View of the west face of Mount Smith.
Mount Smith (Oceana: Smithinegoard, IPA: [smiːŋˈgɒːʁ]) is a Lovian mountain of the Emerald Highlands in Oceana. Its peak is the fourth highest elevation in Lovia and the second highest on Peace Island, and has a height of approximately 900 m (2,951 ft, 899.5 m). It is the second tallest and most difficult-to-climb mountain in Lovia.
Mount Smith is named after the mountaineer and adventurer Matthew Smith who was a member of the first team to climb the mountain.
History[]
Climbing routes and features of Mount Smith, along with the Anderson Traverse.
Early History[]
Mount Smith had been a prominent location for tourists during the 1970s, where locals claimed it was unclimbable. Due to its apparent difficulty and its remoteness, few attempts were made during this time, and its title of the impossible mountain was maintained.
The 1879 Climbing Attempt[]
In 1879 the first attempt to climb the mountain was set off by Peter Anderson and Johann Veit (Lovian and German, respectively), planning to climb the mountain through the Great Chimney, a passage between two massive rock shafts, then reaching the summit, possibly after bivouacking there for the night.
However, things did not go to plan; Anderson and Veit would realize that the most difficult part was not climbing the Great Chimney, but rather reaching it. There was an extremely difficult area directly below it. In order to pass this area, they made an enormous traverse that crossed the entire upper half of the difficult area, and arrived at the Great Chimney. This difficult move, now known as the Anderson Traverse, is the most iconic move of Lovian climbing.
Anderson and Veit would never succeed in bivouacking at the top of the Great Chimney. Though Veit, who was climbing in lead at that point, would arrive there, a badly-positioned nut placed by Veit would become disastrous after Anderson would slip, resulting in his swinging into a rock face, knocking him unconscious. Though Anderson would attempt to climb back up, he would eventually slowly die of exhaustion. Veit, without any options left, attempted to climb back down, but would die in an attempt to perform the Anderson Traverse.
The 1882 Climbing Attempt[]
In 1882 Matthew Smith and Thomas White attempted to be the first to climb the unnamed mountain. Though the mountain was decided to be truly unclimbable after the disastrous 1879 attempt, they were determined to succeed. Instead of attempting the Anderson-Veit route, they would follow a route going in a diagonal line all the way across the mountain, bivouacking along the way, then after sleeping in again at the end of their diagonal move, they would climb straight up to the summit in what would turn out to be a very challenging area of the mountain. Their plan was successful, and they reached the summit of the mountain on the 4th of June in three days.
On the way down Matthew Smith lost his balance and slipped and fell from a sheer cliff face. He died instantly from his fall and was buried at the base of the mountain. In 1886 Thomas White organized a petition to name the Mountain after his Matthew who died while climbing the mountain. The Government accepted and it was officially named Smith Mountain. In 1905 The Smith Climbing trust which was formed by Thomas White and with financial assistance from the Lovian Government built a memorial statue at the base of the Mountain where Smith died and where his body was buried.
The 1922 Climbing Attempt[]
Though the mountain had been proven climbable for many decades, Mount Smith had not had any serious attempts for 40 years due to the fact that no serious attempt had been without deaths. However, a French-Lovian team of Michel Oliviera and Oliver Tennyson would be the first successful climb up the mountain. They would take a route going straight up the mountain from its northern side, then would climb alongside its upper flank to the summit. The climb took three days, and no injuries occurred whatsoever. Oliviera and Tennyson would later die (in 1923) trying to climb "the unclimbable" Kings' Peak.