Sport as a Major Player in the Development of Tourism: The History of Mountaineering in the Pelvoux Massif, France, from 1861 to 1914

Abstract

Tourism and sport are two phenomena that rapidly expanded at the end of the nineteenth century. The latter is often viewed as a service in a system structured by the former, in the way tennis courts or golf courses are established near hotel facilities. Yet, the development of outdoor sports reveals that a tourist territory can be defined by its sports function. Through the example of mountaineering in the French Pelvoux massif, we are going to show that a physical activity may have a major role in determining tourist territories and the local economic growth. This research paper investigates, chronologically and geographically, the expansion of mountaineering in the Pelvoux massif and its spin-off effects on touristic amenities, especially in the development of hotel services, town-and-country planning and communications. This demonstration is based on archives from several alpine societies – the French Alpine Club, the Society of Dauphiné Tourists and the Touring Club de France – as well as on monographs published by mountaineers.

Keywords::

• mountaineering
• tourism
• town-and-country planning
• mountain
• Dauphiné

Notes

^1.Bourdeau, Corneloup, and Mao, “Outdoor Sports and Tourism;” and Bessy, Sports, loisirs, tourisme.

^2.Roy, “Les grandes étapes;” and Mao and Corneloup, “Approche géo-historique des formes.”

^3.Zauhar, “Historical Perspectives of Sports Tourism.”

^4.Dutheil, “Sport and Balneology”; Rainis, Histoire des clubs de plage; and Lencek and Bosker, Beach: The History of Paradise.

^5.Hudson, “Winter Sports Tourism;” Arnaud and Terret, Le rêve blanc; Holt, “An Englishman in the Alps;” Mascret, “L'Aventure sous-marine;” and Schut, L'exploration souterraine.

^6.Hansen, “British Mountaineering;” Manzenreiter, Die soziale Konstruktion des japanischen Alpinismus; Amstaedter, Der Alpinismus; Hoibian, Les alpinistes en France; and Mestre, Histoire de l'alpinisme.

^7.Ottogalli-Mazzacavallo, Femmes et alpinisme; and Bourdeau, “Territoire, culture et identité.”

^8.Raspaud, L'Aventure himalayenne; and Stewart, “British Reaction.”

^9.Boyer, Histoire de l'invention; and Humair, “Hotel Industry and Its Importance.”

^10.Donnely, “Inevitable Sport: An Analysis.”

^11.Bernard, Rush to the Alps.

^12.Tailland, Les alpinistes victoriens.

^13.Mao, Hautbois and Langenbach, “Développement des sports de nature.”

^14.Guilhot, “Histoire d'une parenthèse cartographique.”

^15.Elie de Beaumont, “Pour servir à l'histoire.”

^16.Forbes (ed.), “Travels to the Alps,” 418–19.

^17.Agulhon, Le Cercle.

^18.Veyne, “L'alpinisme, une invention de la bourgeoisie.”

^19.Tailland, Les alpinistes victoriens.

^20.Ball, “Table of the Heights,” 314.

^21.Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 25.

^22.Tucket, Pioneer in the High Alps.

^23.Bonney, Outline Sketches.

^24.Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps.

^25.Duhamel, “Nouvelles tentatives d'ascension,” 341.

^26.Moret, “Images de Paris.”

^27. In 1869, the Deutscher Alpenverein is created. In 1873, it merges with its Austrian counterpart. Together they become the Deutscher Österreichischer Alpenverein.

^28.Mestre, Histoire de l'alpinisme.

^29.Bourdeau, Une mémoire alpine, 124.

^30.Cabantous et al., Mer et montagne.

^31.Whymper, Scrambles amongst the Alps, 17.

^32.MacDonald, “Push and Shove.”

^33.Alpine Club, “A Selection from the New Regulations.”

^34.Bulletin du CAF (1887), 196.

^35.Société des Touristes du Dauphiné, Guides, porteurs et muletiers.

^36. Ibid.

^37.Club Alpin Français, “Statutes,” Article I.

^38.Gauthier et al., “Rapport de la commission des refuges.”

^39.Carrier and Mouthon (eds.), “Les communautés alpines à l'aube.”

^40.Bulletin du CAF (1890), 81, 121, 293.

^41. Paul Guillemin took care of many requests for subsidies amounting to 1500FF (CAF Bulletin du CAF (1878), 8) and 1200FF (CAF Bulletin (1879), 146). Later he was appointed delegate of the Briançon subsection at the CAF head office (CAF Bulletin (1882), 190).

^42. For example, ‘The Briançon sub-section, having spent in shelters and various works an amount of 2000FF resulting from subsidies from the central Management and members’ personal subscriptions, addressed the Management to obtain more funds to establish shelters in Clot de l'Homme, Chalet de l'Alpe, the Lauze pass and Rochebrune. Because of the good works carried out by this section, the central Management decided to give out some of the funds available from the Paris section – 1200FF – in favour of the Briançon sub-section,' Bulletin du CAF (1877), 227.

^43.Bulletin du CAF (1876), 297.

^44.Coolidge, “Le Dauphiné en 1895.”

^45.Bulletin du CAF (1876), 244.

^46.Annuaire de la STD (1888), 14; Rapport du préfet et procès-verbaux des délibérations, sessions d'août 1885, 1021; and Rapport du préfet et procès-verbaux des délibérations, sessions d'août 1886, 1144.

^47.Larique, “L'économie du tourisme.”

^48.Revue mensuelle du TCF (1909), 291; and Revue mensuelle du TCF (1911), 111.

^49.Touring-Club de France, Annuaire général (1903), 428.

^50.Revue mensuelle du TCF (1927), 198.

^51.Touring-Club de France, Annuaire général (1909), 275.

^52. The TCF suggested a standardized type of hotel rooms where the furnishings ensure the kind of comfort and hygiene required by tourists.

^53.Revue mensuelle du TCF (1908), 498.

^54.Fourchy, “La population du canton.”

^55.Bulletin du CAF (1876).

^56.Coolidge, Duhamel and Perrin, Guide du Haut-Dauphiné.

^57.Touring-Club de France, Annuaire général (1909), 333.

^58.Revue mensuelle du TCF (1914), 213.

^59. The ‘Grande Route des Alpes’ is a road connecting Evian to Nice, closely following the Italian border and crossing many high passes. This road is defined in 1909 and is soon the object of a specifically structured tourist offer – a combined service of coaches and train – developed by the PLM (Schut and Levet-Labry, “Le Touring Club de France et la conception d'itinéraires”).

^60.Allix, “La construction de la route.”

^61.Touring-Club de France, Annuaire général (1905), 134–5.

^62.Veyret-Verner, “La deuxième révolution économique.”

^63.Drouet, “Le ski aux frontières.”

^64.Bernard, Rush to the Alps; and Barton, Healthy Living in the Alps.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pierre-Olaf Schut

Pierre-Olaf Schut is a lecturer at ACP, University Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée. He does research on the history of outdoor activities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. After his Ph.D. thesis on the development of caving in France, he now analyses the link between mountaineering and tourism in the Alps.