The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-01-29
LETTER FROM GERMANY.
BERLIN, October 25, 1881

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preference TO another for several reason,
lis helght and fine position ensure fin
view IN good weather. Then, IA guild
costs but about 60 francs (about six dol
"rSl' and one guide agresd to conduc
our party alone. Ut is unusual for n guild
" conduct rs many as four, but he wa
our guide on the previous ice tour.l
10 ascend Monte Rosa, each rcts.;. :
said to require two guides, at 40 franc
each, for the MatteEhorn the guides cos
huadred francs each, and for Mt. Blanc
the ascent is computed at 320 to 35,
francs. AS to the ascent of Mt. Blanc
which Is 1000 feet higher than tL,
BreIthorn, the guide hook of Baedeker
VINO resides in Leipzig and is perfect,
reliable. says, In fine weather the asccn
Is attended with no serious difficulty !,
danger, but travellers are cau,iona,
against attempting the expedition il,
l"ggy or stormy weather" AS TO tho
rle'o. this author says il is "uns,,;sfac
tory" AS TO the Breithorn, he SAYS i,
commands very imposing view"
'ake this opportunity of making this
quotation because some who ascend these
mountains picture the dangers rather
fancifully. 1t is easy to understand tba,
The higher one goes the greater the ten.
dency to become sick, and the sickcr one
Is The greater the tendency to exngsera,e
th2 difficulties, but that does not make i,
specially dangerous In fact, ladies have
made most of these tours and even more
difficult ones than Mt. Blanc.
! Ol our route Baedeker says, "lrom the
| Thcodu!e pass the Breithorn may be
assembled with little difficulty \
lastly mounting q sleeper slope of ice
where step cutting is sometimes nee
! essary." We did not find it necessary to
cut steps, though this would have rem
dered part of,Ic ascent easier. Though
the ascent iron' the pass is easy, the trav.
| eler who attempts it from Zermatt in one
morning will be fatigued on arriving at
the summit.
Several made the ascent Oh the day
upon which we did, but all, with one cx-
cePtion, went part of the way the even
ing before, which made the ascent easier.
We, however, were not sure that the
weather would be good, and chose to try
the tour from Zermalt in the morning.
We rose before three 0'clock, and were at
breakfast with Il young German gentle.
man who had engaged q guide to take
him up. Tits gentleman, with his guide,
left some minutes before our party.
We departed before four. Each of us
had nails projecting from the bottoms of
our shoes, which was absolutely necessary
t" enable us to climb upon the ice, and
each carried an "Alpenstoct." This
alpine stick" is about six feet long and
very strong, with sharp iron point in
one II, by sticking which into the snow
and ice the tonris, is enabled to climb
mach more easily and securely. Such
stic.: aids very much in ascending
and d. scending any mountain, and for IL
SNOW mountain either the stick or an ice
axe is indispensable, anu we must often
trust our lives To our sticks. We had
already tested the merils Of our sticks ON
previous excursion where, just after
passing the Rhone glacier, we had TO
descend snow slope too steep for one to
stand upon it. We had no ice axe and
bad to trust to our sticks. Placing them
behind us with their sharp points in the
snow, and resting almost our entire weight
upon them, we came down quite finely.
The guide carried his ce.axe and our
provisions, and we carried the rope and Il
little wooden flask of wine 'time about"
Though the weather was fine, it was still
quite dark in the valley, and we could
see but the outlines Of the great peaks
around us. The guide carried lantern.
stopping occasionally to caution us to he
careful, that We we're upon the edge of
steep precipice. The path was narrow
but it was SO dark that we were uncon.
scious Of danger, and even the roaring of
the mountain torrent beneath US attracted
less notice than the sombre forms tower
ing above ls. AT length the day began
to dawn and our lantern was left in a
little hut on the mountain.
The spectacle was sublime. To our
right we watched the rays of the morning
sun as they crept slowly down the tower
ing pyramid of the Matterhorn, while to
our left we saw the crimsoned summit of
Monte Rosa. In front of US rose the
lovely Breithorn towards which we bent
our step and eye. The retrospective
view of the valley and the surrounding
snow. mountains vas also exceedingly
fine.
We journeyed along the moraines of
the glaciers and We could see the glacier
streams leaping over the frozen walls.
Before four hours had elapsed, we had
arrived mt the snow on the Theodnle
pass. Here we ate lunch aud were tied
with the rope at intervals of eight or ten
feet from each other, and proceeded on
our march over the snow. The precau.
ton of using the rope SHOULD never be
neglected in going over the snow fields
or in making ascens upon the snow.
mountains. There ere often deep fissures
b.idged over by the snow into which one
may be precipitated, but where several
are bound together at a good interval
from each other, and one falls into
L <. Il,