"Pilgrims of the Vertical": Yosemite Climbing and Modern Environmental Culture
"Pilgrims of the Vertical" is a book-length study of how people have related to nature through sport. Yosemite is a particularly compelling place to study these interactions because it has been extremely important in the development of both the modern sport of mountaineering and modern environmental aesthetics. Rock climbers and environmentalists also share a tendency to think of the things they hold dear as timeless, yet a central reality of this history is how sport, technology, and nature have changed over time, and how their changing contexts have in turn reshaped people's ideas about the conduct of recreation and their place in nature.
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