Even in the most remote mountain regions, there remain vanishingly few untouched wilderness zones in a strict sense.

This has been accomplished by, among others: Mountain Wilderness was founded in 1987 in Biella, Italy during an international conference convened by Ludovico Sella, scion of a prominent piedmontese family of financiers, statesmen and mountaineers, among which Quintino Sella, the 19th century founder of the Italian Alpine Club.

This conference was a follow-up to a similar gathering of mountaineers convened by the Italian Academic Alpine Club on 8 August 1986, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the first ascent of the Mont-Blanc.

On this occasion, a "manifesto for Mont Blanc" was issued and signed by a number of renowned mountaineers, among which Sir Chris Bonington, Yvon Chouinard, Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott.

Among noted former or current guarantors are : Sir Edmund Hillary (NZ) (who was long-time honorary president of Mountain Wilderness), Sir Chris Bonington (UK), John Hunt (UK), Reinhold Messner (IT), Jean-Christophe Lafaille (FR), Haroun Tazieff (FR), Wanda Rutkiewicz (PL), Jim Bridwell, Fausto De Stefani (IT), Kurt Diemberger (AT), Patrick Gabarrou (FR), Roberto Osio (IT), Alessandro Gogna (IT), Carlo Alberto Pinelli (IT) (former international coordinator) National chapters have also existed at some time in Austria, Belgium, Greece, Pakistan, Slovenia, the Netherlands, the UK, but are not currently active as established organizations in their own right, though individual members may remain active in these countries.