The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-07
Mount Mckinley Controver-
sy Turns Public Attention to
the Perilous Art of Alpinism

To the pcrilous art of mountain
cImbing public interest is now drawn
nv the Cook Barrill dispute over Mount
.NeKinlcv and the, new world record of
"a 900 feet inst attained by the Duke
OF the Abruzzi.
4 at the close Of our revolution, for it,
did not have its birth until 1886, when
Balmat and Paccard stirred Europe by
sealing the top Of Mont Blanc, the loft
iost of the Alps. But tins first record
asccnt appears small alongside the
heights attained by later cragism- And
the extent TO which interest In this
class of exploration has spread may be
measured by the membership of the
Notwithstanding clubs, which in Eu"
rope alone amounts TO over 100000 men
and women. In our own country there
arc several thousand enrolled IN similar
organizations, notably the American
alpine club, Philadelphia, the ApPa-
lachian Mountain club, Boston; the
Sierra club, San Francisco; the Mount
whitney club of California, and the
Maaamas of Portland. Oregon. Our
northern neighbor also has IFS Canadian
Alpinc club. All of these societies. hero I
and abroad, contain expert climbers,
New "Farthest Up
The new 'farthest up record, Just
earned by the Duke of the Abruzzi, |
IS
awarded the laurels for arctic glory
Cook or Peary-must vic with this royal /
Italian for rank as the chief explorer OF
our generation. The altitude of "a 500 |
feet which he has Just attained in |
the Himalayas means q height of four !
and two-thirds miles, whereas Mont
Blanc reaches less than three. The |
was made is Bride Peak, one of the /
Northwestern 1llmalayss. In the neigh
borhood of Mount Goodwin Austin, |
which latter is the second highest sum
nit of the world. The region is remote !
and imporfectly surveyed, aud the diff
ficulties of approach must be added TO !
those OF ascent. 1t was Abruzzi who
held the, North American record, which
DR. Cook claims TO have broken by
climbing Mount Mckinley two years
ago This the duke earned III 1897 by
climbing to the summit OF our Mount
St. Elias, IN Alaska, which reaches IS,
U24 feet Four unsuccessful attempts
had been made to scale this summit
before AbruzzI attempted it. To reach
il he had to penetrate IL subarctic waste
far from civilization and he found lis
entire altitude practically above the
snow Iine. Upon It's slopes the duke
zcceived the training which enabled
him to attain his .'farthest NORTH
sew years later. Again. in 1906 Abruz-
Al added to his laurels by ascending
fourteen of the highest submits of the
Ruwcnzori, that snowy source of the
Nile which stands almost upon the
equator The highest Of these peaks
climbed BY Abruzzi is about l6,S15 feet
or about 1000 feet loftier than Mont
Blanc, To reach the SUBMITS the duke
led an army of 2g0 native portcrs and
other assistants from Victoria NyanZa
elS miles TO Fort Portal, Uganda, the
very end of civilization. Then he
Climbed the slippery hills through Jun
glea of Wild bcnsts 10, foggy spot 12,
800 fcet up, where he exchanged his
portevs for hurdicr LOT. After ascend
ing all of the higher peaks, he named
the two lofticst Margherita and Alex
andra, in honor Of his queen and that
of England. The expedition covered
four months, and no hives were lost.
AS to who held the record which Alb
ruzzi has Just broken has been matter
OF controversy even more complicated
than the Pcary- Cook imbroglio, and the
duke has clarified the atmosphere by
takine the bone of contention away
from the other disputauts. The last
claimant before him has been an Amcri-
can woman. Miss Annie Smith Peck.
OF Providence, r. J., a graduate of the
University Of Michigan, who, after
|stndylug music aud German in the faith.
crland, became the first woman student
at the American school at Athens and
returned to the United States to lecture
and TO hold professorships in several
colleges, including Smith. This inde.
iiatgable woman climbed the Matter
/ horn In 1895, and two years later Pop
( ccatepctl and Orizaba, in South Amer
lca, she being the first woman to ascend
thc latter: After other practice climbs
IN the Alps she attempted the summit
OIL Mount Sorata, in the Andes. This
was IN 1903, and she took two Swiss