Modern Alpinists try to climb mountains by a route which will give them good sport, and the more difficulty is, the more highly is regarded. In the pioneering days, however, this was not the case at all. The early climbers were looking for the easiest way to top, because the summit was the prize they sought, especially if it had never been attained before. It is true that during their explorations, they often faced diffculities and dangers of the most perilous nature, equipped in a manner which would make a modern climber shudder at the thought, but they did not go out of their way to court such excitment. They have a single aim, a solitary goal- the top.
It is hard for us to realize nowadays how difficulty it was for the pioneers. Excert for one or two places, such as Zermatt and Chamonix, which had rapidly become popular, Alpine villages tended to be impoverished settlements cut off from civilization by the high mountains. Such inns as there were were generally dirty and flea-ridden, the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine. Often a vally boasted no inn at all, and climbers found shelter whever they could--Sometimes with the local priest ( who was usually as poor as his parishioners), sometimes with sheperds or cheese-makers. Invariably the background was the same, dirt and poverty, and uncomfortable. For men accustomed to eating seven course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have been very hard indeed.
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