The High Alps without Guides: being a narrative, of adventures in Switzerland, together with chapters on the practicability of such mode of mountaineering, etc

Front matter

ADVENTURES IN SWITZERLAND. LONDON : PRINTED BT STOTTISWOODK AND CO., NBW-8TKBfet SQUARE AND PAHMAMJiNT STUKET THE SELLA (sec p. 53). THE HIGH ALPS WITHOUT GUIDES : BEING A NARRATIVE OE ADVENTURES IN SWITZERLAND, TOGETHER WITH CHAPTERS ON THE PRACTICABILITY OP SUCH MODE OF MOUNTAINEERING, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT. BV REV. A. G. GIRDLESTONE, M.A. LATE DEMY IN NATURAL SCIENCE OFiMAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD. ' Qui studet optatani cursu contingerc metam MiUta tulit fccitque.' Horace, WITH A FRONTISPIECE AND TWO MAPS. LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1870.

Preface

. rpHE exquisite pleasure wliich the Alps have, year by year, afforded to the Author, induces him to place this volume before the public. In it he has endeavoured to point out the advantages of mountaineering as a means of recreation, and the possibility of indulging in it to a very great extent without the cost or the annoyances of pro fessional assistance. Tlie first chapter discusses these questions theo retically ; those which follow narrate some of the more interesting adventures which have befallen the Author when (with two exceptions) without guides, and practically illustrate the possibility of such mountaineering. The work closes with a chapter of hints, many of which may be useful to all mountaineers — whether with or without guides — who are but beginners. At the end of each section will be VI

PREFACE.

. found, when I have been able to ascertain the facts, a statement of the number of guides usually taken for tlie expedition described, with their ordinary charges exclusive of food. It should be stated, as adding force to my argu ment, that except in the case of the Strahleck, of so much of the Clariden Grat as coincides with the Sand Grat Pass, and of the Zermatt side of the Col d'Herens, the Author had never, previously to the expedition described, traversed any of the routes given in this book. Nothing short of the Ordnance charts would enable a reader to follow minutely the track of the Author, but this is shown sufficiently for recogni tion by red lines on the annexed maps, kindly lent for this volume by the Publishers. My best thanks are due to the Rev. C. B. Hutchinson of Rugby, to Mr. Fayle, one of my fellow-travellers in 1869, and to others, for their assistance, during my absence from England, in passing this work through the Press ; also to Pro fesssor Tyndall for his kindness in looking through the concluding chapter, ' Suggestions to Alpine Tourists,' notwithstanding the great pressure of work

PREFACE.

. VII upon him. I was anxious, for the sake of any who may consult this chapter practically, to obtain the criticisms of so eminent a mountaineer, although he is in no degree to be held responsible for expressing any opinion on the principle of dispensing with guides. If it were fashionable to dedicate books, this volume would certainly be addressed to those who are in that happy time and state of life which were the fortune of the writer when most of the adven tures recounted occurred — namely, to the Under graduates of the University of Oxford. Athens : March 14, 1870. a CONTENTS.

. . ■ • 158 MAPS. CENTRAL ALPS, INCLUDING SWITZERLAND, LOMBARDY, AND the western tyrol .... to face page 1 WESTERN ALPS „ „ THE HIGH ALPS WITHOUT GUIDES.

Chapter I. Mountaineering Without Guides

' De l'audace, de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace.' — Paris en Amirique. SWITZERLAND has now become to Englishmen a great play-ground ; and probably among the better educated and more wealthy classes there are few families some member of which does not make an occasional pil grimage, staff in hand, to this great shrine of health and vigour. Some more — some less — worthy of the name of mountaineer, they seek recreation and exercise in such way as each sees fit : some are content to cross, with mule or porter, the easy gradients of the Tete Noir, or Wengern Alp, others, satisfied only with the exhilarating air and ex citing toils of the higher Alps, brace themselves up with the mental champagne afforded by glaciers and snow peaks. To many a home, therefore, does the occasional news of some great Alpine disaster come like the boom of a signal B EXAGGERATION. gun to anxious watchers on land.

Great are the terrors of the unknown ; and such light as Alpine literature throws upon mountaineering is not calculated to allay apprehen sion among mothers and sisters of climbers. It must be confessed, however, that partly owing to the extra difficulties which usually attend pioneers, partly too, perhaps, from the minds of the writers having unconsciously been unduly impressed with dangers and difficulties for the first time encountered, there is an exaggeration about this literature scarcely paralleled elsewhere. Indeed, among the many excursions in the high Alps with which the writer is ac quainted, he can only recall two which have not disappointed him by their ease as compared with the descriptions of them in Alpine Club or private publications. It is well to bear this in mind. And as from the increase in the num ber of mountaineers a corresponding increase in accidents must be expected, perhaps a discussion of some of the dangers and advantages of mountaineering may interest the general public to whom the pages of the 'Alpine Journal ' are as a sealed book.

I may fairly be excused if, in so doing, I recount an accident which befel myself and a friend a year or two ago, and make this, together with the comments of the press upon it, the basis of operations ; specially as these comments — so many at least as have met my own eye — appear to emanate mostly from writers more used to wield the pen than the axe. In some instances, indeed, they exhibit an entire ignorance of mountaineering, and after rushino forth to cudgel the unfortunate climber with advice, the AN ESCAPE. 3 critics retire to Olympus with thunders against any who should doubt their competence. The following letter is extracted from the ' Times ' of August 27, 1867 : — AN ALPINE ESCAPE. To the Editor ofthe ' Times.' Sir We left tbe Stein Alp yesterday at 1.30 a.m., meaning to come to this place by the Steinlimmi and the Trift Glacier Joch — two glacier passes — without guides.

On reaching the base of the Thaltistock Rocks, which have to be mounted in order to avoid the upper ice-fall of the Trift Glacier, we found that our best route was to cross a long bridge of frozen snow and ice, connecting the glacier with the rocks. We had to cut steps along it, and while I was cutting the last, close to the rocks, the whole bridge suddenly gave way. I was instantaneously thrown back wards by the tilting up of the extremity of the bridge, and thrown headlong, more than 20ft. through the air, down into the chasm between the rocks and the glacier, bumping as I fell against falling masses of ice. When all was still I found myself unable to move, under blocks of debris, lying head downwards, while Mr. Trueman lay a little higher up in a similar position. After resting a little I was able to get to my knife and free myself from my havresack, the strap of which was cutting my chest.

I next slipped off the rope which was coiled round me; but my coat was held firmly down under an immense block of n AN ESCAPE. ice by the elbow and the right pocket. Had the block fallen an inch nearer, my right elbow must have been crushed, and we must have lain there and died. Slowly, and by degrees, I slipped out of my coat and got on to my feet. I found that we were under the glacier, and but a narrow band of sky was visible. Mr. Trueman was lying in pain, his right knee and calf under a very heavy immovable block. Recovering my axe, I cut away sufficient ice to free his leg and allow him to slide down into my former position ; but here his knapsack jammed him against the block of ice, and it was not until I had unfastened it that he could slide out and get on his legs, when we found that, beyond bruises and abrasions, we had sustained no serious injury, and had not lost anything, except a knife, guide-book, and a portion of my coat, which I had to cut off and leave in order to carry off the rest.

Our first thoughts and words, after ascertaining that we were both alive, were to thank God for so narrow an escape. If you would kindly publish this in your journal it might save our friends some anxiety, for the story has already gone to the Rhone Glacier, and come back under the form that we were on the Sidelhorn, and that one was killed, while the other had come coatless home. A gentleman who sat next me at breakfast this morning was relating this last story in the most serious tones to his neighbours. The guides, I believe, circulate these reports, it being to their interest to make the worst of the matter, which had really nothing. to do with their absence; but THE ' STANDARD ' ON MOUNTAINEERING. 5 they are jealous of my constantly dispensing with their services and tariffs. Yours truly, A. G. Girdlestone, Magdalen College, Oxford.

Grimsel, August 22. In a leading article of the following day the ' Standard,' after mentioning three gentlemen as concerned, proceeds, — ' They started on their expedition without guides, traversed a huge bridge of frozen snow and ice, tampered with it by trying to cut steps, broke through, were precipitated into a chasm, escaped a horrible -fate by the merest chance conceivable, saw nothing worth seeing, did nothing worth remembering, were bruised and scarified considerably, and have enjoyed what is called an Alpine adventure. It is to this complexion that most of such narratives come. Of course it would be idle in the present temper of the vacation travelling mind to attempt reasoning upon the matter.' I only pause to remark that to cut steps on a bridge, narrow in its upper surface, is not necessarily to tamper with it, and also that we that day saw much worth seeing, and did much worth remembering.

The writer proceeds presently to deal with mountaineers in general. — 'They must breathe on the Montanvert; they must defy the clouds from the Wengern Alp ; they must walk eight hours to get a meal, and freeze all night for a shelter. They must risk an instant of giddiness, a false step, a falling rock, avalanches and abysses, and all the artillery which THE ' PALL MALL GAZETTE ' 6 those fortresses of nature can bring to bear upon them, or their holiday has been thrown away, and was not deserved.' Here it is noticeable that the writer opines that the Montanvert, with its snug inn and its broad path to the luxury of Chamouny, and the Wengern Alp with its hotels and restaurants, are giddy heights which only tempt the unwary traveller into the probability of having to walk eight hours on an empty stomach, and then to be half frozen all night; though no half-measures, indeed, are suggested.

Then follow a few patronising remarks, after which a thunder-bolt is hurled at all who are rash enough to doubt that the dweller in the plain is skilled in adven turing ' critical suggestions.' — ' But the supreme glorifica tion witb which it has been the fashion for some years to surround Alpine climbers, and the contempt with which, by Alpine clubs, all critical suggestions are treated, indi cate a strange mixture of ignorance and vanity, as if the art of travel were never understood before champagne bottles were uncorked on the summit of Mont Blanc, and as if, when a man has stared from a white pinnacle upon a wilderness of other white pinnacles, he has eclipsed all other adventure, and left nothing to be seen from the Tropics to the Arctic Zone.' Let us take another vigorous cjitic, the 'Pall Mall Gazette ;' gathering into a bundle all the rods, before re turning such answer as may be.

In the number of that Journal for August 28 appeared a paragraph commenting upon the accident. We are first charged with being inex perienced. Now it happens that my companion, Mr. ON MOUNTAINEERING. 7 Trueman, who was fifty-seven years old when we crossed the Trift, first went to Switzerland more than forty years ago, and has been there frequently since, chiefly in the higher regions; not to mention that we had already, that very season, together ascended the Piz Bernina — no easy mountain — and subsequently, without the aid of guides, made a new glacier pass, and crossed the Clariden Grat ; while, to speak for myself personally, six long vaca tions spent in the Alps in active mountaineering cannot have left me a novice. I wish decidedly to clear my friend and myself of this charge, because I can conceive nothing more likely to be dangerous than the passage of a long glacier pass by a party wholly inexperienced.

We are next informed that we did not know the way. The answer is simple : we had neither of us crossed the pass before ; but if our condemnation were therefore valid, the ' Gazette' itself, being untried, would never have seen the light. We trusted to guide-book and Ordnance map, and not in vain; for throughout that long day's walk we were not once, except on the rocks of the Grimsel, a hundred yards out of our way. The per sonalities which follow may be disregarded : to have been depicted in a frontispiece of a ' Penny Illustrated Paper' in knickerbockers, is enough, in the decorously trowsered mind, to swallow up all minor insults. (See the ' Penny Illustrated Paper ' for September 7, 1 867.) Finally, the ' Pall Mall ' reverts to the main allegation, that we had no guides. It is on this point that I wish presently mainly to dwell.

This, too, the ' Lancet ' sig- * B NO GUIDES. 8 nailed out for sharp attack ; so did a kindly writer in the ' Times ' of August 29th, who puts very fairly the objec tions which may at first sight arise to that mountaineering without guides in which I find the highest pleasure, and which I certainly would foster as much as lies in my power. With this letter I shall conclude the catalogue of comments : — THE ALPINE ESCAPE. To the Editor ofthe ' Times.' ' Sir, — While heartily congratulating the writer of the letter in the "Times" of the 27th inst, on his escape, I cannot agree with him in thinking that the absence of guides, with whose " services and tariffs he constantly dispenses," had nothing to do with the accident. Moun taineers may occasionally dispense with guides, but to do so they must be fully versed in the ordinary rules of their craft.

Any guide worthy of the name would have told Mr. Girdlestone that on a glacier expedition two men are exposed to risks which do not exist for a larger party, and that if it is necessary to cross a doubtful bridge there should be rope sufficient to permit of one only being on it at a time. Under the circumstances, it is not very wonderful if the guides do not share in the belief that the accident was unavoidable, and if they exaggerate, or even chuckle over, the disaster of one who professes himself openly their foe. I have found a hearty dislike for tariffs no hindrance in availing myself of the services of guides. All the best men, as is well known, are engaged durino- DANGERS OF THE BALLROOM. 9 the season to English travellers on terms based on mutual agreement, and without reference to local tariffs. ' I trust this escape will deter adventurous spirits from enlisting hastily in the campaign against guides which your correspondent seems disposed to head.

It is a strife which will claim many victims, for if the leader in it scarcely escapes with life, how will his followers fare ? ' I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ' One who Climbs. ' London, August 28th.' First, let us consider the very prevalent idea, reiterated by the ' Standard,' that mountaineering in general, and especially wben carried to any high pitch, is an exercise exposing its followers to great risks which are in no degree repaid by any advantages gained. Compare, then, the objects and risks of the mountaineer with those of the foxhunter and the sportsman, with those of boating men, and — may I add ? — with those of the frequenters of ballrooms. The fair sex inveigh not a little against the rashness of mountaineers, but I ask them whether these are rasher than those who whirl round a heated room during the small hours of the night, in inflammable dresses, with occasional intervals for becoming ' deliciously cool ' in a draught of air, and with a heavy supper to crown all ?

Does such a pursuit, engaged in night after night, conduce to health and strength of mind or body ? Or rather, does it not silently, but surely, blight many a flower in the bud, and send many a victim to a premature grave? And DANGERS OF ENGLISH SPORTS. what is the object gained ? Refreshment to a toil-worn brain ? fresh, clear air to the dweller in towns ? nature's unsullied face to purify and invigorate workers amid ' the din, the shock, the hum of men ? ' And the boating man ! To omit the well-known evils to health attending boat-racing, is death a rare guest in the pleasure boat ? Let the accidents arising in the pur suit of boating be compared with Alpine mishaps ; they will be found greatly to outnumber them ; while the ex ercise is much less healthful, from affording — except to an occasional ' Water Lily ' or ' Rob Roy ' — no change of people and customs, of tongue and of scenery.

Much the same may be said of sporting, while its object — the pursuit and slaughter of animals — can scarcely be said in any great degree to humanise or ennoble. Who would not prefer the thunder of avalanches, whose effects care and experience may avoid, to the popping of the guns of novices in directions baffling a sage to pre dict ? Vide Mr. Pickwick's feelings under such circum stances : ' Take away his gun, take away his gun, do you hear, somebody ? ' ' And bring a snow mountain,' that great man undoubtedly would have added, had he lived now. These and other common sports of English gentlemen in England beyond question are accompanied to some extent with danger. What risks do the Alps present ? Perhaps an extract from one of the best guidebooks to Switzerland — that edited by Mr. Ball — will supply the most complete answer : — ALPINE DANGERS. 11 ' The dangers of Alpine expeditions may be divided into two classes — the real and the imaginary.

Where a ridge or slope of rock or ice is such that it could be traversed without difficulty if it lay but a few feet above the level of a garden, the substitution on either side of a precipice some thousands of feet in depth, or of a glacier crevasse, makes no real difference in the work to be done, though it may have a formidable effect on the traveller's imagina tion. Those who cannot remove this source of danger by accustoming themselves to look unmoved down vertical precipices, and, in cases of real difficulty, to fix their attention exclusively on the ledge or jutting crag to which they must cling with foot or hand, should avoid expeditions where a moment's nervousness may endanger their own lives or those of others. ' The real dangers of the high Alps may, under ordinary circumstances, be reduced to three.

First, the yielding of the snow-bridges that cover glacier crevasses; second, the risk of slipping upon steep slopes of hard ice ; third, the fall of ice or rocks from above ' During bad weather the ordinary risks of Alpine travelling are much increased, and serious dangers from other causes may assail the traveller. Masses of rock are de tached from their previously firm resting-places, and come thundering down across the track. Falling snow obscures the view and effaces the foot-prints, so that it becomes equally difficult to advance and to retreat. Most formidable of all, the tourmente, or snow whirlwind — when the wind begins to blow in violent gusts — bewilders the CLAIMS OF MOUNTAINEERING. traveller, half blinded by the fine dust-like snow of the higher regions, and benumbs his limbs with its biting breath if he be unable to keep up rapid exercise.' Of the three real dangers, the first is entirely averted by a proper use of the rope.

The second and third re quire experience and care in the mountaineer. Until he has acquired experience in some degree, a man should on no account mountaineer without an experienced com panion. But tbe very fact that care and presence of mind are requisites in mountaineering constitutes, most will agree, no small part of its excellence. There can scarcely be a more bracing nerve-tonic than the critical situations on difficult expeditions, which compel coolness and vigour. A true mountaineer takes a peculiar delight in the pro cesses of his craft, which is quite independent of ulterior objects, such as scenery or health. He was a spurious imitation who, after we had surmounted a difficult peak, afterwards owned that his sole object was to have ' done ' it, and would believe neither in his own nor in my love for the art.

Yet far beyond the mere pleasure in climbing is the ennobling and purifying effect of wandering amid the grandest scenery, far from man's abodes, practically alone, with thirty or forty feet of rope separating one from one's comrade, able ' To hold Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled. The feelings so gained it is impossible to communicate to one who has never experienced them, and they are pro- INCONVENIENCES. 13 duced in many to a far higher degree by the eternal snows and the weird forms of the Alps, than by any other kind of scenery. This fact it is which really elevates mountaineering above other kinds of active recreation, and as will probably be confessed by all, kindles an unusual enthusiasm in its votaries. Who that has witnessed it will not acknow ledge the animation of a conversation about the Alps?

What outsider has not peculiarly felt that he is an ' extern ' wben mountaineers meet ? The enthusiasm may perhaps thus create selfishness, but it is none the less a proof that the Alps are loved by those who know them. But to revert to the risks of mountaineering, and to the comments of the 'Standard,' which may, perhaps, repre sent the popular idea of them. First comes risk of star vation — the walk of ' eight hours to get a meal.' Such a remark is, however, hardly worth answering, the remedy of carrying enough provisions to cover any risk of passing the night out is obvious enough. Perhaps the most practical answer that I can return is that inthe season of 1867 — the year of the accident referred to — in the case of twelve glacier excursions of considerable magnitude, although I carried my own provisions, and therefore took as little as possible, I invariably found some of my store unconsumed at the journey's end.

Assuredly starvation is not the ordinary accompaniment of mountaineering; the press more often criticises the constant description of feasts than of fasts in Alpine literature. To be compelled to pass the night without shelter is of rare occurrence. Every year doubtless this fate befalls GIDDINESS. some luckless adventurer. So far as my own experience goes, I have never, when with guides, been so belated as to fail in reaching shelter, and only once in the course of more than seventy glacier expeditions without guides. It is common enough to sleep in caves, or under stones, and oc casionally even to bivouac on rocks of set purpose, so as to shorten a day's work ; but well does a mountaineer under stand how to make merry under such circumstances by vast brews of chocolate and mulled wine, by songs and the like, eking out thereafter Nature's scanty coverlets with good Swiss blankets.

Let him who is giddy not essay difficult expeditions, until fortified, at least, and cured by familiarity witb more easy work. ' Instants of giddiness ' do not waylay the practised climber ; their existence is only in the critic's brain. The other risks adverted to in the leading article of the ' Standard ' have already been considered, saving the ' ignorance and vanity ' inbred, as the writer thinks, by Alpine climbing. I turn now to the writer in the ' Times,' whose remarks are worthy of much more serious notice ; and in order to answer them effectually, commence with a much fuller account of the accident than I had space for in my original letter.** I have already attempted to clear myself of the charge of rashness in proposing to an experienced climber, such as Mr. Trueman, to cross the Trift Glacier Joch without guides.

I had surveyed the pass from several points of * See, too, the account of the accident in its proper place later on, Chapter VI. THE TRIFT ACCIDENT. 15 view two years before, having then purposed to cross it without guides, but was prevented by the weather. 'The Alpine Guide ' gives very good directions for finding the way over tfiis pass — 0 si sic omnia ! — , we had the Ordnance map, a compass, plenty of good rope, and a tried axe. My companion I knew from personal experience to be sure footed, free from giddiness, and enduring. Our main difficulty arose from the great length of the two passes to gether, which have to be traversed to reach the Grimsel Hospice from the Stein Alp. But an early start with a brilliant moon which was then favouring us counteracted it. Having crossed the first pass — the Steinlimmi — we arrived on the scene of the accident at about 8 a.m. We stood on the glacier, which at this point had, through the warmth of the previous fortnight, shrunk to a considerable extent from the rocks at its side which we had to surmount.

Here and there was a jutting isthmus of ice, forming part of a series of natural bridges over the chasm below. We chose one of these to cross, after a survey of it. The glacier at this height was not snow-covered, so we had not been em ploying the rope ; and the bridge, though at its near end a mere knife-edge above, widened out beyond, and was throughout its length apparently of a tolerable thickness, so that I did not propose to attach ourselves. Mr. True man, however, wished to put on the rope at the bridge, not with any idea that the latter might break, but solely to use it as a mental crutch in crossing so ugly a chasm, from the feeling of security it gives in case of a slip. But on my objecting, as we should have had to take it off again NEGLECT OF THE ROPE. immediately, in order more conveniently to climb the rocks, he agreed that it was better to do without it.

How ever, it was necessary to cut steps, not so as to hew the bridge in two, which some critics seemed to think was the case, but to remove the upper edge in places, so as to afford standing room to the feet, and it was not until I was cutting the final step on ice supported by rock, that the bridge gave way at a point behind me, where Mr. True man was quietly standing. No doubt the vibrations from the blows of the axe assisted the casualty, but it must have been caused mainly by some flaw in the lower part of the bridge which we had not detected. Now, how could this accident have been avoided ? I believe undoubtedly that if we had not both been on the bridge at once it would not have broken, and, therefore, must own that this is another warning not to let laziness forbid the use of the rope, when it may possibly be of use.

Had we walked over separately without a rope every purpose would have been answered ; but my companion was shortsighted ; and when I found walking across difficult for myself, I thought it better to extend to him my axe when I had reached the centre of the bridge, and help him so far. I believe, however, that had an average guide been with us, no other course would have been adopted. Indeed, so reckless are men of this class that, constantly on snow-covered crevasses, they either dispense witb the use of the rope altogether or employ such poor cord as would be of no use in case of need; though this last charge cannot be brought against the first-class guides, ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS IN GUIDES. 17 who usually now have English club rope. There is no doubt that, in some respects, two men are at a disadvan tage compared with three on the ice, where a slip or fall may occur.