Draft:Pyreneism

Count Henry Russell (foreground) and Léonce Lourde-Rocheblave, seated near the entrance of the Russell Caves at the Vignemale, accompanied by their guides.

Pyreneism is a 19th century sporting, artistic, and literary movement centered around exploring the Pyrenees in order to create works inspired by the experience, whether for contemplative, artistic, or scientific purposes. The term was coined in 1898 by the scholar Henri Beraldi in his book Cent ans aux Pyrénées (transl. A Hundred Years in the Pyrenees), where he described a specific way of engaging with the Pyrenean mountains. According to his definition, "the ideal Pyreneist knows how to climb, write, and feel," setting them apart from the typical mountaineer through a more intellectual approach that goes beyond mere physical performance.

The Pyreneist movement is generally considered to have begun with the publication of Louis Ramond de Carbonnières's Observations faites dans les Pyrénées (transl. Observations Made in the Pyrenees) in 1789. It reached its golden age in the second half of the 19th century with the generation known as the Pléiade, which included notable figures like Count Henry Russell and geographer Franz Schrader. It was led by a small group of individuals from the social elite (aristocracy and upper bourgeoisie) or the intellectual class, who made significant efforts to bring attention to their unique practice.

Pyreneism is part of the broader development of the Romantic movement in Europe and the rise of spa tourism in France. It played a major role in the study and promotion of the Pyrenean mountain range, which its practitioners explored in a methodical way. By the turn of the 20th century, as mountaineering shifted toward greater physical commitment and technical difficulty, the distinction between Pyreneism and Alpinism began to fade.

The legacy of Pyreneism began to take shape in the early 20th century, particularly through the efforts of Louis Le Bondidier, who founded the Musée pyrénéen de Lourdes. This legacy continues through a tradition of regularly publishing specialized release books and journals dedicated to the phenomenon. Many peaks in the Pyrenees have been named in honor of Pyreneists, some of whom are buried in the Pyrenean cemetery in Gavarnie.

Definition

L'idéal du pyrénéiste est de savoir à la fois ascensionner, écrire, et sentir. S'il écrit sans monter, il ne peut rien. S'il monte sans écrire, il ne laisse rien. Si, montant, il relate sec, il ne laisse rien qu'un document, qui peut être il est vrai de haut intérêt. Si — chose rare — il monte, écrit et sent, si en un mot il est le peintre d'une nature spéciale, le peintre de la montagne, il laisse un vrai livre, admirable.

The ideal of the Pyrenean mountaineer is to know how to climb, write, and feel. If he writes without climbing, he has nothing to offer. If he climbs without writing, he leaves nothing behind. If, while climbing, he recounts dryly, he leaves behind only a document, which may indeed be of great interest. If—something rare—he climbs, writes, and feels, if, in a word, he is the painter of a unique world, the painter of the mountain, then he leaves behind a true, admirable book.

— Henri Béraldi, Cent ans aux Pyrénées, 1989

A romantic vision and elitist practice of the mountains

Henri Béraldi, inventor of the term "pyreneism".

The term "pyreneism" was coined in 1898 by the memoirist and writer Henri Béraldi in the first volume of his work Cent ans aux Pyrénées (transl. A Hundred Years in the Pyrenees), which traces the history of hikes, ascents, and the touristic discovery of the Pyrenees throughout the 19th century. From the very first pages, the author declares that the Pyreneist ideal is "to know how to climb, write, and feel" all at once.

Historian Étienne Bordes argues that this triptych "sets Pyreneism apart through its grounding in a Romantic sensibility, in the contemplative ethos of discovering the world from above," and brings together a group of men and women who "described, sketched, cataloged, popularized, developed, and at times exploited the Pyrenean massif." According to geographer Xavier Arnauld de Sartre, Pyreneism "seeks to express a form of elective identification with a place and a social group of exceptional longevity ... while also constituting an intense and original sporting, artistic, and publishing activity." Pyreneism stands apart from spa tourism and resort-based tourism due to the difficulty and risks inherent in its practice.

While Pyreneism shares the same goal as Alpinism, it also includes, according to its advocates, "a passion for discovery, a love of art and science." One of the peculiarities of Pyreneism is that most of its members are not native to the Pyrenees, to the point that Louis Le Bondidier wryly remarked in 1907: "to become a true Pyreneist, it is almost essential not to have been born a Pyrenean. ... The native-born Pyrenean is immune to the Pyreneist bug."

Étienne Bordes explains that the defense and promotion of a specific practice of the Pyrenean mountains "is the subject of a symbolic struggle by its practitioners," who thereby demonstrate their loyalty and attachment to the values and spirit of early alpinism, as described by sociologist Delphine Moraldo. At the turn of the 20th century, while alpinism "was becoming corrupted by an excessive use of muscle, rock-climbing techniques, and brute strength," Pyreneists "sought to preserve a way of engaging with and perceiving the mountain" with an artistic and scientific aim that combines discovery and self-improvement.

This historical definition is the one adopted by Saule-Sorbé in the Dictionnaire des Pyrénées and by the IEC Dictionary of the Catalan Language.

Bibliography

Works cited

• Béraldi, Henri (1898). Cent ans aux Pyrénées [One hundred years in the Pyrenees] (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Impr. de L. Danel.
• Bordes, Étienne (2024). Petite histoire des pyrénéistes [A short history of the pyreneists] (in French). Morlaàs: Cairn. ISBN 979-10-7006-381-1.