The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-29 00:00:00

THE MOUNTAINEERING ACCIDENT IN
DAUPHINE.

Full particulars are published in a Viennese paper
of the accident by which Professor Emil Zsigmondy
recently lost his life in an attempted ascent of the
Meije, in Dauphine. His exploits in Switzerland last
year, in the company of Professor Schulz, of Vienna,
marked him out as one of the rashest of mountaineers,
and he has now paid the penalty of his unfortunate fool-
hardiness. To attempt the ascent of Monte Rosa
from Macugnago, which was among Herr Zsigmondy's
exploits of last season, is about as sensible a proceed-
ing as to walk across the artillery ranges at Shoebury-
ness when practice is going on. You may, of course,
escape being hit, and so on those slopes, where millions
of tons of ice and rocks are constantly descending, you
may chance to dodge the avalanches. But to take
such a route is merely to play blindly with fate; and
the man whose mountaineering was of this kind was
sure, if he persevered, sooner or later to meet with
.a
tragic end. None the less touching is the letter in
which his brother writes to his mother an account of
the catastrophe. Zsigmondy, it seems, desired to
ascend the Meije by a new route, along that southern
arSte which appears the most direct, but which has
hitherto baffled all climbers. On the night of the
6th of August the party, consisting of the two brothers
Zsigmondy and Professor Schulz, but without any
guides, slept at_the shelter hut of the French Alpine
Club at Chattelcret, and started at six a.m.
The weather was at first bad, but soon im-
proved; the glacier was crossed and some
progress was made up the rocks. At about two o'clock,
however, the party who had been continuously led
by Emil Zsigmondy, were stopped by what Foamed an
insuperable obstacle. The face of rock before them
was absolutely precipitous; they tried to the right and
the left without success. The rest of the narrative
may be told in the words of Otto Zsigmondy's letter
to his mother: "Emil tried to make his way straight
up the crags above us. The rocks were there perpen-
dicular, and even overhanging, and he overrated his
powers. He worked slowly upwards. The length of
our rope was 65ft., while Schulz's silk cord was about
301 t. Emil tried to ascend a few yards further in
order to reach a ledge. I ought to have remonstrated,
but a sort of lethargy had come over me, and I did
nothing. I shall regret this all my life. The climb
appeared to Emil impracticable, and he turned, hitch-
ing the rope round a projecting rock, SO as to steady
him, and clambered slowly downwards. He had
scarcely begun the descent when the rope above
slipped, and in an instant Emil lost his footing. I
cannot describe what followed. I will tell you here-
after in words. I seized our end of the cord, wound
it round my hands and arms, and Schulz held it too.
I received a tremendous blow on the head, was pulled
forward, laid hold of a jutting rock, was then jerked
backwards, and remained hanging; but to my horror
•• --- • alio
had broken. The teartur neight from which he fell
made it impossible for me to hold him; but I had
tried my utmost, and if the rope bad not given way I
must have perished too. Truly I wish I bad; but
God willed it otherwise. Poor Emil fell down a pre-
cipice nearly 2000 ft, in depth, and remained
lying on the glacier below. I held the rest of the cord
in my hands; blood streamed from my head; the rope
had cut deeply into my flesh; my left thumb was
broken. The descent was terrible. I seemed to have
little life left, and only the constant help of Professor
Schulz, himself badly hurt, kept me up. I cannot
describe the condition of Emil when we found him,
three hours after the catastrophe, at the foot of the
rock wall. We left him lying in the snow, as it was
impossible for us to move him, and made our way to
the hut, where we passed the night. On the follow-
ing day we went on to La Berarde. To-morrow the
inquest will take place, and the _mortal remains will
then be laid at St. Christopher's, three hours away, by an
Evangelical minister from Grenoble. The Catholic
priest of St. Christopher's is a worthy man, and
offered no objection to the funeral in the Catholic
churchyard. It would, I think, accord with the
wishes of the deceased to be buried here; but if
you, dearest mother, wish that the remains should be
taken to Vienna let us know by telegraph. Against
this, however, there are many things; above all the
terrible condition of the body. I am now only
anxious to leave these detestable mountains, to throw
myself at your feet, and implore forgiveness for him
and for myself. Oh, that I could spare you this
pain; that I could have its whole burden on myself.
I thought mountaineering a noble and worthy
pastime, but am now terribly convinced of the con-
trary. The mountains, once my chief delight, are
now my horror. Our chief consolation is that this is
a death which had no terror for him." To this narra-
tive Professor Schulz adds a few words, explaining that
Otto Zsign.ondy had no reason to blame himself;
that he had done his utmost to save his brother's life
even at the sacrifice of his own; and that the fearful
height of the fall—nearly 100 feet—made it impossible
to check it, for no rope, no mortal hand, and n.o
human force could resist such a shock. The story is
a tragic one; all the sadder because the victim was,
like our own Professor Balfour, who perished in
somewhat similar fashion, a man of rare promise.
But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that
Zsigtnondy belonged to the school of mountaineers
whose boldness degenerates into foolhardiness, and
that his fate was one which he himself courted.