Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the originaldocument have been preserved.
The Errata have been corrected with modified links from the List of Illustrations.
The Preface listed as being on page vii is on page ix.
TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAINADVENTURE
TRUE TALES OF
MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE
FOR NON-CLIMBERS YOUNG AND OLD
BY
MRS AUBREY LE BLOND
(MRS MAIN)
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
1903
(All rights reserved.)
TO
MR EDWARD WHYMPER
WHOSE SPIRITED WRITINGS AND GRAPHIC PENCIL FIRST AWAKENED
AN INTEREST IN MOUNTAINEERING AMONGST THOSE WHO
HAD NEVER CLIMBED, I DEDICATE THESE TRUE TALES
FROM THE HILLS, THE MATERIAL FOR SOME OF
THE MOST STRIKING OF WHICH I OWE
TO HIS GENEROSITY.
PREFACE
There is no manlier sport in the worldthan mountaineering.
It is true that all the sports Englishmentake part in are manly, but mountaineeringis different from others, because it is sportpurely for the sake of sport. There is noquestion of beating any one else, as in a raceor a game, or of killing an animal or a birdas in hunting or shooting. A mountaineersets his skill and his strength against thedifficulty of getting to the top of a steep peak.Either he conquers the mountain, or itconquers him. If he fails, he keeps ontrying till he succeeds. This teaches himperseverance, and proves to him that anythingis possible if he is determined to do it.x
In mountaineering, all the party share thepleasures and the dangers. Every climberhas to help the others. Every climber hasto rely both on himself and on his companions.
Mountaineering makes a person quick inlearning how to act in moments of danger.It cultivates his presence of mind, it teacheshim to be unselfish and thoughtful for otherswho may be with him. It takes him amongstthe grandest scenery in the world, it showshim the forces of nature let loose in the blindingsnow-storm, or the roaring avalanche. Itlifts him above all the petty friction of dailylife, and takes him where the atmosphere isalways pure, and the outlook calm and wide.It brings him health, and leaves him delightfulrecollections. It gives him friends bothamongst his fellow-climbers, and in the faithfulguides who season after season accompany him.It is a pursuit which he can commence earlyin life, and continue till old age, for the choiceof expeditions is endless, and ascents of allxiscales of difficulty and of any length are easilyfound.
That I do not exaggerate the joys and thebenefits of mountaineering will be borne outby those extracts from the true tales fromthe hills of which this book chiefly consists.Some may think I have dwelt at undue lengthon the catastrophes which