ABSTRACT
Mountaineering is a craft which requires years to master, and the sense of increasing competence is no small part of its attraction. Genuine mountaineering, Alpinism is an entirely new development, appealing only to a moderately sophisticated mind. It is, in fact, a strangely professorial pastime. A great ascent shares the glamour of an Arctic journey, a point will come when the climber will need his strength and skill to extricate himself. The crevasse may be several hundred feet deep. The weather affects the rocks of the mountain as much as the glaciers. A prudent climber will rarely get too close to falling stones, but through bad luck or misinformation he may see more than he cares of them. It sounds like one of the dreariest and least inviting of imaginable exercises, and so it is until the knack has become second nature. When it happens the whole expedition changes from a joy to a nightmare.
