The Romantic concept of the Sublime—nature as a source of inspiration, awe, and fear—was well-established by the mid-eighteenth century. Creative intellectuals such as John Ruskin posited that mountain viewing and climbing were a way to open the self to the Sublime. For women, such attempts were difficult. Nevertheless, some made the attempt to prove their physical stamina and to seek inspiration. Louisa May Alcott, the writer, and May Alcott Nieriker, her artist sister, both undertook such mountain journeys: Louisa to Mt. Washington in 1861 and May to Mt. St. Bernard in 1870. The sisters came away from their mountain encounters with different conclusions about what the experience meant to their creative lives.