Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-05-11
Follow Me
By F. A. MITCHELL
Copyright, 1910, by American Press
Association.

lam known as Mesereau the climber
The guide upon whom l always re-
lied when climbing In the region about
1nterlaken was Carl Weber, a German
Swiss. He was brave and faithful,
and l became very much attached to
him. l had him with me in every
climb made out of Interlaken to the
SUBMITS of the Wetterhorn. Eiger,
| Monk and Jungfrau. And. frequently
| when attempted ascents in the south
| ern Alps l would send for him to
come to me. He always responded
! with alacrity. and knew that he
would rather guide me than any one
else.
| After an adventure we had on the
| Matterhorn his affection for me was
| greatly enhanced. We were alone on
| the side Of that razor backed peak
when. walking on a snow edge, a
crust gave way beneath me. and l fell.
| Weber. knowing that the only way to
prevent his being dragged after me
was to throw himself on the opposite
dangling over precipice divided by
a sharp edge of rock. Unfortunately
Weber's right arm had become caught
in il loop OF the rope and a bone
snapped.
! Herr" he called. Il cannot pull
myself up. My arm is broken. l think
there is snow beneath you. The rope
must be cut. You will fall a short
distance and may not be hurt
"And your
II shall go down a thousand feet"
''Then the rope shall not be cut. l
will go up hand over hand and. strad-
ding the edge. will pull you up
This did. l expected Weber would
be overjoyed at his escape. but he did
not appear to be SO much pleased as
one would suppose.
"Ach!' he exclaimed bitterly 81
shall never be the same man after
having been saved by one have guild
ed
| This was the last time Weber and l
ever climbed together Not long aft
erward. while conducting a party Of
Englishmen to the summit Of Mont
Blanc. the snow gave way beneath
them, an avalanche was started, and
| they were all lost. Weber's body was
found buried under thirty feet of
snow, head down, his alpenstock held
tight in the grip of his icy hand.
On hearing of my faithful guides
death l resolved that l would never
climb again. This was partly because
(! to climb without Weber would not be
enjoyable and partly because his death
| caused me to realize that there is no
safety in Alpine climbing even with
the best guide. l refrained for two
years; then, business calling me to
Europe. found myself near my be-
| loved Switzerland in the summer sea-
| son and ran down to ChamoniX for a
visit. Unluckily for my resolution
while at Chamonix I fell in with a
party about to climb to the summit
of Mont Blanc.
l stood looking up one morning at
the magnificent sight Of the mountain
on which Weber had met his death
greatly tempted to make one more as.
cent I wondered if the soul of my
guide. freed from flesh and the at
traction Of gravitation. was fitting
over the cliffs. sailing through the
vast splits between the peaks. revel
ing in being able to go like bird
wherever it pleased. Then came tC
me superstitious dread lest if l wait
I should meet with misfortune
I determined to adhere to my reso
luton to climb no more. when one Of
the party began to talk with me abou
the trip and when l spoke of remain
ing below manifested some surprise
that such noted climber should b.
content to see others go without goins
himself. This decided me to be one O.
the party
We made the Grand Mulets, the hui
built for halfway stop. by evening
and started the next morning undel
cloudy sky for the summit. Within
an hour we were enveloped in by fa
the worst snowstorm I had ever en-
countered in any of my ascents. l
was like an American blizzard. thu
snow falling in miniature spirals ant
deepening SO rapidly that we soo1
found moving in any direction diff
cult
I have never before seen Alpin,
guides thoroughly frightened. wv,
must return to the Grand Mulets,'
they all said, and. turning. we began
to descend. But how could we de
scend any more than ascend. not be
ing able to see distance Of tel
yards? If we stopped, we would b,
overcome by the snow. If we proceed
ed we would likely 60 into crevic'
, or over precipice. And what wa
the use of moving when we did no
know which way to move?
went out on a circumscribed ex
ploring trip and stood apart from thu
rest. awed by the whirling snow
when l heard a voice-a voice ia
miliar, never to be forgotten.
Herr. folgen sic mich!' (Sir, fol
low mel.
At that moment l saw through tn
snowfakes a vague form short dis
lance before me. Calling to the 9th
ers to come. I followed it. they trail
ing in behind me. There wer
heights above and chasms below, bu
we walked near them without dan
ger. And there before us. Pickering
now fading. disappearing. but Away
reappearing. was the figure.
Within twenty minutes we reache,