Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-07
DEATH IN THE ALPS
NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS REPORT
ED AS THE SEASON PROGRESSES.

The avalanche season IL at its height.
From all directions come tales Of death and
Wholesale destruction wrought by enor-
nous falls Of melting snow, broken ice and
torrents OF half-froxen muddy DEBRIS con-
tanning huge blocks OF stone, whole trunks
OF trees, and solid masses OF serac and
glacier.
The damage already done Ia immense.
Within the past few weeks many forests,
villages and mountain railways have been
swept away buried or destroyed. Ava
lanches have a curious knack of falling OH
the same ground year after year. and ava
ianche breakers are often built to protect
surrounding life and property as far as pos
sible. In many places avalanche breakers
In the form Of triangular stone walls have
been erected to protect whole villages.
There il breaker of this sort at Frauen-
kirch near Davos. where the wall of the
church is constructed that. should an
avalanche sweep down upon it, the solid,
pointed, plow-like edge of the wall would
cut and divide the avalanche and turn 1t
harmlessly aside. Rough timber fences,
small zigzag stone walls, and even rows OF
stakes across steep slopes are used by the
Swiss peasants as projections.
The compact snow avalanches which form
In the natural depressions and basins on the
steep glacier slopes high up on the noun
tains, are, by the time that they reach the
valleys, composed of stones, earth. huge
masses of roots and trees, all held together
by the heavy, half-frozen muddy snow in
which they are incased. A mountaineer who
was Overtaken by an avalanche of this
kind on the Splugen. though he escaped
from death, had his coat firmly frozen
into the Icy mass that he was stuck like
gnat to a fiy-paper, and could not release
himself until assistance arrived.
Often the frozen bodies of channels have
been found quite ft for food in the remains
of old avalanchpQ that have fallen MANY
years previously. One OF the most famous
Swiss avalanches. and one which only falls
in very snowy seasons. is the Schwabento-
bellawine. In 1888 this avalanche fell near
Glarus-Davos, destroying life and prop
erty, and carrying all before it. The mass
was estimated to be over 100000 cubic feet
in bulk. while the tunnel which was after
ward cut through 1t to allow the tramc to
pass along the valley road was over 3OO
feet long and twelve feet high.
The Simplon always noted for the serious
avalanches falling from the Gletschhorn
glaciers, was early in July the scene Of an
immense fall Of snow and rock owing to the
bursting of glacier lake on the Bodmer.
But, unlike the terrible Simplon avalanche
of 1901. this fall. happily. did not cost any
human life though party OF peasants saw
their cattle dashed to death, and were only
just able to save themselves in time. The
cause Of this fall was the formation OF a
huge lake on the glacier.
AS the heat of summer increased, the
rapidly melting snow filed this icy Alpine
reservoir to repletion. and suddenly, on
July 3, without an instant's warning, 1t
burst its frozen BARRIERS and In few
seconds discharged thousands of tons of
water, ice and snow into the valley below,
destroying everything In Its way, and never
stopping until 1t reached the Krumbach
Gorge. into which 1t plunged. and in an in
credibly short time completely filled 1t up.
In June a somewhat similar fall swept
down upon the st. Gothard line between
Lucerne and Goldau. stopping all traffic
Of No
lives were lost by this mishap, but a Sig
nalman's house, which was luckily empty
at the time, was swept away.
Scarcely less dangerous than the spring
avalanches, or "grundlawnen," caused by
melting snow or the bursting of glacier
lakes and reservoirs, are the wonderful
Ice avalanches. or "eisiaw which are
among the wonders and perils Of the jung
frau, the Matterhorn the Piz Bernina and
many other famous glacier-clad mountains.
These marvellous falls of glittering. gleam-
ing ice consist of thousands of tons of
shattered, twisted seracs, or ice needles,
which have fallen from the glaciers and
been precipitated=down the mountain by the
heat Of the sun and the action of the
weather.
These huge falls or cataracts of Ice are
a terrible danger for the climber who rash
ly ventures without a guide into their VI
sinity after sunrise. Not long ago a party
of Zermatt climbers went without guides
to admire the seracs of the famous Z'mutt
glacier. AS they slowly moved away they
heard behind them mighty roar like that
Of the discharge of heavy artillery. which
was fercely echoed and re-echoed by a
thousand crags ana peaks. Looking back,
they saw countless tons of ice in huge
blocks and mighty splintered columns fall
on the very spot where a few moments be-
fore they had all been standing.
Nine athletic young members OF the Ski
Club, mostly Englishmen, while making an
excursion from Lucerne in March, were
caught in bad snow avalanche. One of
the party, Swiss. was hurled over a
precipice and killed outright; while the
others, after being rolled in the snowy mass
for many hundreds of feet miracuousy
escaped with only minor scratches and
bruises.
One huge snowslide on the Jura mountains
buried seven children, Of whom two were
killed; while an avalanche at Lovrana car
ried away the roof and upper floor of the
village inn. Dutch student named Ritkens
from the Federal College, while glissadfng
down steep snow slope at Susten in June
started an avalanche which carried him
away. and flung him into a rocky torrent,
where his body was found with the skull
fractured and both arms broken; while
within the last fortnight three fatal as well
as any number Of less serious accidents
have occurred owing to avalanches of vari-
Gus sorts
Only a few days ago the well-known Rus
sian author, Leykow, almost lost his life
With three friends he was endeavoring to
scale the highest peak of the Presanella
group. He was struck on the head by a
large stone, and fell from his foothold.
dragging his companions with him. They
all fell a considerable distance, but owing
to great good luck none except Leykow
himself was really seriously injured. An
avalanche Of stones was also the cause Of
the death of Prof. Alois Kimmerle who a
Few days ago was found dying at the foot
OF precipice between Hochtor and Johns
bach, in the Austrian Alps. He had been
lying in agony, half buried by heavy stones,
for seventy-two hours. and died almost as
help arrived.
Tho Unexpected Guest.