RECOLLECTIONSOFAN OLD MOUNTAINEER •A.v' CO WALTER LARDEN o Q>- RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD MOUNTAINEER MT C O L. LO N . lOTO BYALFRBIJ HOLICE S ' RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD MOUNTAINEER BY WALTER LARDEN, M.A. II MEMBBB OF THE ALPINB CLUB, AND LATE LF.CTUREU AT THE BOTAL NAVAL ENGINEBRINQ COLLEGE, TEVONPORT The Hille, from whence cometh my help WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 41 AND 43 MADDOX STKEET, BOND STREET 1910 PREFACE I FEAR that I have no good excuse for adding to the many books abeady written about Switzerland. I can hardly hope to ^^Tite in such a way as to make readers feel the mountain air fresh about them ; take a part in the adventurous dehghts of guideless climbing and solitary wandering grow tense under the strain of an ; anxious quarter of an hour ; experience the elation of a successful ascent ; or share that special reward of the toils of the mountaineer,—that utter peace of mind and elevation above all the anxieties and worries of life which descends upon him as he wends homeward, wearied in body but clear and— strong in spirit, after a day spent in the upper world, ' trailing clouds of glory/ So to write is not in the power of many perhaps the very men who ; owe most to the mountains—and surely a tired school- master is one of them ? —are least able to pay their debt by worthy writing ; freshness and spring may be lacking. Still, I am making an attempt. Speaking for myself, I will say that, year after year, I went to the mountains jaded, woiTied, and quite out of heart for next term's work. And year after year the Eternal Hills healed the sore mind, made worries seem but small things after all, and gave me heart agam by givmg me good comrades and true. To those who love the mountains, the vaca- tions among them are far more than times of relaxation and pleasure. What they have been to me, I try to express here. 9C2653 vi RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD MOUNTAINEER As material for this book I have had my diaries of some twenty-six seasons, which were written up at the time. Having had to compress this long record into somewhat narrow limits, I have sacrificed rather the climbing part of my experiences than what might be of more interest to the general pubUc. I can only hope that I have not made the cUmbing element too ' thin/ Finally, I wish to record my indebtedness to Messrs. Withers, C. Schuster, and Mumm, for patiently reading and criticising my MS. when still in a very incomplete and uncondensed form ; to Mr. Alfred Holmes for most kindly and generously makmg me free of his beautiful photographs for purposes of illustration ; to Messrs. G. P. Abraham of Keswick for the kind way in which they have met me, and for the trouble taken about this same matter of illustration ; to Dr. Brushfield for letting me use a photograph of his, and for hard work undertaken in con- nection with the views seen from various mountain peaks ; to Mr. Legh Powell for help given as regards some other views ; to Messrs. Godley and G. Winthrop Young for allowhig me to quote from their poems ; and to various others whose names are not given above. Walter Larden. Oxford, 1910. ; TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION—MOUNTAINEERS AND MOUNTAINEERING PAGE What public to address. Mountaineers and cragclimbers. Two ways of taking Switzerland. Point of view adopted in this book. Solitary wandering and climbing. Care needed in making up a party. False security ; too great reliance on the rope. The rope on rocks. The rope when the leader is cutting steps. The rope on a covered glacier, ....... 1 CHAPTER II FIRST INTRODUCTION TO SWITZERLAND, 1880 AND 1882 Travelling abroad for the first time. Wiiggis in 1880. A series of mule-passes. Gimmelwald, and over the Tschingel pass. More wandering ; St. Gothard valley in 1880. Switzerland in June Stoos and Rieder-alp ; 1882. Professor Tyndall. Porters and their loads. First visit to Arolla, ..... CHAPTER III CLIMBING BEGUN—AROLLA, 1883 Second visit to Arolla. Pigne d'Arolla. Col d'Hurens. 'Remem- bering' things; a disquisition. Zermatt and the Corner Grat. The Triftjoch. Zinal in 1883. Mr. <Urdlestone. Col du Grand Cornier. Aiguille de la Za. Solitary wanderingi ; the Ziner- ' etfien rocks ; the Grande Dent de Veisevi. Sunset colours " after the Krakatoa eruption. Spectres on the Brocken, . 2fi I viii RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD MOUNTAINEER CHAPTER IV ZINAL AND AROLLA, 1884-TIROL, 1885—SAAS FEE, 1886 PAGE Care of the feet. Overestimation of the angle of a slope. Hauderes in 1884. Mont Blanc de Seilon. Over the mountains in mist and snow. The Gi(5troz catastrophe of 1818. Wanderings in Tirol in 1885. Primitiveness in Tirol in 1885. Bewirthschaftet huts. Stubaier and Oetzthal mountain groups. St. Gertrud in ' the Suldenthal. English as she is written ' in Switzerland and ' Konigs- Tirol. The Ortler. The two-on-a-rope ' system. The spitze. Mist on high mountains. Crampons for ice. Franzens- huhe, Tuckettjoch, and S. Caterina. Piz Tresero and Cevedale. Bormio, cretins. By the Bernina, Engadine, and Lakes to Arolla. Saas Fee in 1886. Joining the Alpine Club. Climbs at Saas Fee. The Adler Pass and the Strahlhorn. The Borck- hardt fatality on the Matterhorn. The Weissmies ; a sea of ' cloud. Effect of a chill : the mountains cure all ills. ' A good day on the Portjengrat, ...... 42 CHAPTER V CHAMONIX AND THE 'HIGH LEVEL ROUTE' PAST AROLLA TO SAAS FEE, 1887 Tir-Federal at Geneva. Montanvert. The Aiguille de Blaitiere. Accident on the Blaitiere ; a narrow escape. Pic du Tacul. Col du G^ant. St. Bei-nard hospice. The Combin 'Refuge,' and traverse of the Grand Combin. Once more to Arolla ; the Ruinette en route. The Dents des Bouquetins. Dirt-bands on the Arolla glacier. Prof. Huxley at Arolla. Traverse of Mont Collon. By high passes from Arolla to Saas Fee. The Nadelhorn and Alphubel guideless, ...... 65 CHAPTER VI GERMAN HYDROPATHIC ESTABLISHMENT, FERPECLE, ZINAL, AND SAAS FEE, 1889--PFARRER KNEIPP AND HIS WATER CURE, 1889-90—ST. MORITZ IN WINTER, 1890 Ferp^cle in 1889. Zinal again. The Triftjoch guideless. The AUa- linjoch guideless. Guideless climbs at Saas Fee. Haloes in CONTENTS ix PAOt autumn. Driven from Saas Fee. Les Avants. Off to visit Pfarrer Kneipp. Pfarrer Kneipp ; his system and earlier suc- cess. Wurishofen, where Pfarrer Kneipp lived. Sent to Jordan- bad in Wiirttemberg. German and P'nglish ideas as to 'class.' Christmas Day at Jordanbad. The Swiss passes in winter ; the Julier, 1890. ' Central heating ' prejudicial to health. Solitary climbs at St. Moritz in winter. Parhelia and haloes. Piz Ot in March. The Albula ; Ziirich ; Basel and the Rhine ; home. Note on complementary colours, . .78 CHAPTER VII EARLY SEASONS IN SWITZERLAND BEGIN—BINN AND CHANRION, 1891—TIROL, ONCE MORE, IN 1892 Different conditions early in the season. First visit to Binn ; the beauty of the valley. The landlord and the telephone at Binn. The family at the hotel ; the old style and the new. Looking for Chanrion ; lost ! To Cortina in 1892. Joseph Imboden. Pros- perous and healthy look of Cortina folk. Tofana, Cristallo, and ' Pelmo ; the ledge ' of the last. Grossglockner. Grandfatherly Alpine Club. St. Gertrud again. The Ortler by the Hintergrat. Peter Dangl, A mud avalanche on the Arlberg railway, . 94 CHAPTER VIII BINN, ZERMATT, 1893-BERNER-OBERLAND, 1894 Binn once more ; Pizzo Fizzo. Cherbadung ; Christian Aimer at work. A dance in the restaurant. Franz Anthamatten. Monte Rosa, highest summit. Ober-Gabelborn, first summit. The Matterhorn ; doubtful weather. Bad weather on the Matter- horn. Electrical phenomena. The C^emmi in June 1894 ; snow. Tschingellochtighoru. Old Bliinilis-alp hut ; the Weisse Frau. Balmhorn. Over to Kied. Beich pass. Traverse of the Aletschhorn. Concordia hut. Gurkhas. The Juugfrau. Guides' responsibilities on ice. The Finsteraarhorn, . 108 X RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD MOUNTAINEER CHAPTER IX BINN—DEVERO—TOSA—CHAMONIX, 1895 PAOB Meeting a future companion. Tlie little old inn at Devero. A ' land of streams ' and of waterfalls. Scatta Minojo ; Vanino lake ; Tosa Falls. Back to Binn over the Ofenhorn. Concordia, Monch, Jungfrau, and Kamm. Montanvert again. The Chamonix Aiguilles. Climbing early in the season; pros and cons. Tra- verse of the Grands Charmoz ; gymnastics. Aiguille du G^ant, Cabane du Dome. Up Mont Blanc. Mountain sickness ; quick- ening of the pulse. Attempt on the Petit Dru ; baffled by ice. Aiguille de Blaiti^re again. Dangers on the Glacier des Nantillons, ........ 124 CHAPTER X BERNER-OBERLAND AND ZERMATT IN 1896—GUIDELESS CLIMBING AT AROLLA, CHAMONIX WITH GUIDES, 1897 The catastrophe on the Spitalmatte. Altels and the Bliimlis-alp. The wall-creeper (a bird). Over to Ried. Steering in a miat Swiss pasture and weeds. The Beich pass. The Trifthorn Unter-Gabelhorn, Alphubeljoch, Ried pass, Riffelhorn, and Monte Rosa (Nord-end). Traverse of the Rothhorn. Zinal again ' Scorpion-oil ; how to prepare and apply it. A guideless cam ' paign at Arolla in 1897. Traverse of the Aiguilles Rouges. Traverse of Mont Collon. En route for the Grand Combin The Grand Combin ; a crevasse-accident. Over the Col d'Argen ti^re to Montanvert. A second attempt on the Petit Dru Definition of a chimney. Accident on the Petit Dru, . .138 CHAPTER XI BINN, ZERMATT, AROLLA, 1898—THE ENGADINE, 1899 —THE GRAIANS, AROLLA, 1900 Binn again. Bad weather ; baffled on Monte Leone ; driven back from the Zwischenbergenjoch. Circling in the mist ; a discussion. CONTENTS xi PAOK Halo phenomenon on the Furggjoch. Wellenkuppe ; Monte Rosa guideless ; very cold, (iuides and guideless amateurs. The peace and beauty of Arolla, after Zermatt.