Editing Mountaineering (section)

===Early mountaineering===
Humans have been present in mountains since prehistory. The remains of [[Ötzi]], who lived in the [[4th millennium BC]], were found in a [[glacier]] in the [[Ötztal Alps]].<ref>[http://www.iceman.it/en/node/233 Description of the Discovery] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213024011/http://www.iceman.it/en/node/233 |date=13 December 2011 }} of Ötzi at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology web site</ref> However, the highest mountains were rarely visited early on, and were often associated with [[supernatural]] or religious concepts.<ref name="SeifertWolf2016">{{Cite book |last1=Ludovic Seifert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-BRDQAAQBAJ |title=The Science of Climbing and Mountaineering |last2=Peter Wolf |last3=Andreas Schweizer |date=19 September 2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-40315-9}}</ref> Nonetheless, there are many documented examples of people climbing mountains prior to the formal development of the sport in the 19th century, although many of these stories are sometimes considered fictional or legendary.<ref name="tour crit"/> A rare medieval example of mountaineering is the 1100 AD ascent of the [[Untersberg]].

The famous poet [[Petrarch]] describes [[Ascent of Mont Ventoux|his 26 April 1336 ascent]] of [[Mount Ventoux]] ({{convert|1912|m|abbr=on}}) in one of his ''[[epistolae familiares]]'', claiming to be inspired by [[Philip V of Macedon]]'s ascent of [[Beklemeto Pass|Mount Haemo]].<ref name="Internet History Sourcebooks Project 1996">{{Cite web |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/petrarch-ventoux.asp |title=Medieval Sourcebook: Petrarch: The Ascent of Mount Ventoux |date=26 January 1996 |website=Internet History Sourcebooks Project |access-date=9 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="Hansen2013">{{Cite book |last=Peter H. Hansen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZU3CUZJN9sC&pg=PA26 |title=The Summits of Modern Man |date=14 May 2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-07452-1}}</ref>

For most of antiquity, climbing mountains was a practical or symbolic activity, usually undertaken for economic, political, or religious purposes. A commonly cited example is the 1492 ascent of [[Mont Aiguille]] ({{convert|2085|m|abbr=on}}) by Antoine de Ville, a French military officer and lord of [[Domjulien]] and Beaupré.<ref name="Hansen2013" /> Because ropes, ladders and iron hooks were used, and because it was the first climb of any technical difficulty to be officially verified, this ascent is widely recognized as being the birth of mountaineering.<ref name="Doran 2023">{{Cite book |last=Doran |first=Jeffrey J. |title=Ramble On: How Hiking Became One of the Most Popular Outdoor Activities in the World |year=2023 |publisher=Amazon Digital Services LLC - Kdp |isbn=979-8373963923}}</ref>

In the [[Andes]], around the late 1400s and early 1500s many ascents were made of extremely high peaks by the [[Incas]] and their subjects. The highest they are known for certain to have climbed is 6739 m at the summit of [[Volcan Llullaillaco]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ice Maiden |date=2006 |publisher=National Geographic | isbn=9780792259121}}</ref>

[[Conrad Gessner]], A mid-16th Century physician, botanist and naturalist from Switzerland, is widely recognized as being the first person to hike and climb for sheer pleasure.<ref name="Doran 2023"/>