CONWAY

Conway first saw the Alps at the age of sixteen, and from 1872 to 1901 he missed very few Alpine seasons. Conway always preferred passes to peaks, and they inspired the most effective of his mountain writing. His tastes found expression in that long Alpine journey which is recorded in The Alps from End to End (1895). In 1892 he mapped 2,000 square miles of the Karakoram (Himalayas) range, an achievement which earned him his knighthood in 1895. He made the first crossing of Spitsbergen in 1896, and his experiments with ski on that occasion placed him among the pioneers of British ski-ing. In 1898 he visited the Bolivian Andes and climbed Illimani, Sorate, and Aconcagua (22,900 ft.). He was president of the Alpine Club from 1902 to 1904, and first president of the Alpine Ski Club in 1908.