Evening star., 1909-04-18

fond of the great outdoors of
the upper world and of the II e
health and recreation it offers
No Europeans, whether aristo-
Gratis or peasants, are harder or have more of
the red blood that puts real life into man
than the Abruzzi
Ever looking upward, soon came the desire
to go higher; but Luigi reached the age of
twenty-one before he made his first notable
ascent of the famous Matterhorn by the most
difficult route, the Zmutt ridge With him
was Mummery, the Engishman, whom Sir
Martin Conway calls one of the worlds greatest
alpinists
Before this feat, however, Amadeo had
learned to love the sea The House of Savoy
has furnished some of 1taly's bravest and most
skilful Captains, even though it lies far back
from the Mediterranean This scion was sent
to the naval training school at Leghorn, and
the year of his climb of the Matterhorn found
him aboard warship wearing the bars of
Lieutenant in the royal navy The cruise
eventually brought him to America, where he
heard of the snowclad SUBMITS of the Northern
Rockies and of hoary st Elias, as yet uncon-
quered by man
At the end of the voyage, however journey
to the Himalayas proposed by Mummery found
him willing, and at the beginning of 1895 he
saw the great Kunchinjinga for the first time.
Rising over five miles in a vertical line above
the level of the sea, Europes backbone with its
Matterhorn, Blanc, and Jungfrau seemed like
a range of foothills contrasted with this mighty
mountain He would have accepted the chal-
lenge it offered to ascend it had not the plague
which was devastating the country about de-
cided him to postpone the venture. Perhaps
it was well, since Mummery his associate, fell
to his death few months later on the Manga
Parbat while trying to reach its top.
Climbing St. Elias
THIS bit of the past is worth noting; for it ex-
plains why the Duke turned his eyes toward
the New World instead of attempting the
c. xoI ox,1 h<
determined to stand upon its summit Then
was organized little group of adventures who
have pushed forward shoulder to shoulder not
only on Alaska's slopes and glaciers, but over
the great icepack of the Arctic as well as
through the jungles of mid-Africa
Among them is Cagni, son of the noted
Italian General also schooled at Leghorn
One of the ablest of Italy's mariners. he is also
known as scientist Cagni may be called the
chum of the Duke of Abruzzi, since he has been
an almost constant companion in his wander
ings into the unknown since the ascent of st.
Elias Victor Petigax, the veteran mountain
guide and expert on glaciers snow cornices. and
coils, first gained fame on st Elias. and has
been with the Duke on nearly every important
expedition since Vittorio Sella, another men,
ber of this little band, is mountaineer and
noted photographer of the wild One of the
finest collections in existence, his pictures of
mountain and forest are ample proof in them
selves of the hardships and dangers these men
have defed in their quest of knowledge In ten
years their names have become about as
familiar to the geographer and scientist as
that of Abruzzi himself, and much of his
success has been due to their devotion and
enthusiasm.
When the would be climbers of St Elias
landed on the shore of Yakutat Bay. to reach the
snowy mountain top just visible on the horizon
they had to make what alpinsts call the
longest ice climb in the world for the glacier
covered slope of st Elias reaches nearly to the
sea, distance of sixty miles, without a single
tree or shrub on the white surface Malaspina
Glacier. with its fifteen hundred square miles of
ice had to be crossed, then the route was up
science 1t was in July, yet this Alaska mid
summer weather included storms of snow waist
deep through which they had to make their
way. Thirteen days were spent in going only
eight miles: but, as the world knows, on the
last day of July, 1897. human beings stood for
the first time on top of the mountain which is