The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-06
ON TOP The ANDES.
SUMMIT OF TIRE HIGHEST NOUN
TAIN EVER CLIMBED.


Ascending AconcRgua, the Giant
Of the Notwithstanding Effects
of Rarifed Atmosphere.
Edward A. FitzGerald, the most famous
living mountain climber, says that a
mountain climber faces all the perils of
an Arctic explorer, and one other. In adj
d,tion to the terrors of intense cold, ice
felds. snow billiards, torrents and treach-
erous erevasses which the climber is also
compelled to resist the fearful effects of
reduced air pressure. No man is better
fried to tell of these difficulties and perils
tban Mr. FitzGerald. A number of years
ago he travelled The ALPS from end to
end" with Sir Martin Conway, in 1S94-95
he explored the New Zealand Alps and
gave his name to a famous pass, hitherto
undiscovered, afterward writing a book on
his adventures. Less than two years ago
he ventured on a still more difficult feat,
and his party succeeded in reaching The
summit of Aconcagua, the highest noun
tain Of the western world, and rbvalng
the peaks of the Himalayas.
highest Mountain of the Andes.
Aconcagua, with It's giant sister Tu-
pungato rises from the backbone of the
South American continent, midway be-
tween Argentine and Chill. It's summit
Is nearly 5000 feet above the level of the
sea. hight greater even than aeronauts
have commonly dared to venture in bal
looms 1t is not only inaccessible in alti-
tude but it is far from the base of sup
plies in a wild, sparsely settled country
Indeed, ii took Mr. FitzGerald no less
than two weeks of diligent research and
exploration to discover where Aconcagua
really was and the best way of making the
ascent. The mountain had been attempt
ed before, but no explorer had been able
TO get within thousands of feet of the
summit In making his Inquiries Mr.
FilzGerald met with many peculiar and
amusing difficulties, owing to the dense
ignorance of the natives or their unwill-
ingness to tell what they knew of the
great mountain. They assured him that
this peak was Aconcagua, that that peak
was Aconcagua, and they finally declared
that Aconcagua reached so high above the
clouds that no man might see the summit
MIR. Fitzgerald "a sturdy Athlete.
As might be expected, Mr. FitzGerasl
Is man of astonishing vigor of body and
determination of viii. He is an American
by birth, although his father was a Brit
ish subject and he has Travelled with all
the pertinacity of a genuine English wan
derer. He is now onfy q years old, in the
very heydey of sturdy manhood and he
has won fame as hunter fisher and attn
lete as well as a climber. But i'm spite OF
all his vigor and daring he and his party
of trained Swiss mountaineers were nearly
defeated on the bleak slopes of Aeon
cagua.
At their first ascent they did not sue
coed In getting the mule train higher than
1900 feet. leaving a distance of nearly
1900 feet, or a mile and three-fourths to
be traversed on foot-9,0OO feet straight up
ward and several miles by the roundabout
courses which they were compelled to fol-
foW The party pressed upward from this
base daU 0ftpr daW Offpr driven
back by the cold and exhaustion, but per-
sistent in their attempts, until they were
finally successful in reaching the summit.
The worst difficulties which they met were
In breathing, in preparing food and in
sleeping
Difficulties of Lighting Fires.
"At one of our high altitude camps"
said MIR. FitzGerald, IT undertook to light
fire but at this altitude 1t was not an
easy task. We had to use quantities of
paper and kindlings and then succeeded in
getting only faint blaze. There was no
way of obtaining water except by the
melting of snow or ice. Mr.. Vines, my
companion, went to collect the snow just
back of the tent, while 1 gave myself to
the eXhausting work of blowing the smoul-
ueflhg wood dnto flame, filling my lungs
with smoke while they were craving oxy-
gen l thought that Vines had been gone
a long time, and upon looking up [ saw
MN perched on a narrow ledge back Of
me tent. Presently he arose with great
olIheulty and came towards the fire. The
tent was held down by numerous guy
ropes, fastened at the end with stones, 1t
Delng impossible to drive stakes into the
Hard surface of the mountain. 1 watched
vines painfully raise one leg over the
nrst rope, then STOP breathlessfy, ex-
hausted. Then he lifted his leg over the
next one and again paused to rest. And
SO ne proceeded until he reached the fire.
mink ii must have taken him fully ten
MINUTES to walk dozen yards. Indeed
We had difficulty in keeping the guy ropes
VI our tent adjusted, owing to the fact
that we could not lift our feet high enough
to get over them.
Kinds of Food Carried.
We had brought the necessary light,
nouflshng foods, such as are given to
inNailds, In our commissary department,
pul frequently we could not eat even
uese Our packs contained a bottle of
port wine mixed with egg, bottle of reds
~lne' brandy. coffee and 4Sola biscuits,
Desiues our instruments and extra he'll
nets gloves and sweaters-about seven-
ven pounds to the man. We found the
PolI VINE and the egg most suitable for
Iur use, although we could not always
AgeP even that on our stomachs. We
uieu 70 heat coffee over a Russian fur
"Sce, IN which spirits of wine were burn
eu out We nearly always found 1t diff
Vuit TO get the water to boil and once
we whoe furnace blew up with a terrific
teport' sprinkling us with boiling spir-
l,s Oh wine, and nearly binding us. Sew
tIal nights wye went to bed sick, owing
70 the impossibiity of getting warm food
SeW people can appreciate the terrible
dependency which follows such an ex-
During the entire trip in the higher
altitude Ilsuffered most acutely from nau-
sea and from the inability to catch my
,uaIeath, my throat being so dry from con-
Tuued breathing through the mouth that
was Obliged very often to cough. This
, would stop my breathing and end in an
uupieasant ft Of choking. Even our most
asoned guides were overcome frequent
~ one night one of our Swiss porters,
II powerful mountaineer named Lochmat-
YER Iell Ill with terrible nausea and faint
thess, and we had to let him suffer, there
ICING no way of relief
Difficulties of Sleeping.
But eating was only one Of our trou-
o'es Sleeping was even a greater diff