The daily sentinel., 1910-07-05
Follow Me
BY F. a. Mitchell
Copyright. 1910. by American Press
Association.
BY F. a. Mitchell

am known rs MeSereuu the climber.
The guide upon whom always re-
lied when climbing in the region about
lnterlaken WIS Carl Weber. German
Swiss. He was brave and faithful
and | became very much attached TO
him. l had him with me in every
climb made out of Interlaken TO the
SUBMITS of the Wetrcrhorn. Eiger
Monk and .Iungfrau. And frequently
when | attempted ascents in the south
ern Alps l would send for him to
come 10 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.
crust gave way beneath me. and | fell.
Weber knowing that the only way To
prevent his being dragged after me
was TO throw himself on the opposite
side, did so. There we hung. each
dangling over precipice divided by
a sharp edge of rock. Unfortunately
Webers right arm had become caught
in a loop of the rope and a bone
snapped
Herr" he called. 81 cannot pull
myself up. My arm is broken. | think
there is snow beneath you. The rope
must be cut. You will fall a short
distance and may not he hurt"
And your"
81 shall go down n thousand feet"
"Then the rope shall not be cut
will 90 up hand over hand and. strad-
ding the edge. will pull you up
This l did. / expected Weber would
be overjoyed at his escape. but he did
not appear to b so much pleased as
one would suppos,.
"Achr' he exclaimed bitterly. Il
shall never be the same man after
having been saved by one l have guild
ed"
This was the last time Weber and l
ever climbed together Not long aft
erward while conducting party of
Englishmeu to the summit of Mont
Blanc. the SHOW gave way beneath
them. an avalanche was started. and
they were all lost. Veber'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 | resolved that | would never
climb again. This was partly because
TO climb without Weber would not be
enjoyable and partly because his death
Il
safety in Alpine climbing even with
the best guide. | refrained for two
years: then. business calling me TO
Europe found myself near my he
loved Switzerland in the summer sea-
son and ram down 10 ChamoniX for II
visit Unluckily for MY resolution
while at ChumoniX | fell in with a
party about 10 climb to the summit
of Mont Blanc.
stood looking up one morning mt
The magnificent sight of the mountain
ON which Weber had met his death.
greatly tempted to make one more as
cent. wondered If the soul of my
guide. freed from flesh aud the at
traction of gruviiaiinn was fitting
over the cliffs. sailing through the
vast splits between the peaks revcl-
ing in being able to 20 like bill
wherever it pleased Theu came 10
me Il superStitiuuS dread lest II ! wa.t
| should meet with misfortune.
determined 10 adhere to my reSo-
luton to climb No more when one of
the party began To talk with me about
the trip and when spoke Of remuin-
ing below manifested some surprise
that such NOTED climber" should lie
content to see others 20 without "uiTl;
himself This decided me to be one Of
the party.
We made the Grand Muets, the mt
built for a halfway stop, ny evening
and started the next morning under
a cloudy sky for the summit Within
an hour we were enveloppd in ly far
the worst suowstorm I had ever en-
countered in any Of my ascentS 1t
was Ike an American blizzard. the
snow FILLING In miniature SpiWls auH
deepening SO rapidly thar we soon
found moving ia any direction diH
cult
! have never before seen A!rnr
guides thoroughly frigm'uet we
must return to The GrHnJ lIu.r;s
they an said and. turning wp began
TO descend Eur how cuuId We de-
scend amy more diam ascend uot he
ing able 10 sue distance uf ten
yards: If vr stopped we wuu.d rEe
overcome by the snow n wr 0rere5
I'd we would iEe'y go into aTHvi.e