The Making of a Mountaineer
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THE MAKING OF A MOUNTAINEER Climbing the Matterhorn by the Zmutt ridge. " We had to cut steps across a wide ice slope " {page 187). Frontispiece THE MAKING OF A MOUNTAINEER BY GEORGE INGLE FINCH WITH SEVENTY-EIGHT PHOTOGRAPHS, ONE DRAWING AND TWO DIAGRAMS ARROWSMITH :: LONDON :: W.C.I 5)0 Fitst published in May, 1924 Printed in Great Britain by J. W, ARROWSMITH LTD. II Quay St. & 12 Small St., Bristol MY WIFE '1 i / n ft CONTENTS PAGE Preface . IX I Early Days . 13 II Climbing in Corsica 20 III The Wetterhorn . 40 IV The Jungfrau 52 V The Jungfrau and the Jungfraujoch . 68 VI On Skis in the Bernese Oberland 82 VII On Skis in the Bernese Oberland (continued) 95 VIII A Winter's Night on the Todi 107 IX The Bifertenstock 122 X Monte Rosa .... 140 XI The Twins .... 153 XII The Matterhorn—A Beginner's Impressions 164 XIII The Matterhorn . 182 XIV The Dent d'Herens 193 XV Mont Blanc .... 213 XVI Mont Blanc from the South . 227 XVII Two Chamonix Aiguilles 248 XVIII The Aiguille du Dru . 269 XIX Towards Mount Everest 283 XX Mount Everest 2Q6 XXI Mountaineering Photography 335 1 ' ILLUSTRATIONS Climbing the Matterhorn by the Zmutt ridge Frontispiece FACING PAGE Rock-climbing ..... 14 Crossing a steep snow slope 14 Scrambling in the range of the Todi . 18 Climbing the Capo al Dente 24 The southern summit of Capo Tafonato 28 The Cinque Fratri from below the Col de Foggiale 32 Pagha Orba from the Cinque Fratri 36 Morning mists 44 Clim.bing down a steep ridge 48 The short cut—roping down 48 The north face of the Jungfrau 52 The icefall of the Guggi Glacier 56 " We basked on the roof of the Guggi hut 62 Cutting steps over the upper lip of a bergschrund 76 Evening storm . 80 Morning calm 80 The Eismeer icefall 86 Sounding a snowbridge 86 Cornices on the Punta Margherita 98 A cornice on the Rochefort ridge 98 The Todi ..... 108 The Todi from the Bifertenliicke 116 The summit of the Todi 116 The Bifertenstock from the Biindner Todi 128 " . a faithful record of Forster's blood-bespattered " condition . 136 The east face of Monte Rosa 142 The Frisalliicke .... 148 The Grenz Gipfel 150 The Val Sesia from Monte Rosa . 150 A crevasse on the Zwillings Glacier 154 Castor ..... 154 The Swiss ridge of the Matterhorn from the Matterhorn hut . 166 The Swiss summit of the Matterhorn from the Italian summit ..... 170 The summit of Mont Blanc in 191 170 Descending the Italian ridge 174 The Matterhorn from the Dent d' Kerens 178 10 Illustrations The Matterhorn from the Stockje The Matterhorn at sunset ..... " ' . that tremendous overhang called the Nose of " Zmutt ' . An ice avalanche ...... The north face of the Dent d'Herens, showing route followed ....... Back at the Schonbiihl hut after the climb Mont Blanc from the D6me hut .... Descending Mont Maudit ..... The Peuteret ridge from the Col du Geant . Mont Blanc from the Val Veni .... The Innominata from the Col du Fresnay . The Aiguilles Blanche and Noire de Peuteret . " A traverse of about thirty yards across the steep western flank of the Peuteret ridge ..." Chamonix Aiguilles and Mont Blanc Descending the Grepon ..... A stiff chimney ....... A s6rac ........ " " Two ladders tied together and laid across the chasm The summit of the Gr6pon ..... Good, sound rock ...... The bergschrund below the Dru .... Where next ?....... " " La Pendule . " "... A rather steep ice slope—the Mur de la C6te On the summit of the little Dru On the first day out from Phari Dzong Shekar Dzong ....... Mount Everest and the Base Camp Camp II. ....... " " A suitable slope was soon found . Amid the seracs of the East Rongbuk Glacier Crossing a trough on the East Rongbuk Glacier . Mount Everest from Camp III. The North Peak and the North Col Camp . The North Peak from an altitude of nearly 24,500 feet on Mount Everest ...... Mount Everest from the North Col, showing route Monsoon clouds ....... On the return journey to the Base Camp . In a mountain hut ...... The Aiguille du Geant ..... The Sella Pass ....... PREFACE 1\ ^AN'S heritage is great. There are the mountains ; he may cUmb them. Mountaineering is a game second only to the greatest and best of all man's games—hfe. The War all but dried up the steady stream of youthful and enthusiastic devotees who kept alive and fresh the pursuit of mountain-craft. But fresh blood is as essential to the healthy life of mountaineering as it is to any other game, craft or pursuit, and, fortunately, there are cheerful signs that the after-effects of the War are fast becoming spent. Our youth is beginning to find the dancing floor, the tennis court and the playing fields of Great Britain too narrow, too lacking in scope, perhaps also a little bit too soft ; and the craving grows for wider fields and a sterner, freer pastime. It is primarily for the members of the younger generation that this book has been written, in the hopes that, by affording them a glimpse of the adventurous joys to be found in the mountains, they may be encouraged to take up and try for themselves the pursuit of mountaineering. Portions of Chapters II and XVIII have appeared in the Climber's Club Journal, Chapter VIII in the British Ski Year Book, and Chapters XIV and XVI in the Alpine Journal. Where not otherwise stated, the illustrations are from photographs by the Author. II 12 Preface In conclusion, I would like to thank Captain T. G. B. Forster for the loan of four photographs ; Mr, A. B. Bryn for one photograph; Mr. R. H. K. Peto for the pen-and-ink sketch of the east face of Monte Rosa and the drawing of an ice-axe ; my brother for Chapter VIII ; and last, but not least, my wife for her contribution. Chapter XII, and for the tireless pains she has taken in assisting me with the preparation and correction of the manuscript and proofs. I also wish to place on record my appreciation of what I owe to the inspiration and example of the Alpine Journal and of Mr. Geoffrey Winthrop Young, and to the inspiring influence of Miss P. Broome. 10 Gainsborough Mansions, London, W.14, April, 1924. THE MAKING OF A MOUNTAINEER CHAPTER I EARLY DAYS QOME twenty-two years ago, on a dewy spring morning in October, I urged my panting pony towards a hill-top in the Australian bush, the better to spy out the whereabouts of a mob of wallaby. The last few feet of the ascent being too much for the pony, I dismounted and, leaving him behind, scrambled up a short, rocky chimney to the summit. The waUaby were nowhere to be seen ; but my wondering eyes were held spell-bound by such a vision as I had never even dreamed of. Miles and miles away the white-washed roofs of the township of Orange gleamed brightly in the clear morning sunshine ; the main roads converging upon the town showed sharp and distinct from out their setting in the rolling bush. The picture was beautiful ; precise and accurate as the work of a draughtsman's pen, but fuller of meaning than any map. I was just thirteen years old, and for the first time in my life the true significance of geography began to dawn upon me ; and with the dawning was born a resolution that was to colour and widen my whole life. Before returning to my pony after this, my first mountain ascent, I had made up my mind to see the world ; to see it from above, from the tops of mountains, whence I could get that wide and comprehensive view which is denied to those who observe things from their own plane, A year later my brother Maxwell and I, now proud possessors of Edward Whymper's Scrambles in the Alps^ 13 14 The Making of a Mountaineer emulated our hero's early exploits by scaling Beachy Head by a particularly dangerous route, much to the conster- nation of the lighthouse crew and subsequent disappointment of the coastguards who arrived up aloft with ropes and rescue tackle just in time to see us draw ourselves, muddy and begrimed, over the brink of the cliff into safety. That climb taught us many things ; amongst them, that a cUff is often more difficult to climb than would appear from below ; that flints embedded in chalk are not rehable hand- holds, but sometimes break away when one trusts one's weight to them ; that there are people who delight in rolling stones down a cliff without troubling to see whether anyone is underneath ; and that if it be good to look down upon the world, the vision is beautiful in proportion to the difficulties overcome in gaining the eminence. A few weeks later, an ascent of Notre-Dame by an unorthodox route might well have led to trouble, had it not been for the fact that the two gendarmes and the kindly priest who were the most interested spectators of these doings did not lack a sense of humour and human understanding. Then we passed through Basle into Switzerland, bitterly disappointed to find that the railway did not wind through dark, tortuous valleys bordered by glistening snow-capped mountains. That winter we broke bounds. Shod in the Ughtest of shoes, with clothing ill-suited to protect against wind, with walking sticks, and a pocketful of sandwiches we took the train to Wesen. There we bought a map and set off to climb the Speer, a mountain barely 6,000 feet in height, but nevertheless a formidable enough proposition for such an ill-equipped party in winter.