Mountain Craft

by Unknown

The Order of Merit.

To be able to go first and get up difficult places, although a fine quality and necessary where only rock climbing is in question, loses its unique importance when large mountaineering expeditions in the greater Alps come into consideration. It is the combined efficiency of the party in this case that chiefly counts. Qualities of management, ability to contribute the most to the combinations of the party, to its reserve of power, confidence and cheerfulness, and so to increase its continuous effectiveness, are the marks of the ‘leader’ in great mountaineering. The better mountaineer may not be the better able to go first up passages of excessive difficulty, and may, on occasions such as I have mentioned, even operate more potently from the centre of the rope.

There have been cases of mountaineers who have seldom if ever led a big climb, but to whose management, reserve power and cool judgment the successes of their party, under whatever first man of the moment, have been really due. One must not only see a rope in action, one must climb with it, if one wishes to discover the actual ‘leading’ mountaineer of the party, who is contributing most in a long day to the collective efficiency and safety.

For the same reason we are not in a position to assign individual credit for the great mountaineering feats of the past, or to say of a mountaineer, “He always had first-class guides; he never led; they did his mountaineering for him;” or of an amateur, “He always led his friends: his was the credit!” It may safely be accepted that on great alpine climbs, if the party has succeeded, the success has not merely been due to the guide or first man. On such climbs there are whole hours of the day during which the slip or shortcoming of any single climber may be fatal, and where the fact that even one man draws his unfair share from the pool of efficiency can prevent any chance of success. To the whole party belongs the credit for a great climb. Its members alone can venture to say whose was the moving spirit, or what was the order of merit.

The Order with Beginners.

Beginners may be either real novices, or only beginners in alpine work, route finding and so on. A complete beginner is more bothered by the management of the rope than anything else; therefore it is better for our progress to let him come up last and go down first. The exception is when we are descending by a route which is not easy to find or retrace. We may then put the beginner one from the end, in a party of four, with a route finder ahead and two sound men behind him. In a party of three we may put him in the centre; but not when the climbing is too stiff to justify our leaving to the last man all the tasks, of coming down last, looking after the beginner, and seeing that the beginner looks after the rope of the route finder. With such a party, on such a descent, I have often preferred to put the best mountaineer in the centre, behind the beginner, to coach him as to the route and look after him, while the other expert descended on a short rope behind, and looked after himself. Often he is more comfortable if he unropes altogether. The justifiability of this inversion of the order must depend upon a judgment at the time as to the relative importance of protecting the last man or of finding the right route at the right pace. If the rocks are really difficult, the beginner should go first, and the expert behind must coach as to the route. Such an occasion seems to me the only one that really offers a good case for the continental practice of putting red paper under stones at suitable points, to guide the descent. As a rule, a man ought to be able to find the way down where he has gone up. It is an important part of a beginner’s training to learn the habit of turning and noting the look of passages from the reverse direction while he ascends. In all cases of a descent where no previous ascent has been made, the permissibility of any alteration in the usual order must depend upon our estimate of the difficulty for the last man. If the rocks are severe, the ordinary order must be preserved.

A beginner is always greatly hampered by the rope on both sides of him; and if we are making a big expedition where progress and good temper are of more importance than a lesson in ‘middleman’ work, it is better, when consistent with safe mountaineering, to arrange that he is either on a rope of two, or at the free end of a rope. Again, be it in a large or a small party, it is always well to put him, or her, definitely in charge of some one, if not of the leader; who will precede him going up and follow him down, whatever the other order on the rope may be; acting as coach and general buffer.

For the same purpose, in a rope of three on easy ascents, while one of the two good climbers leads, the other is often better placed climbing immediately behind the beginner, shepherding his or her feet, giving shoulders, steadies, etc.

In a rope of four, similarly, on easy or moderate ascents, we put one of the three better climbers behind the beginner. The man looks after his own rope, and is of more use in coaching, helping and succouring the beginner than he would be as an extra reinforcement above. This is the soundest method with women novices or children. It is not suitable on really difficult rock; but then neither are women novices or children.

A single expert taking two such beginners up a very easy climb, more especially if they are girls or boys, whose stances and holding-power for each other cannot be depended upon, often does best to put himself in the middle of a long rope. He ascends first and descends last, as usual; but by this arrangement he can himself bring up or lower the two beginners separately to or from each stance, with less confusion of ropes. On very easy ridges, with a light following, if he ties himself between them so as to leave the ropes of different lengths, he can often save time by bringing up both beginners simultaneously, one starting after and climbing below the other.