The Yale expositor., 1910-06-24


opportunities. Some people, to be sure started
their careers mountain climbers in the United
States and have confined their indulgence In the
sport to the mountain regions of Yankeedom, but
they surpassed numerically by the subjects
of Uncle Sam who first became converts to noun
tain climbing in Switzerland or other foreign
parts and then came home perhaps to discover
that we have just as difficult peaks under the
Stars and Stripes be found In any part of
the old world
Sometimes fate steps in and makes what
might be termed an involuntary convert to Ameri-
mountain climbing. case In point is that
of Charles E Hughes, governor of New York, who
has recently been appointed to the United States
Supreme court Mountain climbing is the pet
hobby of Governor Hughes, and for years he spent
every summer In Switzerland scaling the peaks.
Then came his election to the gubernatorial posi-
ton and with 1t new responsibilities which in
effect made 1t impossible for him to engage In
prolonged vacation far from home. Thereupon
Governor Hughes and his son-who is likewise
a mountain clmber-turned their attention to the
Adirondacks and here he found peaks that
aroused his enthusiasm for they are clad in
dense forest growth that is quite as battling in
many respects as glaciers and crevasses and the
governor discovered that mountain 5000 feet
high may test the mettle of pedestrian quite as
fully some more lofty peaks.
Mountain climbing in the Adirondacks. in the
White mountains of New Hampshire and In the
gnia has been accepted summer sport for
some years past, but it has grown tremendously
in popularity of late. Some of the experienced
climbers who enjoy the sport only when 1t in
wolves hazards that test the steadness OF eye,
clearness of head and sureness of foot in the
maximum degree wont to regard too
seriously the assaults of the amateurs the
mountains east of the Mississippi, but IL must
be admitted in defense Of mountain climbing in
the east that 1t has brought color to the cheeks
and sparkle to the eyes of many weary city
dweller and in not few instances II has served
as a preparatory school for climbers who have
later become experts in more exacting enviroS-
ment. In the west on the other hand, we have
mountain climbing that from every consideration
of danger and daring ranks with any similar
tivity abroad, although, to be sure. newspaper
readers hear much less about IL. Perhaps this
latter circumstance is due in part to the rarity
in America of those narrowing accidents which
cost the lives Of so many mountain climbers In
Switzerland In the southwest the trip up Mount
Wilson in California has become popular diver
sion for both men and women and the Grand Can
yon of Arizona-that great cash in the earth 13
miles wide and mile deep-is affording
equivalent of mountain climbing that is without
a rival or a counterpart. scenlcaly otherwise.
on the other side OF the Atlantic indeed any
where in the world.
The Yosemite valley, with its sheer walls of
rock and other freaks of nature. offers problems
that have commanded the respect and inciden-
tally fired the ambition of mountain climbers of
every nationality. while Alaska has In Mount Nc
Kinley peak that is generally accounted one OF
the most difficult in the entire world Generally
speaking, mountain climbing In America has
reached its most pretentious development I'm the
Pacific northwest and In the Canadian Rockies.
In the latter region-the Switzerland of Amer
ica--there are glaciers as formidable and as in
teresting any expenses of snow and ice In for
eign lands and the snow-capped peaks OF Mount
Hood and Mount Rainier have afforded to the
people of Oregon and Washington constant object
lessons that have proven an incentive to noun
tain climbing. Swiss guides have been brought
20 the Canadian Rockies for the benefit OF new