MY HOME IN THE ALPS.
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
My Home in the Alps.
BY
MRS. MAIN,
AUTHOR OF
“THE HIGH ALPS IN WINTER; OR, MOUNTAINEERING IN SEARCH OF HEALTH,”
AND “HIGH LIFE AND TOWERS OF SILENCE.”
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, AND COMPANY
_LIMITED_,
St. Dunstan’s House,
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1892.
[_All rights reserved._]
PREFACE.
In this little volume, much of the matter in which first appeared in
the _St. Moritz Post_, or, as it is now called, the _Alpine Post_, I
have jotted down a few things of interest to the ordinary traveller in
Switzerland. To climbers, my notes will be but a thrice-told tale, and
one which, doubtless, many of them could tell far better, while not
a few of them have already told it elsewhere. The idea of publishing
these trifling papers came to me through the necessity of replying to
many questions on the subjects to which I refer; for, living as I do
in Switzerland, I naturally am supposed to be more familiar with the
peculiarities of the country and people than is the ordinary tourist.
It thus seems to me that a small book, dealing with some of the
various objects of interest usually met with during a summer’s tour in
Switzerland, might find a corner in a traveller’s portmanteau, and so,
asking indulgence for the errors into which I am sure I have fallen
from time to time, I commend the following pages to whoever does me the
honour to glance at them.
E. MAIN.
ENGADINER KULM, SWITZERLAND.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. ON ALPINE GUIDES 1
II. THE CAUTION AND DETERMINATION OF GUIDES 8
III. SOME MORE CHARACTERISTICS OF FIRST-RATE GUIDES 14
IV. MORE ABOUT GUIDES 20
V. FURTHER ANECDOTES OF GUIDES 32
VI. ALP LIFE 40
VII. THE CHAMOIS 48
VIII. ON GLACIERS 59
IX. ON MORAINES 69
X. ON AVALANCHES 76
XI. THE BERNINA-SCHARTE 90
XII. IN PRAISE OF AUTUMN 98
XIII. THE “MAIDEN” AND THE “MONK” 113
APPENDIX 127
MY HOME IN THE ALPS.
CHAPTER I.
_ON ALPINE GUIDES._
Beyond the comparatively small circle of climbers, very few travellers
in Switzerland seem to have a clear idea to what class of man a good
Alpine guide belongs. Many persons picture to themselves a typical
guide as an individual whose garments are in as shocking a state of
disrepair as are the summits of most of his native peaks; who bears
visible and invisible evidence of an entire ignorance of the use of
soap in combination with water; to whom Truefitt is embodied twice a
year in his wife, unless perchance his youngest born is allowed as
a treat to wield the shears; whose manner is boorish, whose gait is
too strong a mixture of a roll and a limp to be classified even as a
slouch, and whose chief aim in life is the extraction of the largest
possible number of francs from his employer’s pocket in return for
the smallest possible amount of work. Furthermore, these people have
curious ideas as to “the whole duty of” a guide. They think that
he is bound to obey, without remonstrance on his part, any orders,
however unreasonable, that his employer may give him. They expect no
common-sense, education, or knowledge of the world from him, so they
treat him as if he were a clumsily constructed machine, capable of
running in the groove of an oft-traversed track, and of nothing else.
Now, it is a pity that such ignorance should prevail on the subject,
and I propose to do my humble share in dispelling some of it by
pointing out the chief characteristics of a first-rate Alpine guide,
and backing up my opinion by anecdotes of the behaviour of some of the
masters of mountain-craft when confronted with exceptionally strong
calls on their capacity.
Before going further, I should like to say something of the early
training of a guide. He usually makes acquaintance with climbing when
very young, his first scrambles being often undertaken in the company
of the goats. In time he gains confidence, steadiness of head and
foot, and a knowledge of the limit of his powers. As years go on, he
is perhaps taken out chamois-shooting by his father, and in summer
he obtains an occasional engagement as porter on an ascent of more
or less difficulty. If he has definitely resolved to be a guide, he
will do his best to get work of this sort, and it often happens that
an active young porter, who has carried one’s rugs and firewood to
a bivouac over-night, begs to join the expedition in the morning,
“just to learn the way.” In reality, his chief object is to secure a
few lines of commendation in his book, which will help him to future
engagements, and will also be so much to the good when he puts forward
his claim to a certificate as guide. When ascending the Jungfrau some
years ago, our porter, at his urgent request, came on with us to the
top, and it was interesting to notice the careful teaching which my
two veteran guides, old Peter Baumann and old Peter Kaufmann, bestowed
on him. It was the youth’s first mountain, and I could see that he
strained every nerve to avoid a slip and to gain my good opinion, in
which he certainly succeeded, for he went very well, though he was,
not unnaturally, scared at the huge crevasses below the Bergli, the
glacier being just then in a particularly bad state. Very different was
the behaviour of another porter, chartered to carry my camera on any
easy snow-ascent. He, too, had never before set foot on a mountain,
and he commenced his antics at the snout of the Forno glacier, which
he mounted on all-fours. Farther on he objected to the crevasses, and
when we reached the _arête_, he was so formidable an appendage on the
rope that we untied, and went up the last rocks in two parties, on two
ropes, another lady, an Eton boy, and I leading, and the porter and the
two guides following!
A porter, if he shows good climbing capacity, will often be taken in
the height of the season, when guides are scarce, to accompany a guide
and a traveller in the less difficult ascents, in order that there may
be three on the rope, an important matter on snow. He will probably
undertake most of the carrying, for the simple reason that the guide
leads and cuts the steps, and, in descending, comes down last, in both
of which cases it is well for him not to be burdened with a knapsack,
but to give his full powers to his work in ascending, and in coming
down to be the more secure in his responsible position of “last man.”
Occasionally the boy becomes a guide without passing through the
intermediate state of a porter. Here is an account of Joseph Imboden’s
experiences. I had the details from the guide himself, but the account
is also to be found in the biographical notice written by Mr. G. S.
Barnes in “The Pioneers of the Alps.”[1] “When I was a boy,” Imboden
began, “my father wished me to take up shoemaking as a trade, and
at fifteen he apprenticed me to a man in the Rhonethal. But I hated
the life, and as soon as I had saved twenty francs I ran away to the
Riffel, where I stayed, and spent my time in asking people to let me
take them up mountains. They, however, always said to me, ‘Young man,
where is your book?’ I replied that my book was at home, but they would
not believe me. At last, when my twenty francs were nearly gone, I
contrived to persuade a young English gentleman to allow me to take
him up the Cima di Jazzi. He was pleased with the way I guided him,
and the day after we went up Monte Rosa alone. He then offered to take
me to Chamonix by the Col St. Théodule and the Col du Géant, and I was
very glad to go; but first I told him the whole truth. I said, ‘All I
have told you up to now was lies; I had never been up a mountain till I
went with you; but if you will trust me now, I am sure I can satisfy
you.’ He said he would, and we went to Chamonix and did some climbs
there. I bought a book, and he wrote a good account of me in it. Since
then I have never been in want of employment.” Such is Joseph Imboden’s
early history, and his friends will admit that it is thoroughly
characteristic of the since famous guide.
A porter desiring to become a guide must generally pass an examination
in a variety of subjects which are not of the slightest importance to
him in his future profession. The occasion is dignified by the presence
of the _guide-chef_ (or head of the Society of Guides) and other local
magnates, before whom the _guides-aspirants_, as they are called, are
put through their facings. After questions are asked in arithmetic,
geography, history, &c., the examination at which I “assisted” went
on to deal with mountain-craft, on which subject the porters’ ideas
were even more peculiar than on other matters. One young man asserted,
in perfect good faith, that if his _Herr_ did not obey him, he should
consider it his duty to beat him, while another calmly said that if he
met with an obstacle on an ascent, the right course to pursue was to
return home! At the conclusion of the examination, which all contrived
in one way or another to shuffle through, the _guide-chef_ made a
little speech, in which he exhorted the new guides to be an honour
to their profession. I made notes at the time of the more amusing
questions and answers, and these I have published in a former work.[2]
Having now considered the technical conditions which, combined, form a
duly qualified guide, let us see what characteristics are required to
place him in the front rank of his profession.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “The Pioneers of the Alps,” by C. D. Cunningham and Captain Abney,
F.R.S., published by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
[2] “High Life and Towers of Silence,” by Mrs. Main, published by
Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.