William Gowland explored several parts of the ranges in the 1860s, being the first documented foreigner to climb two of the highest peaks in the Alps, Yarigatake and Norikura. Gowland was an archaeologist, and he explored these ranges for archaeological reasons. While William Gowland was the first to explore the ranges, Reverend Walter Weston, a Christian missionary, was the first to document his experiences. Gowland was better known for his work as an archaeologist, and he was an archaeologist before an explorer. About twenty years after Gowland's explorations, Weston explored the ranges himself with Gowland's notes on his explorations.