The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-23

Ehe Descent Easier ON the Muscles,
Fut Harder on the Nerves Than
the sscent-Doez thc Climb Pass

copyright, 1894. by S. S. Mcclure
Limifed.}
Eight times Edward Whymper strovs
te ascend the Matterflorn. and eight
tines he failed The nil. tn time he sue.
ceeeded. Thst was on July IA. 1865
But the cost of success was appalling
In the little zermatt churchyard lasd
summer saw the graves of three OF
the victims: the mountain crags never
surrendered the bones OF the fourth
Until Mr.. Whymper's successful as.
cent no foot, except perhaps an eagles
had ever pressed the proud head OF
that Incompatible mountain The best
and bravest guides in the Alps had IN
vain essayed to win IT Switzerland
was pitted against Italy IN the srrife
to be Srst at the summit. But no ex-
perlence taught sufficient skill and no
courage was complete enough 70
achieve victory over the giant. Prof.
Tyndali, whose GUNNER playground
was Switzerland, had more than once
made the attempt. but, recoiling from
the menace OF the final precipice, nae
at last given 1t UP
According to the traditions handed
down among the hardy Inhabitants OF
the surrounding valleys, the great Alp
was not only Inaccessible to man, but
was guarded by demons jealous or It's
virginity. On wild winter nights, when
the wdad roared in the gorges OF the
Visp and the ground trembled with the
thunder Of avalanches, the mountains
waging war upon the valleys, stories
were told of a strange city perched
upon the topless crags of the awful
Matterhorn. whose spires and battle
nents could be seen red in the rising
sun, grim black at sunset. and gleam-
3ag Ike silver when the moon hung
fun above the peak. The faith OF those
who believed these things was not
shaken by the assertion of less inn
aginative observers that the phantom
city was only the pinnacles or the
mountain TRANSPORTED by the magic
of light and shadow.
1t is not surprising that the Matter
horn was believed to be dnsurmount-
able, and that these legends clustered
about it, The many thousands of
travellers who have gszed With aston
ishment st it's towering form from
Zermatt, the Gornergrat, the Rdffel,
Breni7, the Val TournancheSa sand other
surrounding; points viii readily testify
TO the incredible appearance which it
presents. 1t is a mountain from dream
landi Even while hooking at it one
cannot comprehend Natures trick in
equilibrium when she set 1T aloft with
its feet buried in glaciers and its head
soaring amidst the blue. 1T looks as
though 1T had been conceived in a
nightmare and uplifted in some gnys-
FERROUS age when negative quantity"
was the law Of the earth-a maniac
OF mountains, savage, threatening, ter
rible, and yet resistlessly attractive.
Ten thousand feet that wonderful
peak towers above the high green
meadows of Zermatt and 1880 feet
above sea level, and in every foot of
its stature there is a defiance; defiance
to gravitation to pull it doWn-but
gravitatiop will do it in the end-de-
fiance TO Vegetation to cast a shred Of
covering over its gaunt shoulders. de-
fiance to man and the mountain goat
to scale its precipices; yet the former
has accepted the challenge and won,
though the latter is too wisely prudent
TO attempt the impossible.
The First Ascent of the Matterhorn.
1 shall not undertake to recall here
the story of the first ascent of the
Matterhorn; 1 merely wish to recall
the circumstances Of the dreadful ac-
cident that attended it, the most
tragic in the force Of its appeal to the
imagination that the annals of noun
faineering contain. The nartv cou