From the first ascent of Wetterhorn in 1854 to the Matterhorn in 1865, mountain climbers conquered the Alps in a decade. Summits were no longer scaled in the name of science, but for the beauty of the experience and the thrill of competing in the sport of mountaineering. Illustrated with 350 photographs and illustrations, this history of the "golden age of alpinism" profiles the gentlemen climbers and their guides who found triumph or tragedy on Aiguille Verte and the Brenva face of Mont Blanc, among other peaks.