“Mountaineering and health” (1)

Alpinistic advice from a mountaineering medic of the silver age

Healthy as the pursuit of mountaineering may be, it is not on physical grounds alone suitable for all sorts and conditions of men. “It is hard,” says Lord Bacon, “to distinguish that which is generally held good and wholesome from that which is good particularly, and fit for thine own body.” 

At the same time, even high mountaineering does not demand any exceptional physical requirement of its votaries. Broadly speaking, any youth who is sufficiently sound to pass the medical examination for entrance into the army is fit for mountaineering, while minor defects, such as short sight or slight varicose veins, need not debar him. 

Men climb, as trainers say horses run, in all shapes. Short, thick-set and muscular men, lean, flat and wiry persons, may make equally good mountaineers. On the whole, the best type physically for climbing purposes is the wiry man of average height and of a weight proportionate to his stature. 

But something more than the corpus sanum is wanted. In all forms of active exercise, as the 'Autocrat of the Breakfast table' has noted, there are three powers simultaneously in action the will, the muscles, and the intellect; and in mountaineering the first and the last are by no means the least important.

Reference

C T Dent’s Chapter III in the Badminton Library Series on Mountaineering, third edition (1901).

A vote for conservation

The upper Baltschiedertal
Photo courtesy of Alpine Light & Structure

A somewhat encouraging story from the Alps

In the 1960s, a huge construction boom all but overwhelmed Switzerland. Large tracts of once pristine landscape went under concrete and urban sprawl. In 1972, the Swiss government passed emergency legislation requiring the cantons to designate protected areas.

Not everyone got the message. Down in the Baltschiedertal, a remote mountain gorge above the Rhone Valley, a power company made the inhabitants an offer that was difficult to refuse. If they agreed to a dam being built across their valley, they would get 100,000 Swiss francs a year in compensation. 

As a counter-offer, a grouping of conservationists offered a one-off payment of 300,000 francs. There was an initial meeting with the village authorities. At first, the villagers were critical of the conservationists’ offer. They needed an income, and besides, what about the jobs from the hydro scheme?

Then an elderly mountain guide took the floor. "Är chaschi nit vorstellu, mit emene Gast am Morgu hinter ins Telli z' löufu und ds Bächj nimme keru rüschu,” he said – I can’t imagine setting off in the morning with my client to go up the valley and not be able to hear the stream rushing. 

At that, the villagers had a change of heart and decided to keep their valley the way it was.

Reference

«Wir waren die Feuerwehr»: 50 Jahre Stiftung Landschaftsschutz Schweiz (We were the fire brigade: fifty years of the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation), Die Alpen, journal of the Swiss Alpine Club, issue 10/20. 

"Mode of Travelling in the High Alps" (9)

Alpine advice from a founder of modern mountaineering

It happens now and then, that some interest is felt in deciding upon the comparative height of neighbouring peaks, nearly of the same elevation. An instance may be given in the case of the Mischabelhorner, where the relative height of the Dom and the Taeschhorn is not yet clearly determined. 

A traveller, provided with a spirit level, who attains either peak may easily decide such a question as this, where the shape of the summit will allow him to place himself at a distance of twelve or fifteen feet from one of his companions placed between him and the peak which he wishes to compare with his own position. 

Let c (fig. 4) represent the observer, D an alpenstock held vertically between him and the peak to be observed. Let the point of a knife be carried along the edge of the alpenstock by an assistant., until it is exactly on a level with the eye; and let him make a mark at that point (A), and a similar mark at the point B, exactly in a line between the observer's eye and the top of the distant peak: the distance from his eye to the edge of the alpenstock, and the space between the two marks A and n, should then be accurately measured. 

Where maps exist on which the relative position of the peaks is laid down from actual survey, the distance between them may be found with sufficient accuracy from the scale of the map, and the difference of height between the peaks is found by a rule of three sum. In case, however, this distance cannot be ascertained with moderate accuracy, the bearing of the second peak should be observed with the compass, and attention given to discover at the foot of the mountain some convenient spot (bearing about 90° from the line joining the two peaks) from whence they are both visible. 

From such a position it will not be difficult, by some method similar to those already suggested, to estimate roughly the distance between the two peaks. When these are near together, say, not more than a mile apart, and of nearly the same height, no correction need be made, either for refraction or for the curvature of the earth.

Reference 

From J Ball, “Suggestions for Alpine travellers”, Chapter XVIII, Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers: A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club, London, 1859.

"Mode of Travelling in the High Alps" (8)

Horace-Benedict de Saussure, pioneer of Mt Blanc,
with barometer case in background

Alpine advice from a founder of modern mountaineering

Measurement of heights, distances, and angles: There are few travellers who do not from time to time feel the desire to ascertain the heights of objects, the distance from one point to another, or the steepness of slopes. The accurate determination of these requires the careful use of instruments, and the reduction of observations, both processes involving more trouble than unscientific travellers are willing to bestow. 

Setting aside levelling and triangulation, the best methods of determining elevations are by means of the barometer or aneroid, and the boiling point thermometer. Of these instruments the mercurial mountain barometer is undoubtedly the most reliable; but it is 3 ft. 4 in. long when packed in its case, an inconvenient affair for a mountain scramble, and is very liable to accident. 

The aneroid is now very extensively used in government surveys, and is available for altitudes up to about 8000 feet ; but, whether its accuracy beyond this limit has yet been sufficiently tested, may be doubted. A useful little pamphlet, explaining the use of these two instruments, has been published by Elliot Brothers, 30, Strand.

Reference 

From J Ball, “Suggestions for Alpine travellers”, Chapter XVIII, Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers: A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club, London, 1859.

"Mode of Travelling in the High Alps" (7)

From C T Dent's Mountaineering in the Badminton Library Series

Alpine advice from a founder of modern mountaineering

In the matter of clothing and diet the tastes of Alpine travellers naturally vary; but perhaps twenty years' experience of the advantages of a Scotch plaid by one who has made it an invariable companion, may entitle him to recommend it. 

Whether for protection in case of an unexpected bivouac, for sleeping in suspicious quarters, or on hay of doubtful dryness, for shelter against the keen wind, while perched on a peak or the ridge of a high pass, or against rain and snow, this most portable of garments is equally serviceable. 

For excursions where some days must be spent in chalets, and no supplies but milk and cheese can be counted on, rice is the most portable and convenient provision. One pound is more than enough for a man's daily diet when well cooked with milk, and with this he is independent of all other supplies. 

To some persons, tea will supply the only luxury that need be desired in addition. A few raisins are a very grateful bonne bouche during a long and steep ascent; but the best preservative against thirst is to keep in the mouth a quartz pebble, an article which the bounty of nature supplies abundantly in most parts of the Alps. 

Reference 

From J Ball, “Suggestions for Alpine travellers”, Chapter XVIII, Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers: A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club, London, 1859.

"Mode of Travelling in the High Alps" (6)

From C T Dent's Mountaineering in the Badminton Library Series

Alpine advice from a founder of modern mountaineering

Besides the ordinary risks of Alpine adventure, which, by reasonable caution, may be brought within as narrow limits as those of other active pursuits, there are the special risks that are sometimes encountered during the continuance, or immediately on the cessation, of bad weather. These are sometimes serious, and should not be made light of by those who care either for their own safety, or that of their companions. 

Bearings carefully taken with the compass, and attention to land-marks, will generally enable a party to retrace their steps, even when these have been effaced by falling snow, and in case of decided bad weather, there is no other rational alternative. 

Newly fallen snow, lying upon the steep frozen slopes of the neve, presents a serious danger to those who attempt to traverse it. The well-known accident, by which three lives were lost, during Dr. Hamel's attempted ascent of Mont Blanc, is one instance of the effects of the avalanches which are easily produced in this condition of the snow; and the attempt to ascend the Great Schreckhorn, recounted in this volume, was near resulting in similar fatal consequences. 

A precaution strongly to be recommended before undertaking expeditions over unknown glaciers, is to make a preliminary survey from some point commanding a view of the route to be traversed, and to preserve a rough plan of the disposition of the crevasses, the direction of any projecting ridges of rock, and even of the situation of snow or ice-bridges in the crevassed parts of the glacier. A reconnaissance of this kind carefully executed, may save hours that would otherwise be lost in searching for a passage in difficult situations.

Reference 

From J Ball, “Suggestions for Alpine travellers”, Chapter XVIII, Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers: A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club, London, 1859.

"Mode of Travelling in the High Alps" (5)

From Edward Whymper's Scrambles amongst the Alps

Alpine advice from a founder of modern mountaineering

The danger of ice and fragments of rock falling on travellers in high mountains, may, to a great extent, be avoided by a judicious choice of route. Experience and observation enable a traveller to recognise at once the positions in which ice is detached from a higher level, and falls abruptly over a precipice, or steep slope of rock. 

In certain situations this is a matter of hourly occurrence, especially in warm weather, and as the falling ice never keeps together in a single mass, but breaks into blocks of various sizes, up to three or four hundred weight, positive risk is incurred by passing in the track of their descent. 

The guides are usually alive to this source of danger, and very careful to avoid it, unless in case of absolute necessity; it is considerably diminished when the exposed place is passed early in the morning, before the sun has reached the upper plateau from which the ice is detached, or late in the evening, after his rays have been withdrawn. 

The least avoidable, but also the most unusual, source of danger in Alpine excursions, arises from the fall of rocks, which may strike the traveller in their descent, or else detach themselves while he is in the act of climbing over them. The first accident is more frequent during, or immediately after, bad weather, and need scarcely count among the ordinary perils of Alpine travel; the second is almost peculiar to limestone rocks, which, especially in the dolomite region of the eastern Alps, often have their outer surface broken into loose and treacherous blocks, that yield to the pressure of hand or foot. Close attention, aided by some experience, will direct the traveller to test the stability of each projecting crag, so as to avoid unnecessary risk. 

Reference

From J Ball, “Suggestions for Alpine travellers”, Chapter XVIII, Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers: A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club, London, 1859.