El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-06-17
MT. BLANC ASCENT
REQUIRES NERVE
and HARDNESS
Great Elevation and Cold
Make Climb Stirring One;
View Is Wonderful.

Washington, D. c., June 16--"The
heart thumps irregularly, the pulse
goes up to 100. your knees knock to-
gether. and your poor legs seem un-
willing to carry you. Your throat is
parched, you feel suffoated- your chest
seems loaded down with a great weight
and such feeling Of utter eNhaus-
tom
This is not a patent medicine adver-
tisement- It is Walter Woodburn
Hyde's description Of ones condition
on reaching the summit OF Mont B z.s-
Switzerland, as written to the National
Geographic society
The air has now become so rare
that even the stOUtest guide IS com
PEELED to take breath every few steps,
he continues. IF YOU ever saw an
estimate man trying to walk up hill
while a paroXysm was on him, you can
form some idea Of the last part OF the
ascent
View is wonderful
The view is indeed Incompatible.
The panorama before you is immense;
but everything is on such grand
scale, great agglomerations Of plains
and mountains, that all details escape
Won. Most Of Switzerland, great pOr-
tions Of France as far south as Lyons,
and the plains OF Piedmont and LON
hardy in Italy, are spread out before
Won. The cold was so intense that
five minutes after arriving at the
summit we were all ready to begin the
descent.
Although the ascent Of Mont Blanc
offers no greater dangers than that OF
some other swiss mountains, II has the
name OF being the longest and most
exhausting climb IN the Alps W ME
such peaks as the Matterhorn ana the
Chamonix AugiIles, are so formed tnat
no great quantities OF snow can cling
TO their sides, and consequently pres
ent for the most part merely dangers
incident to rock climbing, Mont Blanc,
from its peculiar formation, IS almost
wholly buried in its upper reaches IN
snow and glacier. so that crevasses and
avalanches and all other dangers pecu-
liar to snow climbing are constant
menace 10 the climber The extreme
cold and rarity Of the air as you ap-
Droach the summit are also serious OBJ
stacies-
The eCuipuent for the two days
1ournev consists Of ice axes, hobnalled
boots. woollen leEgings and gloves
mountain caps which cover the race
a05 orotecr il from blistering, dark
glasses with wire sides to protect the
ewes completely from the glare OF the
sun. and a gOodly supply Of PROVISIONS
for you would be surprised al an
Alpine appetite. The guide hlmselI
brings a long coil Of rope, almost LJU
feet in length, slung over his snouldeE-
Ten thousand feet above the sea Is
an island Of rock projecting from the
snow. A tiny chalet has been DulLt
here. where the climber can spend the
night sleeping in a good bed me
little chalet IS leased 10 a man and
his wife. a most W0ebeEOne couple,
whose detected looks eloQuentIy be-
speak the solitude Of their lives amid
these eternal SHOWS, where the ther-
mometer each night stands at zero
Triweekly two hardy porters alternate
in bringing up supplies from ChamoiX'
and they certainly earn their lew
frsncs a day. No wonder a glass Of
water costs 20 centimes, even If IL be
melted snow, for every billet Of wood
has to be brought from Chamonlx'
seven hours below.