670 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



breathing. A long stride had to be taken, and one went at it as 

 usual with a momentary holding of the breath. The penalty was 

 instantly exacted a giddiness supervened, and had to be puffed 

 and pumped away.'' Mr. Conway's greatest altitude on the 

 Pioneer Peak was 22,500 feet, which is believed to be the greatest 

 altitude from which an observation on the spot was ever taken. 

 The difficulty in reconciling Mr. Graham's and Mr. Conway's nar- 

 rative lies especially in the fact that all of Mr. Conway's party 

 suffered Englishmen, Swiss guide, and Ghoorkas while none of 

 Mr. Graham's party were affected. 



This question of loss of breath at great altitudes can not, how- 

 ever, be taken as a sure test of the height reached. The state of 

 health of the climbers, and whether they are in proper training 

 or not, whether they have had a sufficiency of food, and the dif- 

 ferent states of the weather are very large factors in the comforts 

 or discomforts of an ascent. Count Henry Russell, one of the 

 most experienced of mountaineers, suffered severely on Mont 

 Blanc (15,800 feet), while Mr. Henry Gale Gotch, after an easy 

 ascent of the same mountain, tried the experiment of jumping a 

 number of times over an alpenstock, which he did without any 

 inconvenience whatever his guide, Henri D^vouassoud, however, 

 confiding to him after a few days his abiding astonishment at so 

 peculiar a mode of resting after an ascent. Mr. Whymper and 

 the Carrels suffered severely on Chimborazo (21,424 feet), while on 

 the other hand Dr. Giissfeldt on Aconcagua reached 21,000 feet 

 without suffering any inconvenience ; and Mr. Freshfield's party 

 of six did not suffer in any way from the air, though they almost 

 ran uj) the last rocks of Elbruz (18,526 feet). 



As the question now stands, we can not be certain which is 

 the highest mountain ascent. There are certainly mistakes in 

 the measurements of the Indian Survey. Peak K 2, Mr. Con- 

 way's " Watch Tower," will have to come down from its 28,200 

 feet to something nearer 27,700 feet ; and it is quite possible that 

 too high a measurement may have been given to Kabru, which 

 has not been measured either by mountain barometer or boiling- 

 point thermometer. It is not impossible that Mr. Graham may 

 have been mistaken in his peak, and gone up some other moun- 

 tain instead. If Mr. Johnson had been a less reticent man than he 

 is described as being, and if more were known of his ascents, he 

 might be a possible claimant for the record. The careful notes 

 on breathing made by Mr. Conway, however, prove pretty conclu- 

 sively that beyond 21,000 feet every one will, at any rate at cer- 

 tain times, suffer more or less from want of air, and the general 

 feeling in the Alpine Club at present is that Mr. Conway has 

 the highest established record. 



