Morning journal and courier., 1893-11-23
SCALING THK WRIssH HoRy.
Hhe bimeulties and CompensatIons O
mounIain Climbing.

The Dimeulties and dCompensatfons of
Mountain Climbing.
lsSiEs Letter by Rev. DR.. O. h PArkhurs, IN Sez
York EvauEelistl
The general form Of the We!sshorn NAV
be described by saying that 1t is triaugu-
lArly eonical. with three distinctly marked
ridges inclining at sharp sDgle and meet
ing at the summit. We followed the east
erly one of the three. In It's lower por-
tons this one Is rock, and is made up Of
a long series of pinnacles which require 10
be olsmbsred over or around according to
the constantly altering circumstances Of
the case. The track TO be followed Is also
extremely narrow, often not more than q
foot in breadth, and in many places falling
on on either SIDE at an angle of so degrees
to depth OF from 5000 to 5000 feet. All
that lie necessary here, Of course, is eau
ton, patience and entire exemption from
dizziness In two or thrse places where
the rocks are so smooth or 90 precIp!tous
as to sford no point of esizure, ropes
have been left suspended Sc on the Matter
horn.
The three hours spent In scaling this
rccE srrets- covered the only really delicate
portion of the accent At the end of that
time, or a. about half psst six, We came
out upon the snow arrete with which the
climb terminates. There were about two
hours of this, which, as we approached the
summit, became sleeper and sleeper, go
that the conclusion of the accent, though free
from danger, was exceedingly toilsoms. At
hAlf-psst eight We were st the top, st an
altitude of II, 500 feet, hundred feet high
er than the Mstterhorn, which / had rather
climb twice than tie Weisshorn once. AT
the summit everything In SWiiz srland is
close by. The long line Of the Bzrnese
Alps, the Bernia out near the borders of
Austria, the ValAisiAn range which makes
the frontier of France. and over into Italy,
which as usual was solidly cARopied with
cloud. The appearance of this italian
cloud formation was most interesting. 1t
was on It's upper surfacs 60 level and
placid and lay SO far below Us, that the
effect was quite as IL one were looking down
upon the sea from hill near the coast; Ii
seemed as though with lightly construct
ed canoe, one could paddle on. upon IL and
make his easy way across to the Mediterra-
mean.
For reasons which did not fully appre-
ciste at the moment, the guides discouraged
prolonged observation at the top and after
q brief survey and q hssty bite, We com
menced our descent Everything went
along easily and rapidly enough until we
had gotten down 20 the rock arrete. This,
perhaps neglected to mention wac coysrtd
| with twelve to eighteen inches of recently
| fallen snow. Since our ascent the sun had
been industriously st work upon itsofteDing
1t and making our footing more precsrious
| than ever. If man is not predisposed to
| dizziness, he oan stand complacently on
| firm snow, even though his path is but
| twelve inches broad and the ground falls
off 20 q depth of /, 900 feet on either aide of
him. The real ticklishness of the business
| commences when the snoR has began to be
| yielding and you do not know whether
your foot lie going to stay where you put
It, The modus opsrAndi of cur decent
| over this part of the route had therefore to
BE- this: The frst guide was sent forward
fifteen or twenty feet (the readers will re-
member that we were ropsd together sll
i this tims,) while the remaining guide and
myself, occupying q secure position. let
the rope out after him as he wanted 1t.
holding ourselves In constant readiness In
case he should show symptoms of habil-
ity to adopt an errstic orbi; and follow q
line of descent more direct blt less ec0no-
micsl. After he had reached q position
where he was sure of his footing OF Ehsrs
ne COQlQ WlnU MS emu Tue LQpH
| q projection of the rock, / went after him,
he drawing in the rope and the rear guide
paying 1t out. Then we two in our turn
pIloted across the rear guide This we had
to repeat q hundred times. Ii was slow
work, but delicate, interesting and fAscins-
ting. An occasional dislodged rock would
by its fall give Us ocular and auditory evil
dsnce of the earnestness with which gravi-
ty works when 1t has the chance, and of the
vast distance which separated rs from the
valley on either side of the superb high
way which we were trsversing. Three
hours of this brought us down without 6
bruise or q scratch on to comparatively
easy ground, and the balance of the des
cent was easy commonplace.
Notwithstanding all the elements of per
II implied in the above description, still
maintain that work in the big Alps is ssft
and wholesome and very cordially TO b,
recommended. OF course there accidents
But my contention lie, that when the peri
of mountaineering has been reduced to it
scientific minimum by proper considera
ton of conditions, the residue of hazard 4
no greater than belongs to any other meth
cd of recreation possessing an equs
amount of advantage and emolument
Next to baptism of the Holy Spirit,
know of no blessing that would prove e.
quickening and regensrGtive to the youn
men of my church as for them all to STAN
away up on those clear, bright heights, Il
the midst of these leagues and acres of 50
perb isolation, and yield themselves up
body, mind and spirit, to the vast silenc
which reigns and the profound spocalyps
which everywhere opens, Here there 4
nothing that Is merely earthly, nothing
small, nothing distracting. nothing unclean
No Tammsny, mo higher criticism, no bimet
| auannI FvsO the auostlss hsd to be takel
| up into the mountain before they wer
qualified to descend with effect into th
mountain before they were qualified 3
descend with effect into the midst of com
mon life and lite most affective and Tepul
L aira nnntacls.