The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21
ACCIDENTS IN THE ALPS.
Most or Them Due TO CareIessness Tourists
Not the Only Victims.

The monthly publication OF the French
Alpine Club prints occaoionally a list OF the
most recent accidents that have befallen
climbers among the mountains. Page after
page OF this kind Of reading Ia not very
cheerful literature, but the club has a good
purpose in printing it.
1t is held that the lesson taught by these
accidents is that nearly all Of them are due
to ~imprudence. Only part Of the victims
are tourists; dwellers among the mountains
supply a considerable proportion OF the
casualties. The last season has witnessed
. number Of accidents to professional noun
t~aineers, and in nearly every case they lost
their lives because they were careless and
ov~eroonhdent.
One OF them named GALAXY was descend
ing the Pho Midi in June last, and, being
in a great hurry to get down, skipped along
as though he we're on a good, hard road
in the valley. Slipping on a very steep
slope Of snow, without taking even the
most ordinary precautions, he was pre-
cipitated over a precipice n was picked
up dead about 1900 feet below.
In June a channels hunter started on a
hunt and did not come home. His body
was found a month later, nearly every bone
/ DTOhcu, L liz AOOb VI ptON'fNNV
A mountain shepherd named Dussert
| started in the evening to find a stray sheep.
and in the darkness fell over a high rock
into Lao Bleu, where he drowned. These
three men we're m~ouptaineers by birth and
profession, and their own carelessness cost
them their lives
Every year, however, some OF the best
native climbers lose their lives through
Rta aLas- @u- nna ~ NhA HawoANVa
guides, Celestin Bernard and another guide,
jacques Blanc, were making a ~reconnais-
sance when a fall of rock killed Blanc and
seriously wounded Bernard.
On August , last two men conducted
by the guide Ambrose Claret were APP
proachinR the Aiguille du Coulter when the
guide proposed that they unrope so that
each for himself might more easily dodge
the fall OF rock that was becoming very
Troublesome. They had scarcely taken the
rope of when the guide was hit by a fall
of stones that swept him over a declivity.
The next day twelve guides recovered his
body, LOO feet below.
In August an experienced climber Of
Geneva named Martin was ascending
alone one Of the lesser submits near Mont
Blanc when he found skeleton on which
were only a few strips OF cloth. On the
breast was a gold chain and a watch, and
nearby was an umbrella with a silver plate
on which was engraved the name Busch
eler."
Martin had solved a mystery that made
a sensation in August, 1908, when Miss Dora
Buscheler, daughter Of a professor in the
University OF Bonn, went out for a little
excursion without a guide was never
seen again. 1t is supposed that she lost her
way and died OF fright or starvation.
Il is at onishing how many tourists, even
woman, will undertake ascents without q
guide or any other companion. On June n
Mrs. Soelzer took a train for Alex in order
to ascend the Dent du Cruet. A rescue
pIrty vainly sought her for two days. but
finally found her body at the foot Of a cliff
about 100 feet high over which she had fallen
lust before reaching the base Of the Dent
du Cruet.
Another young woman named Marie
Blanc-Gras, 70 years old, started on the
morning Of August 5 to gather edelweiss on
Mount Prapic. Her body was found later
AT the foot Of a cliff about $50 feet high.
The record from which these facts are
taken Rives particulars Of ten other Alpine
tragedtes, allof which occurred in the latter
mart Of August. One OF tho stories Is that
81 the fate Of a father and son who were
wandering above the snow line, though they
had no mountaineering experience what
ever.
The hest Mount aineera, whether profess
SIGNALS OF amateurs, never seek to minimize
the hangers 81 the high mountains. but they
7 insiat that common SENSE, experience and
caution can reduce these dangers 10 a
minimum. But tragedy Is certainly in
Wits when guides go skimming down n
n slope ~ thry would move in a skating
rink. when shepherds Chamber among preCi-
pices in tbs dark, when women make soli' AIRY
excursions on the ice and men h have
never climbed q moun ain invade the snow
fields.