to come face to face with the Abyss - the antithesis of reason in the Age of Enlightenment. Give an example.

Answer 31

E.g. English literary writers would elaborate on the idea of this conceptual abyss by writing new types of ghost stories.
In 1816, English literary writers gathered together in a rental house in Geneva, Switzerland, and challenged each other to write a new kind of story. They all travelled that summer to largest glacier in France, Mer de Glace, high above Chamonix. Remember, end of little ice age, amidst fear of another ice age.

Question 32

The Sublime:

What stories came from this?

Answer 32

Percy Bishelies, poem Mont Blanc
Lord Byron, dramatic play Manfred
John Polidori’s 1819 The Vampyre (first ever vampire story)
Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein/Modern Prometheus

Question 33

The Sublime:
Settlements and railways changed the character of wilderness areas throughout NA in the 19th century. They were increasingly tamed. Still supernatural, but no longer wrathful. Give an example.

Answer 33

E.g.g the late-Romantic writings of John Muir.

John Muir, Scottish American Naturalist who described Sierra Nevada mountains of CA.

Question 34

The Myth of the Frontier:
American historian Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote classic academic statement about this myth near the end of 1880s, thesis was that the best antidote …?

Answer 34

The best antidote to the ills of an overly refined and civilized world was a return to simpler, more “primitive” living found in the wild, unsettled lands of the west.

Question 35

The Myth of the Frontier:

Became not just religious redemption, ..?

Answer 35

but national renewal (A place to experience what it meant to be an American; independence)

Question 36

The Myth of the Frontier:

Built into the frontier myth is the idea that the frontier is disappearing. What did this lead to?

Answer 36

Nostalgia for simpler, truer past.
Just as the wild west was romanticised during 19th century, during 20th century, same idea with North and Alaska. In the late 19th century, the myth of the idea of the frontier laid the seeds for the first conservation movement.

Question 37

Mountains and rejuvenation:
The rejuvenating power attributed to mountains can also be witnessed in late 19th century tourism trends. Provided urbanites with health and relief from boredom. Throughout Europe and NA,..?

Answer 37

Health resorts sprang up in the countryside, and health sanitariums were built to accommodate sufferers from the ailments of the modern age.

Question 38

Mountains and rejuvenation:

The supposed curative powers of warm thermal waters created a whole bathing culture. Give an example.

Answer 38

E.g. Mineral springs on Sulphur mountain in Banff, Cave and Basin hot springs, considered the birthplace of Canada’s entire national parks system.

Question 39

The romantic enthusiasm for mountains in the 19th century stimulated a proliferation in mountains art and literature, and also the elaboration of new sporting practices. Who was J.M.W Turner?

Answer 39

English artist J.M.W Turner, re-evaluate natural world, depicting mountains and nature as divine creation as opposed to human avarice.

Question 40

One of the earliest institutionalized mountains sports was…?

Answer 40

Mountain climbing/mountaineering.

Question 41

Mountaineering was first promoted by The Alpine Club. Who were they?

Answer 41

Formed in London at the height of the Empire (1857). Was at first a gentleman’s dining club, a learned society in which members would read peer reviewed articles outlining their climbing exploits at meetings. Published and circulated in Alpine journals. Recall that exploration of European Alps was originally motivated by science…

Question 42

Other mountaineering clubs were soon established throughout Europe. Give an example.

Answer 42

E.g. By the 1880s, the Austro-German Alpine Club had over 18,000 members.

Question 43

Case study: Victorian Mountaineering Club:

Who were the early climbers?

Answer 43

Professional, urban middle classes. Their activities had a basis in scientism and romanticism, but increasingly athleticism.

Question 44

Who was Albert Mummery?

Answer 44

Talked about athleticism of mountaineering.

Perished in avalanche on Nanga Parbat, 9th highest mountain in world, Pakistan.

Question 45

What is the most literary of all sports?

Answer 45

Mountaineering.

2nd longest running periodical in Canada is Canadian Alpine journal, first printed in 1907.

Question 46

Stephan Slemon and Joanna Croston:
The unique institutionalized structure of Victorian mountaineering gave way to a new literary genre: mountain literature. Mountain book and film festivals are now an annual tradition in many communities throughout the Global N. Give an example.

Answer 46

E.g. Banff Mountain Film and Book festival, 41 yr, one of oldest festivals in world celebrating mountain culture. Banff center, over course of 9 days, see over 19000 people visit. Go around world, 1000 screenings, 40 countries, all 7 continents.

Question 47

Present Trends:

Never before in human history have mountains been in such demand or regarded with such favour. Explain.

Answer 47

An estimated 10 mil Americans go mountaineering annually and 50 mil go hiking, 4 mil in Britain consider themselves hill walkers, global sales of outdoor products and services are reckoned at 10 bill annually and growing.

Question 48

Geography Lesson 7:

Answer 48

• Mount Paektu (N Korea and China, highest in Korean Peninsula)
• Nanga Parbat (Gilgit-Baltistan Region, Pakistan, ‘naked mountain’, 9th highest)
• Kangchenjunga (Nepal, India, 3rd highest, “5 treasures of snow”, worshipped by the people of Darjeeling and Sikkim)
• Mount Olympus (Thessaly, Greece, Balkan Mountains)
• Mount Kailash (Tibet Autonomous Region, China)
• The Apennines (Italy range)
• Machapuchare (North Central Nepa, “fishtail”, Annapurna Himalayas, “matterhorn of Nepal”, Sacred to god shiva)

Question 49

Tech Tip (Laura Redmond):
Staying warm in winter.

Answer 49

Staying warm in winter, doubling up on hats gloves and eyewear, parka, thermos and small stove, check weather forecast and sit on pack during breaks.

Question 50

Guest Lecture:

Dean Kerry Mummery, “Why People Climb Mountains”.

Answer 50

• George Leigh Mallory, “because its there”
• Taft Point, Yosemite
• Dean potter
• > 300 people died on Everest
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs