The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-09-01


had already done, for me, an inn
mensc amount Of hard travelling, par
ticularly in crossing the foot of the
glacier where the surface is almost
wholly covered with rocks and dirt,
exceedingly steep, rarely dome by trav-
elers, yet so 10th was | to leave the
scene that could not be persuaded to
abandon it until the mules b(p)rayed
to go home to their evening meal, an
appeal that / could not resist. On
my return to the hotel I found the
people thereabouts quite excited over
the safe return of a young American
from the ascent of Mont Blanc /
saw him but for moment as he was
going to take his cup Of tea and bread,
a cold bath and his bed in rapid sue
cession, secundem drtem. His face
was as red as beet and he was evi-
IDENTIFY in state of great mental ex-
citement and physical exhaustion, the
result of the effect of having accom-
plished great feat ard endured a
great strain upon his physique. For
the rare privilege of remaining on the
crown OF the monarch of the Alps for
, half an hour, like fly on the tip of
the earths nose, he incurred number
less dangers, experienced nausea,
. vomiting, nose bleed, cold, hunger,
J fever, loss of sleep and other discom-
forts; found his funds reduced by one
/ hundred and fifty dollars (the cost of
guidse, provisions, su6eres from the bites
Of t1eas and appointments, and finally
after safely descending pays penalty
= in the form of weak eyes, and loss Of
health and generally a SHINING of face
and hands.
, Frequently the ascent is accomp-
, hshed without gaining but partial
view of the highest peaks, the clouds
below obscuring the grand panorama
, spread out to the eye of the fortunate
! man. | have written man as though
: only my sex had made the ascent, but
I the record at Chamouni shows that
t in 1858, Mile d'Angeville reached
t the summit and when there, ordered
s the guides to lift her over their heads
in order that she might say she had
: been up higher than any living man.
A Mrs. Hamilton went up in 1854,
and a Swiss peasant girl has also
= capped the climax of Alpine climbing.
A history of the ascents Of Mont
. Blanc would make a volume of excit-
ing reading, containing as it would SC
many recitals Of hardships, accidents
nd death There are other peaks il
the same range only few hundre'
, feet lower, and more difficult to over
: come than Mont Banc-one, thu
Aiguille Yerte, the guides Of Glamour
had emphatically pronounced impos
. sible of ascent from its spirelike form
= and smooth sides. Notwithstanding
> their assertions, an Englishman named
y Whymper, of the London Alpin
Club after having three times failed
succeeded recently in reaching ant
in bringing away the very cap-pinna
Gle of the Aiguille, as trophy. ii
is went up with guide from Zennat
e, and one from the Oberland Th
ie guides at Chamouni were furiou
/ when they heard of the feat and re
'r fused to believe it, offering to bet five
Is thousand francs to one-thousand tina
N Mr.. Whymper had never been up q
s. all. On being taken up they Wh'm
r per-ed and finally backed down to
4 bet of one-thousand francs, anothe
e. person to go up with the guide
IN Mr.. Whympers place and decide
The point was duly made and tn
10 guides at Chamouni franc-iy yieide
le their loss and concluded they woul
Il not venture to assert in future whs
is seemed to them impossibilities,
er their English 'betters.' The wonde
ne is that there are not almost daily as
IS, cents and loss of life to record, durin
le the season, when thousands of bot
ne sexes risk, as they surely do, life an
IT, limb in making the numberless NOM
- tain ascents of Switzerland. Up to m
a return to the hotel from my excursio
ID as described, l had not enjoyed
d Chamouni full view Of Mont Blan
5h owing to its partial eclipse by Il
IS, clouds, which in the evening, betwee
d. nine and ten o'clock, widely opene
and disclosed its lofty top shroudt
re in a peculiar, strong transparent ligl
DC that attracted many who had seen
n with the clear blue sky in the baC
Of ground. In the morning, howevs
is we found the sky without speck 10
ter Mont Blanc stood revealed in all b
a sublime beauty and dazzling splendid
~ ..eo1:o:oo, oil on1 moro than we ha