Pyreneism

Although the term "alpinism" has become synonymous with sporting achievement, pyreneism, appearing in the 19th century, distanced itself from it by considering the physical experience of the mountains as inseparable from the aesthetic and cultural emotion.

We cannot mention the word "pyreneism" without speaking about its inventor, the historian and geographer Henri Beraldi. Indeed, as the origin of the word alpinism goes back to 1876 (the French alpine club was created in Paris in 1874), we find the term pyreneism for the first time in the foreword of his Excursion biblio-pyrénéenne ("Biblio-pyrenean excursion") that introduces volume 1 of 100 years in the Pyrenees in 1898:

The picturesque knowledge of the Pyrenees - not to be confused with the scientific knowledge - is today complete.

This required centuries of efforts, traced through a series of writings forming the Pyrenees' history - one says pyreneism like one says alpinism [...]

Contrary to what one may think, when the word "pyreneism" was launched by Henri Beraldi in his 7-volume authoritative book, it was not meant to stand opposite to the word "alpinism".

The word had to wait until the last quarter of the 19th century in order to appear in the French dictionaries, always with a joint reference to alpinism considered as a sport and pyreneism as only one of its variants.

The specialists may talk of pyreneism, himalaism, andenism, it refers to the same action of climbing mountains by their faces, by their ridges or by combining both. Paul Bessière. Alpinism, page 50.

Definition and quote that refer to "Alpinism": 1876, from "alpine", and "-ism". The sport of climbing mountains. This sport is practised in the Alps - andinism, dolomitism, hymalayism, pyreneism ; ascension, scaling, climbing, mountain, rock climbing...

It is a stupid sport that consists in climbing rocks with hands, feet and teeth [...] Lionel Terray. The conquerors of the useless, page 13.

Today the exploration, topographic study and conquest of mountains is perhaps historically ended. This epic has been handled by a number of specialists in France and abroad. In some other countries, other words, other verbs are used to define the practice of climbing a massif, the "making a mountain", with evolutions, technical improvements that are exchanged and universalised.

If the word "alpinism", at least in France, gets detailed into andinism, himalayism,... according to the massif in which the sport is practised, the cultural value of pyreneism in itself remains singular.

When Henri Beraldi received The Pyrenees Prize from the Society of Geographers in Paris, he gave of "pyreneist" (someone who practices pyreneism) the following definition :

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