Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-28
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING
By Frederic j. Haskin

/ tdifficult of the virgin peaks of the Alps.
/ A rope broke at critical point In the
ascent and the four French ana SIX
Italian tourists plunged over a pfeel-
pice. The guides saved themselves py
clinging to projecting rocks. Ihe toul
Frenchmen were killed outright ana
| two of the Italians were dying Wheh
assistance reached them.
Some years ago celebrated guide
named Couttet, in charge OF a party
descending Mount Blanc, lost his foot
! ing. and not being roped, pitched into u
creyesse. Every effort was made TO
recover his body, but in vain. party
of guides went up the same evening
| and one of their number was let down
! into the creVasse by means OF a rope 10
| a distance of ninety feet, ana thouSh
| he called at the top of his voice ohiy
echoes replied. They then let down
bottle a hundred fet further, and When
they drew it up it had on 1t blood ana
| human hair. They construed TINS TO
mean that their comrade was crushed
to death.
In 1888 a party of three tourists ana
| eight guides reached the crest OF
/ Mount Blanc, but on their return were
overtaken by one of the furious snow
| storms which constantly sweep over
the face of the mountain. A crowd OF
| their friends in Chamouni, in the plain
/ below, saw them huddled together as
| If for warmth when the snow CLOUDS
again shut them from view. Ten days
| later five bodies were found. The other
/ six were left to rest forever in the
| bosom of the snow. One of those whose
| bodies were recovered was an Ameri-
! can, who left a diary containing
record of the sufferings of the party.
continuing to write until the cold
numbed his body and paralyzed MS
/ faculties
! Americans have made some wonderful
records as mountain climbers. DR.. ana
Mrs. Workman and Miss Anna Peck
are among the most celebrated. Miss
! Peck has scaled mountains in all parts
of the world, but is proudest of having
/ conquered Serato, of the Andean range.
DR. and Mrs. Workman only this year
reached an altitude of 21,S5O feet in
| the mountains of Turkestan. She
dared one peak her husband would not
attempt. He stood in the valley be-
| low, watching the plucky woman fight
! her way upward over treacherous snow
| banks and yawning chasms, while
snowstorm ragged, often hiding the dar
| ing climber from view. DR.. Workman
and his wife came near being slain
by a wild tribe in the mountains of
Turkestan and. only escaped by dis
/ playing great bravery and the exercise
of much diplomacy.
| Homer, blind though he was, is said
to have been mountain climber, but
mountain climbing as a pastime is of
| modern origin. The conquest of Mount
Blanc was not achieved until Balma
reached its summit in 1856; the jung
| frau was not scaled until 1928 and it
was as recently as 1865 that the foot
of man first defled the snow that
crowns the Matterhorn. The party was
composed of four English travellers
and three guides. The ascent had been
accomplished after tremendous efforts,
but while descending the rope which
bound the climbers together broke and
three of the Englishmen and one of the
guides were hurled to their DEATH DR.
Williams Moseley of Boston lost his
life on the Matterhorn in 1879. He fell
hundreds of feet and his descent
through the air was so rapid that all
his clothing was torn from his body.
A great mountaineer of the western
country is William G. Steel Some
| twenty-five years ago he was the lead
er of party which went to the sum
NIT of Mt. Hood, carrying rockets
and red fire. which they proposed to
set off at midnight to mark the ter
mination of the Fourth of July celebra-
tion in Portland, seventy-fve miles dis
tant. N. w. Durham, now editor of the
Dt'OfAetAlC A'pOhNolild l~IAtNiGW, WAS the
party The fire was touched off on
Hoods summit and the illumination
was plainly seen in Portland. The party
Immediately begun the descent, but in
the darkness fell into a crevasse and
eXtricated themselves with difficulty.
Then they got lost In the heavy timber
and could not find their way to camp
until daylight came.
Elisha Mitchell lost his life by a fall
while scaling for the first time a
peak of the Alleghanies, in North
Carolina. His name has been given to
this peak, which is the highest eleva-
ton east of the Mississippi. Many
school boys have declaimed the ora
tion delivered by Governor Zeb Vance
descriptive of the finding of Mitchells 8
body.
Systematic and scientific climbing OF
mountains has had its growth since the
formation of the Alpine club in London,
| in 1857. The club was formed to Ten
large the community of feeling Of
those who, in the life of the high alps,
have shared the same enjoyments, the
same labors and the same dangers. :"
At least four mountain climbing clubs
exist in the United States, including
the American Alpine club, of PhiIadei-
phia, organized in 1902: the Appalachian
Mountain club of Boston, the Manzanas
club of Portland and the Sierra club
of San Francisco.
Mountain climbing has been de-
nounced as a pastime involving waste
full expenditure of energy and time ana
great loss of life, without the achieve
ment of valuable result, but the num-
Der of people who travel from conti-
nent to continent every year seeking
new heights to conquer grows larger
instead of smaller
Copyright. 1903, by Frederic J. Haskin.)
of the "slush fund" at each electinn