Abstract

Joseph Sanger Davies's Dolomite Strongholds offers as a distinct way to market the Dolomites as ‘prominent mountains’ in the Victorian period. The chapter reveals how increasingly haptic dimensions of mountaineering complicate the visual space created by a ‘modern’ mountaineer such as Sanger Davies. It explores conflicting and complementary views on the Dolomites offered by English mountaineers and their local guides, describing their encounter as an intimate exchange between two cultural world-views from the very surface of the rock itself. The relationship between Ralph King-Milbanke and his Dolomite guides renders the Dolomite landscape fluid in terms of intercultural exchange whereas Gertrude Bell's visits to the Dolomites offer up further clues on the portability of landscape through naming peaks.

Keywords: haptic vision, Alpine guides, transportable landscape, prominence, rock climbing, Joseph Sanger Davies

I felt the cool rock pressed to my cheek, and the contact turned the train of my thought from physical activity to mental reflection; and I realized my isolated position as a tiny insect perched midway up that vast wall, with half the sky cut off above, and an unthinkable abyss sinking far below.