Food.—During the early stages of an Alpine holiday, while the appetite may still require tempting, many people fall back on dainties in the shape of tinned foods; but there are signs that the popularity of preserved foods has reached a climax and is now declining. Many travellers now believe that a week or two spent on a diet of tinned food has a bad effect on the health. They are probably right, and it is a good plan to rely chiefly on fresh eatables such as meat, butter, cheese, and eggs. The condition of the last named may be tested by putting them into a bowl of water, when only the more recently laid eggs will sink to the bottom. Some epicures find that eggs are pleasanter to eat and easier to digest, if they are not cooked as hard as bricks, but are either boiled for only four minutes or not at all. They must then, of course, be carefully packed.
Jam (tinned though it be) and other sweet foods are a useful form of nourishment for those taking violent exercise. Glucose has a higher value than sugar as a restorative after muscular fatigue, but only inferior jams are supposed to be prepared with glucose, and jam-makers do not as a rule advertise its presence in their wares. A firm such as Jackson of Piccadilly would no doubt supply jam made with a sweetening of 50 per cent glucose, if specially requested to do so.
In regard to fruit, it is better to carry dried prunes and raisins rather heavy tins of peaches and apricots preserved in syrup. The rather puny oranges sometimes found in Alpine resorts can profitably be converted into orange juice and put in a flask.
If a party are benighted they should on no account sip brandy, for each reaction that it produces lowers the vitality. A spirit flask is, nevertheless, an agreeable luxury, and when the perspiring owner merely uses the contents to dilute icy glacier water before drinking large quantities of it, the spirits will serve a useful purpose.
The Alpine climate is even healthier than that of England in some respects, but it must be remembered that it is rather easier to catch chills in the Alps than at home. Consequently it is advisable, when halting at a cheese-makers’ chalet, during a long, hot, and tiring descent, to avoid drinking large quantities of refreshingly cool milk (still less, cream), especially if a prolonged siesta is to be taken immediately afterwards. Milk in such circumstances can be more deadly than glacier water.
An exhausted and untrained man will often arrive at the top of a peak without any desire to eat, but he will probably find that his appetite for a meal will return, if he will only allow himself half an hour’s pause instead of forcing himself to eat at once. Most men find that on big expeditions intervals of three hours between meals are quite long enough.
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| Alpinists cooking up in the mid-1930s Image by courtesy of Mechanical Advantage (see References) |
Jam (tinned though it be) and other sweet foods are a useful form of nourishment for those taking violent exercise. Glucose has a higher value than sugar as a restorative after muscular fatigue, but only inferior jams are supposed to be prepared with glucose, and jam-makers do not as a rule advertise its presence in their wares. A firm such as Jackson of Piccadilly would no doubt supply jam made with a sweetening of 50 per cent glucose, if specially requested to do so.
In regard to fruit, it is better to carry dried prunes and raisins rather heavy tins of peaches and apricots preserved in syrup. The rather puny oranges sometimes found in Alpine resorts can profitably be converted into orange juice and put in a flask.
If a party are benighted they should on no account sip brandy, for each reaction that it produces lowers the vitality. A spirit flask is, nevertheless, an agreeable luxury, and when the perspiring owner merely uses the contents to dilute icy glacier water before drinking large quantities of it, the spirits will serve a useful purpose.
The Alpine climate is even healthier than that of England in some respects, but it must be remembered that it is rather easier to catch chills in the Alps than at home. Consequently it is advisable, when halting at a cheese-makers’ chalet, during a long, hot, and tiring descent, to avoid drinking large quantities of refreshingly cool milk (still less, cream), especially if a prolonged siesta is to be taken immediately afterwards. Milk in such circumstances can be more deadly than glacier water.
An exhausted and untrained man will often arrive at the top of a peak without any desire to eat, but he will probably find that his appetite for a meal will return, if he will only allow himself half an hour’s pause instead of forcing himself to eat at once. Most men find that on big expeditions intervals of three hours between meals are quite long enough.
References
Text: Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.
Text: Chapter Three “Equipment” by C F Meade in The Lonsdale Library of Sports, Games and Pastimes, Volume XVIII, Mountaineering, London: Seeley Service & Co, 1934.
Image: from Mechanical Advantage, John Middendorf's excellent blog on climbing technology: see Big Wall Bivouacs and "camping"part 2a.
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