Above the Snow Line

of centres-Narrowing of the field of mountaineering-The upward limit of mountaineering-De Saussure's experience-Modern development of climbing-Mr. Whymper's exp

tion to great heights-The direction in which mountaineering should be developed-The results that may be obta

cr

ll ambition," "a [pg 301]subject of humiliating interest," and the like, have at times been freely used. But it is well known to authors and to dramatists that criticisms of a nature known as "smashing" are not, on the whole, always to be deplored, and are occasionally the best to enhance the success of the work. The novel or play, however unreservedly condemned by the reviewer, has got some chance of living if it be hinted that some of the situations in it are a little risquées; and to a great many the idea seems constantly present that mountaineer

s complimentary, and we might seek shelter in the epigrammatic saying that he who has no enemies has no character; that though hope may spring eternal in the human breast, jealousy is a trait still more constantly found. But this line of argument is not one to be adopted. The tu quoque style of defence is not one well calculated to gain a verdict. No doubt the question has been treated often enough before, and in discussing it the writer may seem but to be doing what nowadays the climber is forced to do

of the

or is it only on the continent of Europe that there are mountaineering clubs. Not that the writer ventures to assert that every member of this multitude is devoted to the high Alps, or that it is in the least degree essential to climb high and difficult mountains in order to learn the fascination of their natural beauties. It may be pointed out, however, that the "miserable waste of valuable life" is in the greatest part not on the great peaks and passes, but on little hills. Every year we read of accidents on mountains such as the Faulhorn, the Monte Salvatore in the Alps,

and ex

rsue it, and to a very limited number of guides-merely those, in fact (not such a numerous class as people seem generally to imagine), who had made chamois-hunting one of the principal objects of their lives. Gradually the art became more developed, and with the increase of power thus acquired came increase of confidence. From the fact that the training in the mountaineering art was gradual, it was necessarily thorough-a fact that a good many climbers would do well to bear in mind i

erson and a very daring creature. Thus places like Zermatt, Grindelwald, Chamouni, and the ?ggischhorn became the great centres of mountaineering, and have remained so ever since. Independent exploration gradually gave way to the charm of meeting others bent on the same pursuit of climbing; but this feeling was not without its drawbacks, and tended to check what has been called cosmopolitanism in mountaineering. How few, even among those who visit the Alps regularly, know anything whatever of such larg

e probability, however, to judge from the Registrar-General's reports, that the world will still be peopled some time hence, and possibly a generation will then arise of mountaineering revivalists who, never having tasted the flavour of novelty in Alpine climbing, will not perceive that its absence is any loss. Yet in the Alps alone many seem to forget that, while they are exhausting in every detail a few spots, there are numerous and [pg 307]varied expeditions of similar nature still to be accomplished, the scenes of which lie within a few hours of London. It is of course only to mountaineering as a semi-fashionable craze that these remarks apply. The knowledge of the art, acquired primari

pward

st, be considerably modified. From early times the question of the effects of rarefied air in high regions on mountaineers has attracted attention. As a matter of fact the su

cy of the respirations, he observed, which ensued on any exertion caused great fatigue. Nowadays, however, pedestrians, often untrained, may be seen daily ascending at a very much faster pace than De Saussure seems to have gone, and yet the effects are scarcely felt. No one now expects much to suffer from this cause, and no one does. In recent times we hear accounts of ascents of mountains like Elbruz, 18,526 feet, by Mr. Grove and others; of Cotopaxi, 19,735 feet, and Chimborazo, 20,5177 feet, by Mr. Whymper; and the most recent, and by far the most remarkable, of [pg 309]Kabru in the Himalayas, about 24

rove'

mposed of Mr. Graham, [pg 310]Herr Emil Boss, and the Swiss guide Kauffman, have ascended more than 5,000 feet higher than the top of Elbruz, and none of the party experienced any serious effect, or, indeed, apparently any effect at all other than those naturally incidental to severe exertion. It must be admitted that one result of their expedition was to prove, tolerably conclusively, that Mount Everest is not the highest mountain in the world. Still, until it is officially deposed, it may be taken, for argument's sake, as the ultimate point. Now, it would seem to be beyond doubt that a man, being transported to a height much greater than Mount Everest, can still live. In Messrs. Coxwell and Glaisher's famous

. Glaisher'

cases of the a?ronaut and the mountaineer than is generally supposed. Writing in 1871, Mr. Glaisher says,10 "At a height of three miles I never experienced any annoyance or discomfort; yet there is no ascent I think of Mont Blanc in which great inconvenience and severe pain have not been felt at a height of 13,000 feet; but then, as before remarked, this is an elevation attained only after two days of excessive toil." Mr. Glaisher is here referring chiefly to Dr. Hamel's ascent of Mont Blanc, and would seem apparently to be unaware that, long before he wrote, the ascent of Mont Blanc, from Chamouni and [pg 312]back to the same place, had been accomplished within twenty-four hours. In 1873, if my memory serves me right, Mr. Passingham started from Chamouni, ascended the mountain, and returned to his hotel in a littl

s rash an undertaking as an endeavour to swim through the Niagara rapids-that is, if the mountaineering difficulties are so great as to make the two instances parallel. Two points have to be considered: one, that, grant

acclima

wn this conclusively enough. Let a man sleep at a height, say, of 18,000 feet, and then ascend from that point another 3,000 or 4,000 feet; he may possibly feel the effects to be so great that an attempt to sleep again at the latter height would render him incapable of exertion the next day, as far as an ascent is concerned. Let him des

of Moun

ng lungs in connection with the question of the possibility of ascending on foot to the greatest altitudes, we are only, from the physiological point of view, taking into account one or two factors, and perhaps not the most important ones. The cavillers may be reminded that physiology is not and never will become a finite science. To my mind at least, as far as human endurance is concerned, it would be no more surprising to me to hear that a man had succeeded [pg 315]in walking up Mount Everest than to know that a man can succeed in standing an arctic climate while on a sledging expedition. Objections like the difficulty of arranging for a supply of food, of expense, of risk, and so forth, are no

of mount

nt of Mount Everest, to bring back results of equal scientific value with the arctic traveller, while the purely geographical information he should gain would have fiftyfold greater practical value. The art and science of mountaineering has been learned and developed in the Alps, and the acquirement of this learning has been a pleasure to many. If the holiday nature of mountaineering should in the future be somewhat dropped, and if a few of those who follow should take up the more serious side, and make what has been a pastime into a profession (and why should not some do so? That which is worth doing at all is worth developing to the utmost possible limit), good will come, unless it be argued that there is no gain in extending geographical knowledge; and no advantage in rectifying surveys and rendering them as accurate as possible. As has been

ed of the pursuit their supremacy is menaced. In the matter of recognising the practical value to be obtained from mountaineering in surveying and the like, they are already behind other countries. The roll of honorary [pg 318]members of the Alpine Club comprises a list of men, most of whom have utilised their mountaineering experience to good purpose in advancing scientific exploration. In this department it is to be hoped that we shall not suffer ourselves to be outstripped, nor allow a store of valuable and laboriously acquired experience to remain wasted. The threatening cloud may pass off; the future of

f asphyxiation in the carriages of the Chemin de Fer du Nord. Surely the charm of the mountains must always draw men to the Alps, even though the glaciers [pg 319]may have shrunk up and sunk down, though places like Arolla and the Grimsel may have become thri

e Rip va

ad at one time held together, supporting his bent frame and creaking joints on a staff with rusted spike and pick. He descends laboriously from a vehicle that had jolted impartially generations before him (for the carriages of the valley are as little liable to wear out, in the eyes of their proprietors, as the "

d these rejoicings?

centenary of the first ascent

successful and intrepid mountaineers. Banners wave, cannon go off-or more probably miss fire-bouquets are displayed, champagn

se?" the old

h; "they are the heroes of the forty-fifth section of the ten

h a sigh of recollection, "I can remember

rocks, not scorched by sun-reflecting snow; his boots scored with multitudinous little cuts and scratches telling of diffi

e been guilty of some c

ch frequented these districts; but that was a great while ago-long before the monarchy was re-established. You do well to look at him; that is the last of the climbin

ering in

ld ideas had suddenly flashed across his mind. "I would fain know whether the journey is different no

t, and might even in their courtesy embellish the narrative with flowers of rhetoric. But it is unnecessary. They will p

hundred years before I lived a French writer commenced his book with the remark, '

pour out a little gentle sarcasm and native spleen, in mild

o much behind the time. If the memory of the Alpine literature of my

heartily would I concur with any one who raised the objection that such remarks are out of place in a chapter on the mountaineering of the fu

s of t

n rules, or, in other words, to bad mountaineering. That such is no more than a simple statement of fact a former president of the Alpine Club, Mr. C. E. Mathews, has abundantly proved.14 Numbers of our countrymen, young and old, annually rush out to the Alps for the first time. Fired with ambition, or led on by the fascination of the pastime, with scarcely any preliminary training and no preliminary study of the subject, they at once begin to attack the more difficult peaks and passes. Success perhaps attends their efforts. Unfit, they go up a difficult mountain, trusting practically to the ability of the guides to do their employers' share of the work as well as their own. They descend, and think to gauge [pg 324]their skill by the name of the expedition undertaken. The state of the weather and of the mountain determine whether such a performance be an act of simple or of culpable folly. For such the imaginary dangers are the most formidable. If they had taken the trouble to begin at the beginning, to learn the difference between the stem and stern of a boat before attempting to navigate an ironclad, they would have recognised, and profited by, the true risks run. As it is, they are probably inflated with conceit at overcoming visionary difficulties. They

al mou

different from the really practical mountaineer, who strives to make an art of his pastime. Watch the latter. First and foremost, he knows when to turn back, and does not hesitate to act as his ju

to have clim

to have cli

ength at each step than is [pg 326]necessary, thus saving his powers, being always ready in an emergency, and never degenerating into that most dangerous of encumbrances, a tired member of a united party: not, of course, that the vast majority of amateurs can ever hope, with t

clu

lty which is one of the chief the mountaineer has to acquire. Let the spirit in which the Alps are climbed be of some such nature as that I have attempted to indicate, and accidents such as those recorded in Mr. C. E. Mathews' grim list will be of such rare occurrence that they will never be called up to discredit mountaineering. If, perchance, any words here written shall prompt in the future the climber

: PRIN

AND CO., NEW-

LIAMENT

tno

tches, but I leave what I have written untouched: for I do not hold with those who

the modern luxurious combination o

n the Alp

text-books as forming

to be right in this matter, and we might probably h

r Ber

ldt, as quoted by Mr. Whymper, gave 21,460 feet

casus, by F. C

ted by James Glaisher,

0

cit.

1

tion has since been accompli

2

rhampton the balloon when at the height of 29,000 f

3

arches; but these questions are n

4

xi. p. 78. "The Alpine O

riber'

anges have been

age number

number "290"

lley" change

lchra" changed

licate" changed

ghful" changed

enta" change

hier" change

duction" changed

enthesis adde

nged to "development", "gr

ootlace", "boot-lace"; "doorpost",