The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-07
night
making climb

,pUCH ndkinB ciiiuu
went down kissing at ever increasing veS
locity until lost to sight below.
1t was already IL O'Clock and eight and
one-half hour since we left the cabin be-
low. To the summit was still one and
half to two hours and everybody all
ready was feeling the fatigue.
1T is scarcely prudent to proceed In
this wind,' said Zumtaugwald.
III you say turn back, we turn back"
I said with all the courage 1 could mus
ter, but If we do. it all has to be done
over again."
Nobody relished a second ascent. As
a compromise it was agreed we should
go up higher and see If the wind was not
less violent Strangly enough within 10
minutes we were in a relative calm. Above
the shoulder in the rocks, several
permanent cables, some wire and some
half rotten rope. We made use of these
where possible and climbed swiftly. These
cables are not necessary, for the rocks
here are accessible, but by using them a
great deal of time Is saved and, in my
opinion, no honor lost. The Apinist who
spurns a friendly cable logically should
climb without nailed boots. Moreover if
Alpinists use the cables hanging above
the shoulder 1t should not be forgotten
that in the most difficult places on the
Matterhorn there are no artificial sup
ports.
Passing to the left of the spot where
four of the Whymper party lost their
lives we left behind the cables and mount
ed carefully and tediously to the summit
ridge. Our arrival there. / was told later,
created great excitement at Zermatt, Ryf-
felalp, Gornergrat and at SchwarzseeS'
where crowds all day collected around 7
the telescopes. Y
In spite of the wind the day was per-
feet, almost without a cloud. Ten thou
hanaafh IS N
the village of Zermatt we had left the
DAY before, while beneath us to the south
in Italy were the pastures of Breuil The
ehalets were only specks studded in the
green fields. The immensty of the scene
around US dulled the perceptive faculties.
Unable to cope with such a flood of i'm
pressions the eye sees without distn-
gushing and one is choked with emo
ton.
AS one became calmer the panorama
could be seen in detail On one side was
the terrific Dent Blanche, a masterpiece
of nature; the Ober Gabelhorn and point
ed Rothhorn; and then the peerless Weiss
horn further to the right lowered the
Mfchabelhorner and then the Monte Rosa, \
the Lyskam mand the Breithorn. Behind
were the Bernese Oberland, the Simplon
and St. Gothard groups To the south
one could see the Viso nearly 100 miles
away. Further around were the Dauphine
sublime I'm the glorious sunlight. the high-
est mountain in Europe
But this is not taking cinematograph-
1nE pictures. We split up again, Biner
this time holding my legs, while the other
three passed over the ridge without
losing precious time we began the de-
scent. 1t was in going down that tho
Whymper party were killed and we need
ed all our wits to move rapidly and se-t
curely. In the scramble in the rocks soms'
one upset some small stones. One hit
me in the forehead. but scarcely felt 1t
in the excitement.
AS far as the shoulder we made very
fast time and then the tedious, cautious
descent began. We went down as usual
face outwards continuously looking down
a precipice. My deepest and most last
ing impression of the Matterhorn is look
ing down ice slopes which end abruptly
In abysses. 1t seems at first impossible
10 pass, so steep does the mountain ap-
pear, but on reaching the point whers
the abyss first appeared it recedes TO
the bottom of another steep slope.
Occasionally in the rocks one is forced
to turn. lie his stomach, and then
descend clinging by the toes and fingere
tips as best one can to the crags. Not
knowing the mountain as well as tbs
guides there was one place where the
lsndholds we're doubtful and after start
l.
no foothold. search | might. l was
practically dangling over precipice I
called out to julien, who was above, 10
hold the rope tight and simply dangled
down TO where j could again get into Sc
cure contact with the mountain. In these
bad places the last guide down resorted
TO what is called the 'corde de rappel.N
that is. doubling his reserve cord behind
rock above and after using ii to descend
haulipg IT i'm by pulling in one end only.
About oclock the weather began to
look threatening. Shortly afterwards it
began to snow and we were still far up
on the mountain, still above the les
slopes only 20 degrees off the perpendici-
lar
''We must move faster" called out Zum-N
targwald, and We did
We passed over the difficult places with
considerable rapdity but never once did
anyone take chances with the mountain.
Had anyone slipped he would have been
held by the others-unless unfortunately
the rope had broken. 1t was almost dark
when we reached the club hut. and wa
began to breathe easier. While we felt
sa fe here we We're hidden from zernlatt
by the clouds and down below there was
considerable uneasinoss as they knew we
had been caught by night on the noun
tain
Too tired TO eat the food left at the
hut in the morning We again undertook
the descend and by fast crag work soon,
got sight of the cabin almost directly
below us. The sight of safety and rest
below spurred us on and at e;15 p. m.
we reached the cabin having been climb
ing almost without ceasing 10 hours, less
Is minutes
But the Matterhorn had been cineniatc-
graphed from Zermatt to the summit
1900 feet of film taken--so what mat Z.
tered It IL we we're half frozen and toof.
tired to eat? 8