The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-29
MANY CLIMBERS
KILLED IN ALPS
Majority of Victims Were
Tourists

Bern, December &.-(SpeciaL) 1.-The AL
pine climbing season of 1913, which
terminated on November l. took a toll
of los lives. OF these 105 only a small
proportion, perhaps 20 at most, were
of the word. The others were, as
usual, tourists or excprsionists in quest
of flowers, or i'll equipped pedestrians
out for a mountain ramble
Three guides lost their lives and one
was injured, while four women were
killed and two injured. Two of the
women were killed by lightning.
Mile. Renee Eugster, who lost her
life on September 7, was an exper
fenced climber always on the alert for
new routes. On August %, 1912, for in
stance. she made the first ascent of the
Afguille du Midi by the northwest wall.
On September Z last she was attempt
ing to descend from the summit of the
Afguille de la Perseverance to the VAL
lee de Berard, a route entirely by way
either of perpendicular cliffs or of
overhanging rocks. With a double rope
Mile. Eugster, accompanied by a guide
and porter, had already safely de-
scended two rock walls and was be-
ginning to descend a third when q
violent thunderstorm supervened. The
guide was in a safe position, holding
the double rope, by means of which
Mile. Eugster was descending, the por-
ter having already got down, and being
busy putting the ice axes under some
rocks lest they should act as lightning
conductors in the storm.
The guide for a time lost sight of
Mile. Eugster, who called out that the
rope was too short to allow of her
reaching the ledge at which the por-
ter had arrived. There was no other
way of her doing this but by unrop-
ing, which she evidently did, for aft
erward she was heard to cal out that
she was in a safe place. The guide
then began to descend, but when he
reached the overhanging rock a flash
of lightning suddenly occurred, which
seems to have dazen him, for he let
go the double rope, exclaiming, 81 can't
hold any longer. / am falling"
Mile. Eugster Disappears
He was, however, saved owing to his
having rolled the double rope around his
leg, and he hung by one foot on a ledge Of
rock. from which predicament the porter
speedily released him. BY this time how
ever, Mile Eugster was nowhere to be
seen.
Exactly what happened will never he
Known. since for time neither the guide
nor the porter could see her She prob
falling guide and in so doing slipped on
the snow of the couloir by which she was
standing. What is certain is thar she
slipped In a standing position and that
death was due to a wound on the temple
sustained from projecting rock
The most serious accident of the year.
which also happened In September oc-
Cured on the Piz Palu, in the Berina
group, the body of only one of the four
victims having been as yet recovered
1t is TO be noted that the party, though
not an inexperienced one, was without
guides. The catastrophe was due to bad
weather, the three men and one woman
dying, it is supposed, Of cold
Accidents due to lightning, of which
there We're more than usual this year,
may perhaps be classed as Unavoidable
but it is safe to say that most of the fatal
accidents this year, as in former years,
might have been avoided by the exercise
Of little foresight and more prudence.
Incessant warnings as to the danger OF
wearing nsufficlently strong and i'll nailed
boots in mountains and generally of being
i'll equipped have at length told to sucn
an extent that although cases do occur
of i'll shod people going for mountain ex-
cursions and ascents these are rare and
one has yet succeeded in indelibly I'M
pressing upon the public consciousness,
however. is the danger of going alone on
any excursions to remote or little Travelled
parts.