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 world than mountaineering.
It is true that all the sports Englishmen take part in are manly, but mountaineering is different from others, because it is sport purely for the sake of sport. There is no question of beating any one else, as in a race or a game, or of killing an animal or a bird as in hunting or shooting. A mountaineer sets his skill and his strength against the difficulty of getting to the top of a steep peak. Either he conquers the mountain, or it conquers him. If he fails, he keeps on trying till he succeeds. This teaches him perseverance, and proves to him that anything is possible if he is determined to do it.
In mountaineering, all the party share the pleasures and the dangers. Every climber has to help the others. Every climber has to rely both on himself and on his companions.