The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-06


other. In addition to the terrors of
intense cold, ice fields. snow billiards,
torrents and treacherous crevasses
which the Arctic traveller must meet, a
mountain climber is also compelled to
resist the fearful effects of reduced air
pressure. No man is better fitted to
tell of these difficulties and perils than
Mr.. FITZGERALD A number OF years
ago he Travelled the 'Alps from end to
end with Sir Martin Conway; in 1894
SO he explored the New Zealand Alps
and gave his name to famous pass,
hitherto undiscovered, afterWard writ
ing 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 mountain in
the western world, and rivaling the
peaks of the Himalayas.
HIGHEST OF THE ANDES.
Aconcagua, with it's giant sister, Tu-
pungato, rises from the backbone of
the South American continent, midway
between Argentine and Chilli. Its sum-
nit is nearly $4,000 feet above the level
of the sea, a height greater even than
aeronauts have commonly dared to
venture in balloons. 1t is not only in
accessible in altitude, but it is far from
the base of supplies in wild, sparsely
settled country. Indeed, it took Mr..
FitzGerald no less than two weeks of
diligent research and exploration to dis
cover where Aconcagua really was and
the best way of making the ascent. The
mountain had been attempted before.
but no explorer had been able to get
within thousands OF feet OF ina
nit In making his inquiries, Mr.. Fitz-
Gerald met with many peculiar aud
amusing difficulties, owing to the dense
ignorance of the natives or their IN
willingness to tell what they knew of
the great mountain. They assured him
that this peak was Aconcagua, that
that peak was Aconcagua, and they fin
ally declared that Aconcagua reached
so high above the clouds tnat no man
might see the summit
A STURDY ATHLETE.
AS might be expected, Mr.. FitzGerald
is a man of astonishing vigor of body
and determination of will. He is an
American by birth, although his father
was a British subject, and he has trav-
eled with all the pertinacity of genu-
inc English wanderer. He is now only
q years old, in the very heyday of
sturdy manhood, and he has Won fame
as a hunter, fisher and athlete as well
as climber. But in spite of all his
trained Swiss mountaineers were near
Iy defeated on the bleak slopes OF
Aconcagua.
At their first ascent they did not sue
coed in getting the mule train higher
than $4,000 feet, leaving a distance of
nearly 5000 feet. or a mile and three
fourths to be traversed on foot-9,000
feet straight upward and several miles
by the roundabout courses which they
were compelled to follow. The party
pressed upward from this base camp,
day after day, often driven back by the
cold and by exhaustion, but persistent
in their attempts, until they were fiaaI-
~ successful in reaching the summit.
The worst difficulties which they met
were in breathing, in preparing food
and in sleeping.
LIGHTING FIRES
cat one of our high altitude camps,
said Mr.. FitzGerald, 81 undertook9to
light a fire, but at this altitude it was
not an easy task. We had to use guam
titles of paper and kindlings and then
succeeded in getting only a faint blaze.
There was no way of obtaining water
except by the melting of snow and ice,
Mr.. Vines, my companion, went to col
lect the snow just back of the tent,
while I gave myself to the eXhaustlng
work of blowing the smouldering wood
into a flame, filling my lungs with
smoke while they were craving oxygen.
l thought that Vines had been gone
long time, and upon looking up [ saw
him perched on narrow ledge, back OF
the tent Presently he arose with great
difficulty and came towards the fire.
The tent was held down by numerous
guy ropes fastened at the end with
stones it being impossible to drive
stakes into the hard surface of the
mountain. l watched Vines painfully
raise one leg over the first rope, then
stop breathlessly, exhausted. Then he
lifted his leg over the next one and
again paused to rest. And so he pro-
ceeded until he reached the fire. [ think
it must have taken him fully ten min
utes to walk dozen yards. Indeed,
we had difficulty in keeping the guy
ropes of our tent adjusted, owing TO the
fact that we could not lift our feet high
enough to get over them.
FOOD CARRIED.
1--WE had brought the necessary light,
nourishing foods, such as are given to
invalids, in our commissary depart
ment, but frequently we could not eat
even these. Our packs contained
bottle of port wine mixed with egg,
bottle of red wine, brandy, coffee and
kola biscuits, besides our instruments
and extra helmets, gloves and sweaters
about II pounds to the man. We
found the port wine and egg the most
suitable for our use, although we could
not always keep even that on our stom-
achs. We tried to heat coffee over
Russian furnace, in which spirits of
wine were burned, but we nearly al
ways found it difficult to get the water
to boil, and once the whole furnace
blew up with a. terrific report, sprink-
ling us with boiling spirits of wine, and
nearly binding us. Several nights we
went to bed sick, owing to the impos-
sibility of getting warm food. Few
people can appreciate the terrible de-
spondency which follows such an ex-
perience.
During the entire trip in the highest
altitude l suffered most acutely from
nausea, and from the inability to catch
my breath, my throat being so dry
from continued breathing through the
mouth that 1 was obliged very often to
cough This would stop my breathing
and end in a unpleasant fit of choking.
Even our most seasoned guides were
overcome frequently. One night one of
our Swiss porters, powerful noun
taineer named Lochmatter, fell i'll with
terrible nausea and faintness, and we
had to let him suffer, there being no
way of relief.
DIFFICULTIES OF SLEEPING.
But eating was only one of our
troubles. Sleeping was even greater
difficulty, Our tent had a peaked. roof
three and a half feet from the ground,
and the floor was securely sewn to the
sides, so as to prevent the wind from
getting under it. When ali of US were
in it we were compelled to lie close to-
gether, and when one of US turned,
every man in the party was awakened.
The tent was air tight, and before
morning the air often grew so stuffy
and foul that we could scarcely breathe.
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