page_title: Francis Fox Tuckett
section_title: Alpinism
hierarchical_section_title: Francis Fox Tuckett / Alpinism
caption_attribution_description: English: Aletschhorn from north
context_page_description: Francis Fox Tuckett FRGS was an English mountaineer. He was vice-president of the Alpine Club from 1866 to 1868, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
context_section_description: Tuckett was one of the main figures of the Golden age of alpinism, making the ascent of 269 peaks and the crossing of 687 passes. In Scrambles amongst the Alps Edward Whymper called Tuckett "that mighty mountaineer, whose name is known throughout the length and breadth of the Alps". Geoffrey Winthrop Young called Tuckett's approach to climbing "encyclopaedic".
  His first trip to the Alps was in 1842 in the company of his father. They went to Chamonix and he explored the Mer de Glace. 
  On 18 June 1859 he made the first ascent of the Aletschhorn in the Swiss Alps together with the guides Johann Joseph Bennen, Peter Bohren and V. Tairraz. Here he showed his passion for scientific observation, making barometric calculations during the climb and on the summit in the teeth of a strong gale. Of the scene at the summit he wrote:
  The wind of such violence as almost to carry off one's legs, driving snow, and twenty degrees Fahrenheit of frost, are not quite the companions one would select for examination of so vast a landscape . . . but . . . I unhesitatingly maintain that there is a joy in these measurings of the strength of nature in her wildest moods, a quiet sense of work done, in the teeth of the opposition.
  — 
  In 1861, Tuckett tested a prototype Alpine sleeping bag. Within a few years he had perfected a bag design which consisted of blanket material with rubber-coated fabric on the underside.
  He pioneered exploration within the Dauphiné Alps in the French Alps, in 1862 making the first crossings of the col des Ecrins, the col du Sélé and the col du Glacier Blanc in the Massif des Écrins with the guides Michel Croz, Peter Perren and Bartolommeo Peyrotte. He also made an attempt, with the same party, on the highest mountain in the range, the unclimbed Barre des Ecrins. In Tuckett's own words:
  Arrived on the plateau [of the Glacier de l'Encula] a most striking view of the Ecrins burst upon us, and a hasty inspection encouraged us to hope its ascent would be practicable. On the sides of La Bérade and the Glacier Noir it presents, as has already been stated, the most precipitous and inaccessible face that can be conceived, but in the direction of the Glacier de l'Encula, as the upper part of the Glacier Blanc is named on the French map, the slopes are less rapid, and immense masses of névé and séracs cover it nearly to the summit. The snow was in very bad order, and as we sank at each step above the knee, it soon became evident that our prospects of success were extremely doubtful. A nearer approach, too, disclosed traces of fresh avalanches, and after much deliberation and a careful examination through the telescope, it was decided that the chances in our favour were too small to render it desirable to waste time in the attempt
  — 
  According to Whymper, Tuckett "halted before the Pointe des Ecrins [as the Barre was then called], and, dismayed by its appearance, withdrew his forces to gather less dangerous laurels elsewhere". The expedition did have the benefit, however, of "[throwing] some light on the Ecrins".
  Tuckett was also one of the first alpinists to explore the Dolomites in Italy; in 1865, together with Douglas William Freshfield, he traversed the Pale di San Martino group in eastern Trentino, crossing the San Martino Dolomites for the first time, a feat which astonished the mountaineering world as they had no maps and little equipment, relying on skill and intuition. In Trentino, the names of Tuckett, Freshfield, John Ball, and Edward Robson Whitwell are remembered as the pioneers who put the Dolomites on the map. In 1871, in the Brenta Dolomites, Tuckett, with Freshfield and guide Devouassou climbed the Cima Brenta (3,150 m) via the Vedretta di Brenta Superiore on the west side; at the time this peak was thought to be the highest summit in the range. The Rifugio Tuckett above Madonna di Campiglio, situated at an altitude of 2,272 metres in the Brenta Dolomites, is named after him, as is the Bocca del Tuckett (2,648 m), a pass between two steep, rocky peaks that may be seen from the hut. 
  In the Bernina Range in Italy and
caption: The Aletschhorn from the north
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