The seven football-players who engaged me to guide them to the top of
Long's Peak did not reveal their identity until we were on the way.
Long's Peak, high, massive, and wildly rugged, is the king of the
Rocky Mountains, and there were five thousand feet of altitude and
seven steeply inclined miles between our starting-point and the
granite-piled summit.
We set out on foot. The climbers yelled, threw stones, and wrestled.
They were so occupied with themselves during the first mile that I
managed to keep them from running over me. Presently they discovered
me and gave a cheer, and then proceeded energetically with the evident
intention of killing me off.
It was fortunate for me that the experience of more than a hundred
guiding trips to the summit was a part of my equipment. In addition to
the valuable lessons that had been dearly learned in guiding, I had
made dozens of trips to the summit before offering my services as
guide. I had made climbs in every kind of weather to familiarize
myself thoroughly with the way to the top. These trips--always
alone--were first made on clear days, then on stormy ones, and finally
at night. When I was satisfied that I could find the trail under the
worst conditions, endurance tests were made. One of these consisted in
making a quick round trip, then, after only a few minutes' rest,
shouldering thirty or forty pounds of supplies and hastening to the
rescue of an imaginary climber ill on the summit.
Besides two seasons of this preliminary experience, the rocks, glacial
records, birds, trees, and flowers along the trail were studied, other
peaks climbed, and books concerning mountain-climbing diligently read.
But long before my two hundred and fifty-seven guiding trips were
completed, I found myself ignorant of one of the most important
factors in guiding, and perhaps, too, in life,--and that is human
nature.
Several climbs had been made simply to learn the swiftest pace I
could maintain from bottom to summit without a rest. Thus ably coached
by experience, I steadied to the work when my noisy football-players
started to run away from me. Each player in turn briefly set a hot
pace, and in a short time they were ahead of me. Even though they
guyed me unmercifully, I refused to be hurried and held to the
swiftest pace that I knew could be maintained. Two hours raised us
through thirty-five hundred feet of altitude and advanced us five
miles. We were above the timber-line, and, though some distance behind
the boys, I could tell they were tiring. Presently the guide was again
in the lead!
By-and-by one of the boys began to pale, and presently he turned green
around the mouth. He tried desperately to bluff it off, but ill he
was. In a few minutes he had to quit, overcome with nausea. A moment
later another long-haired brave tumbled down. On the others went, but
three more were dropped along the trail, and only two of those husky,
well-trained athletes reached the summit! That evening, when those
sad fellows saw me start off to guide another party up by moonlight,
they concluded that I must be a wonder; but as a matter of fact, being
an invalid, I had learned something of conservation. This experience
fixed in my mind the importance of climbing slowly.
Hurriedly climbing a rugged peak is a dangerous pastime. Trail hurry
frequently produces sickness. A brief dash may keep a climber agitated
for an hour. During this time he will waste his strength doing things
the wrong way,--often, too, annoying or endangering the others.
Finding a way to get climbers to go slowly was a problem that took me
time to solve. Early in the guiding game the solution was made
impossible by trying to guide large parties and by not knowing human
nature. Once accomplished, slow going on the trail noticeably
decreased the cases of mountain-sickness, greatly reduced the number
of quarrels, and enabled almost all starters to gain the height
desired. Slow climbing added pleasure to the trip and enabled every
one to return in good form and with splendid pictures in his mind.
To keep the party together,--for the tendency of climbers is to
scatter, some traveling rapidly and others slowly,--it became my
practice to stop occasionally and tell a story, comment on a bit of
scenery, or relate an incident that had occurred near by. As I spoke
in a low tone, the climbers ahead shouting "Hurry up!" and the ones
behind calling "Wait!" could not hear me. This method kept down
friction and usually held the party together. With a large party,
however, confusion sometimes arose despite my efforts to anticipate
it.
Hoping to get valuable climbing suggestions, I told my experiences one
day to a gentleman who I thought might help me; but he simply repeated
the remark of Trampas that in every party of six there is a fool! It
is almost impossible for a numerous party, even though every one of
them may be well-meaning, to travel along a steep trail without
friction.
My most unpleasant climb was with a fateful six,--three loving young
couples. Two college professors about to be married formed one of the
couples. He, the son of wealthy parents, had been sent West to mend
his health and manners; he met a young school-ma'am who reformed him.
They attended the same college and became professors in a State
school. They were to be married at the end of this outing; but on this
climb they quarreled. Each married another! Sweethearts for years was
the story of the second couple. They, too, quarreled on the trail, but
made up again. The story of the third couple is interestingly
complicated. He was rich, young, and impetuous; she, handsome and
musical. For years she had received his ardent attentions
indifferently. As we approached the top of the peak, he became
extremely impatient with her. As though to make confusion worse
confounded, after years of indifference the young lady became
infatuated with her escort. He tried to avoid her, but she feigned a
sprained ankle to insure his comforting closeness. They are both
single to this day. Meantime the six had a general row among
themselves, and at the close of it united to "roast" me! Whether imp
or altitude was to blame for this deviltry matters not; the guide had
to suffer for it.
Early in guiding I conceived it to be my duty to start for the top
with any one who cared to try it, and I felt bound also to get the
climber to the top if possible. This was poor theory and bad practice.
After a few exasperating and exhausting experiences I learned the
folly of dragging people to the top who were likely to be too weak to
come back. One day a party of four went up. Not one of them was
accustomed to walking, and all had apparently lived to eat. After
eight hard hours we reached the summit, where all four collapsed. A
storm came on, and we were just leaving the top when daylight faded.
It rained at intervals all night long, with the temperature a trifle
below freezing. We would climb down a short distance, then huddle
shivering together for a while. At times every one was suffering from
nausea. We got down to timber-line at one o'clock in the morning. Here
a rest by a rousing camp-fire enabled all to go on down. We arrived at
the starting-place just twenty-four hours after we had left it!
Mountain-climbing is not a good line of activity for an invalid or for
one who shies at the edge of a precipice, or for any one, either, who
worries over the possible fate of his family while he is on a narrow
ledge. Altitude, the great bugbear to many, is the scapegoat for a
multitude of sins. "Feeling the altitude" would often be more
correctly expressed as feeling the effects of high living! The ill
effects of altitude are mostly imaginary. True, climbing high into a
brighter, finer atmosphere diminishes the elastic clasp--the pressure
of the air--and causes physiological changes. These usually are
beneficial. Climbers who become ill through mountain-climbing would
also become ill in hill-climbing. In the overwhelming number of cases
the lowland visitor is permanently benefited by a visit to the
mountains and especially by a climb in the heights.
Mountain-sickness, with its nausea, first comes to those who are
bilious, or to those who are hurrying or exerting themselves more than
usual. A slight stomach disorder invites this nausea, and on the
heights those who have not been careful of diet, or those who
celebrated the climb the evening before it was made, are pretty
certain to find out just how mountain-sickness afflicts. Altitude
has, I think, but little to do with bringing on so-called
mountain-sickness. It is almost identical with sea-sickness, and just
as quickly forces the conclusion that life is not worth living!
Usually a hot drink, rest, and warmth will cure it in a short time.
Clarence King in his "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" says
concerning the effects of altitude, "All the while I made my
instrumental observations the fascination of the view so held me that
I felt no surprise at seeing water boiling over our little faggot
blaze at a temperature of one hundred and ninety-two degrees F., nor
in observing the barometrical column stand at 17.99 inches; and it was
not till a week or so after that I realized we had felt none of the
conventional sensations of nausea, headache, and I don't know what
all, that people are supposed to suffer at extreme altitudes; but
these things go with guides and porters, I believe."
Altitude commonly stimulates the slow tongue, and in the heights many
reserved people become talkative and even confiding. This, along with
the natural sociability of such a trip, the scenery, and the many
excitements, usually ripens acquaintances with amazing rapidity.
Lifelong friendships have commenced on the trail, and many a lovely
romance, too. One day two young people met for the first time in one
of my climbing parties. Thirty days afterward they were married, and
they have lived happily to date.
In one climb a chaperon gave out and promptly demanded that two young
sweethearts turn back. As we moved on without the chaperon, she called
down upon my head the curses of all the gods at once! In order to save
the day it is sometimes necessary for the guide to become an autocrat.
Occasionally a climber is not susceptible to suggestion and will obey
only the imperative mood. A guide is sometimes compelled to stop
rock-rolling, or to say "No!" to a plucky but sick climber who is
eager to go on. A terrible tongue-lashing came to me one day from a
young lady because of my refusal to go farther after she had fainted.
She went forward alone for half an hour while I sat watching from a
commanding crag. Presently she came to a narrow unbanistered ledge
that overhung eternity. She at once retreated and came back with a
smile, saying that the spot where she had turned back would enable any
one to comprehend the laws of falling bodies.
Occasionally a climber became hysterical and I had my hands full
keeping the afflicted within bounds. Mountain ledges are not good
places for hysterical performances. One day, when a reverend gentleman
and his two daughters were nearing the top, the young ladies and
myself came out upon the Narrows a few lengths ahead of their father.
The ladies were almost exhausted and were climbing on sheer nerve. The
stupendous view revealed from the Narrows overwhelmed them, and both
became hysterical at once. It was no place for ceremony; and as it was
rather cramped for two performances at once, I pushed the feet from
beneath one young lady, tripped the other on top of her,--and sat down
on both! They struggled, laughed, and cried, and had just calmed down
when the father came round the rocks upon us. His face vividly and
swiftly expressed three or four kinds of anger before he grasped the
situation. Fearing that he might jump on me in turn, or that he might
"get them" too, I watched him without a word. Finally he took in the
entire situation, and said with a smile, "Well, I don't know whether
it's my move or not!"
Twice, while guiding, I broke my lifelong rule never to take a tip.
One tip had with it a surprise to redeem the taking. It came from the
gentleman who had organized the party. On the way up he begged leave
to set the pace and to lead the party to the top. He appeared
sensible, but I made a blunder by consenting to the arrangement, for
his pace was too rapid, and at Keyhole he was attacked by nausea. He
pluckily insisted that we go on to the summit and leave him behind. It
was five hours before we returned to him. For two hours he had lain
helpless in a cold rain and was badly chilled. He was so limp and
loose-jointed that it was difficult to carry him across the moraine
called Boulderfield. At the Inn the following morning he was
completely restored. I was still so exhausted from getting him down
that when he insisted that he be allowed to give me a tip in addition
to the guiding fee I agreed to accept it. The instant I had consented
it occurred to me that a tip from a millionaire for the saving of his
life would be worth while. I was startled when, with a satisfied
expression, he handed me twenty-five cents!
[Illustration: THE NARROWS, LONG'S PEAK TRAIL
(Figures of climbers can be made out on the trail)]
Early one season, before the ice had melted, one of my five climbers
met with an accident in one of the most dangerous places along the
way. We were descending, and I was in front, watching each one closely
as he crossed a narrow and extremely steep tongue of ice. The
gentleman who brought up the rear was a good climber when not talking;
but this time he was chattering away and failed to notice me when I
signaled him for silence while each climber, in turn, carefully
crossed the steep ice in the footholds chopped for that purpose. Still
talking, he stepped out on the ice without looking and missed the
foothold! Both feet shot from beneath him, and down the smooth,
deadly steep he plunged.
Early in guiding I had considered the dangerous places and planned
just where to stand while the climbers passed them and just what to do
in case of accident. When an accident actually occurred, it was a
simple matter to go through a ticklish grand-stand performance that
had been practiced dozens of times, and which for years I had been
ready to put into effect. The instant he slipped, I made a quick leap
for a point of rock that barely pierced the steep ice-tongue. This ice
was steeper than half pitch. He shot down, clawing desperately and
helplessly, with momentum sufficient to knock over half a dozen men.
There was just time to grab him by the coat as he shot by the rock.
Bracing with all my might to hold him for a fraction of a second so as
to divert him and point him at an angle off the ice, I jumped upward
as the violent jerk came. We went off as it were on a tangent, and
landed in a heap upon the stones, several yards below the spot from
which I had leaped to the rescue. His life was saved.
The last season of my guiding career was a full one. Thirty-two
ascents were made during the thirty-one days of August. Half a dozen
of these were by moonlight. In addition to these climbs a daily round
trip was made to Estes Park, eight miles distant and fifteen hundred
feet down the mountain. These Estes Park trips commonly were made on
horseback, though a few were by wagon. My busiest day was crowded with
two wagon trips and one horseback trip to Estes Park, then a moonlight
climb to the summit. In a sixty-hour stretch I did not have any sleep
or take any food. Being in condition for the work and doing it easily,
I was in excellent shape when the guiding ended.
The happiest one of my two hundred and fifty-seven guiding experiences
on the rugged granite trail of this peak was with Harriet Peters, a
little eight-year-old girl, the youngest child who has made the climb.
She was alert and obedient, enjoyed the experience, and reached the
top without a slip or a stumble, and with but little assistance from
me. It was pleasant to be with her on the summit, listening to her
comments and hearing her childlike questions. I have told the whole
story of this climb in "Wild Life on the Rockies."
Thoughtfulness and deliberation are essentials of mountain-climbing.
Climb slowly. Look before stepping. Ease down off boulders; a jump may
jar or sprain. Enjoy the scenery and do most of your talking while at
rest. Think of the fellow lower down. A careful diet and training
beforehand will make the climb easier and far more enjoyable.
Tyndall has said that a few days of mountain-climbing will burn all
the effete matter out of the system. In climbing, the stagnant blood
is circulated and refined, the lungs are exercised, every cell is
cleansed, and all parts are disinfected by the pure air. Climbing a
high peak occasionally will not only postpone death but will give
continuous intensity to the joy of living. Every one might well climb
at least one high peak, and for those leaving high school or college,
the post-graduate work of climbing a rugged peak might be a more
informative experience or a more helpful test for living than any
examination or the writing of a thesis.
Scenery, like music, is thought-compelling and gives one a rare
combination of practical and poetical inspiration. Along with
mountain-climbing, scenery shakes us free from ourselves and the
world. From new grand heights one often has the strange feeling that
he has looked upon these wondrous scenes before; and on the crest one
realizes the full meaning of John Muir's exhortation to "climb the
mountains and get their good tidings!"