The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-25
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING.
It's Fascination for Women-The Things
 Necessary.

JUS I fdSClnatlOn TOT w Women-lne IHlHSs
 Necessary.
 Mountain climbing, for those women
 who are born to it, seems to be sport
 beside whose fascination even golf pales
 A few American women in Paris are
 becoming quite distinguished as moun- | eers, and two have just ascended suc- cessfully the Morteratzch, in the Eng
 adine, mountain 12,400 feet high. The famous Jungfrau has only 1000 feet or so more A womans outfit for such an
 enterprise is ihteresting. Actually rig ged and equipped for a start, outside
 of her boots, she wears nothing but
 Woolens. The lower part of her, since she may be hours and hours in snow,
 must be much more warmly covered
 than the upper She wears thick under
 drawers, with knickerbocker of cloth
 or alpaca over these, and two pairs of
 heavy stockings. The whole outside of
 the first pair is soaped, to keep them from wrinkling and rubbing against the
 other. The boots of the feminine
 mountaineer l consider most natural
 curiosties. Their size and form are
 NOi tiiJ ottShtipiij eo OS6iii Nieht I'S
 bristling nails with which both soles and edges are provided give them a sort of diabolical air, while the large flaps for keeping out the snow from their tops suggest the Tapping ears of some strange and obsolete animal. Over these go gaiters, held down by little chains passing under the feet, made of iron, so that they cannot be cut by the ice.
 One must be very careful not to em- barrass the upper part of the body With too heavy or too cumbersome garments For actual climbing, nothing more than a light sweater or Shetland jacket Is needed for the outside garment. You have generally gone only very little way before you take off your coat and strap around your waist. You wear felt hat and dark glasses The guides affect these last even more than travel erss and say that they have known noviees to be blinded for days after making an ascension without such pre- cautions. The experienced mountaineer carries lanoline in her pocket and makes a plentiful application of it to her face the minute she gets on snow, to prevent the yellow blisters, that are not only disigurlng, but very painful.
 The really exciting climb is that in which one stays out overnight taking her provisions with her. These the guides and the other men of the party carry in what are called rucksacs on their backs. The provisions consist of self-cooking soups, cooked fresh meats, wine, bread, and jam. one must be a or friend of mountain eer, to know the peculiar staying uuali- | ties of jam. It seems that the sugar it | is an immense preservative of | force, and that one can often eatS it | when her momentariy exhausted sys- tenn refuses either bread or \meat. Everything ready, the entire party | makes its way in the afternoon to the auberge of the mountaineer, hut part way up the pass, on the edge of the moraine of glacier. This is sumptuous- y furnished with beds made of inclined | blanks covered with straw, with a foot board at the bottom, and blankets sus- pended across a rope hung at some dis tance from the floor as protection against the rats of the winter. In the nut are also cooking utensils, a table, ] stove. stools, and what is known In mountaineering parlance as "the uni Versal rug" This seems to be a sort of "honne tout faire," for it wipes he dishes and mops the floor. The hut must be left exactly as it was found. n perfect order. That is the rigorous ,tiquet of Alpine sojourns. The guides To the cooking and the clearing up. and hey have even been known to act as adies maids, and dry women's stock ngs, and generally look after their com ort. They are fine, frank, fearless ace with especial gifts of their own. or guiding in mountaineering is a tal- mt and it Is handed down from father Q son. Guides run in families. As an Xample, most people who have been to 'wltzerland have heard of the celsbra ed Almer family of guides of Grindel- vald. Christian, the son of Ulrich, was s fine guide as his father, and now oung Peter Almer bids fair to equal hem both.
 By in the evening the hut is quiet. very one is sleeping soundly in the ure mountain air. At 1 the guides ave made the breakfast, and proceed