Exploration of the higher region of the Alps by travellers from outside the immediate region only became popular from the 18th century. About 20 glacier passes were known before 1600, 25 more before 1700, and another 20 before 1800. While an attempt in 1689 to “re-open” the Col du Géant by Philibert-Amédée Arnod, an official from the duchy of Aosta, may be counted as having been made by a non-native, historical records do not show any further such activities until the last quarter of the 18th century.^[1] There are some records of very early ascents by non-natives, including that of the Rocciamelone in 1358 in fulfilment of a vow; that of the Mont Aiguille in 1492 by order of Charles VIII of France; and the ascent of the Gnepfstein, the lowest and the most westerly of the seven summits by Conrad Gessner in 1555.

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The first people who systematically explored the regions of ice and snow were Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740–1799),^[2] in the Pennine Alps, and the Benedictine monk of Disentis, Placidus a Spescha (1752–1833), in the valleys at the sources of the Rhine. In the early 19th century the Meyer family of Aarau climbed the Jungfrau (1811), and the Finsteraarhorn (1812), and opened several glacier passes. Their activity was entirely confined to the Bernese Oberland. Their pioneering work was extended by several Swiss adventurers, including Gottlieb Samuel Studer (1804–1890) of Bern and Edouard Desor (1811–1882) of Neuchâtel. The first-known English climber in the Alps was Colonel Mark Beaufoy (1764–1827), who made the fourth ascent of Mont Blanc in 1787.

In the Eastern Alps, serious exploration began with the first ascent of the Großglockner in 1800, initiated by Franz-Xaver Salm-Raifferscheid, Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt. Around Monte Rosa, the Vincent family, Josef Zumstein (1783–1861), and Giovanni Gnifetti (1801–1867) did good work during the half century between 1778 and 1842, while in the Eastern Alps archduke John (1782–1850), Friedrich Prince zu Schwarzenberg (1809–1885), Valentine Stanig (1774–1847), Adolf Schaubach (1800–1850) and P.J. Thurwieser (1789–1865) were pioneers in the first half of the 19th century.

In the early 1850s the taste for mountaineering developed, with stimulus provided by the foundation of various national Alpine clubs. The first was the English Alpine Club (founded in the winter of 1857–1858), followed in 1862 by the Austrian Alpine Club, the Italian and Swiss Alpine Club in 1863 and the German Alpine Club in 1869. In 1873, the German and Austrian clubs joined to form the German and Austrian Alpine Club. The French Alpine Club formed in 1874. Members of these clubs and societies carried out detailed exploration of the High Alps, built club huts, organized and trained guides, and published detailed information on routes and ascents in the club periodicals.

The following two sub-joined lists give the dates of the first ascent of the greater peaks.

• Golden age of alpinism
• History of the Alps
• Silver age of alpinism
• A detailed list of first ascents, including over a hundred mountains in the Alps
• List of mountains of the Alps, all 1500+ peaks with >300 m prominence, most with first ascent years