Mountaineering is the oldest and most complete of mountain sports. It could be defined as the action of climbing mountains, but always out of a desire to improve, as a response to a different personal impulse in each one or for the pleasure of reaching a peak and observing the terrain that opens before the eyes.
Despite the fact that man has had to climb mountains since ancient times, mountaineering as a sport arises when it begins to practice not as an obligation, but to satisfy the concerns of those who practice it. This change occurs at the end of the XNUMXth century when a group of Englishmen traveled to the Alps with the focus of exploring the unknown until then. In a short time, the Alps were a meeting place for those who wanted to "climb mountains" for the simple pleasure of climbing them.
Little by little the Alpinism has been evolving, up to the current concept. Today the good mountaineer must know ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice or mixed terrain (one that combines rock and ice), but must also have notions of orientation.