UK, 2011, 1st edition. 304 pp, 25 color, 14 b/w photos. By the end of the 18th century Mont Blanc had been climbed and man had begun to fly in balloons. In 1849 a balloonist flew over the Alps and a little over half a century later aeroplanes were also doing so. The age of aerial mountaineering had begun. Worldwide in its scope, balloons were destined to include the first aeropostale flights across the Andes, exploration in Alaska, across the Poles and in the Himalayas, scientific investigation, and rescue.
