72 Cliff Climbing 
Alpinists who have repeatedly given proofs of their nerve and 
endurance in their tremendous struggles with the forces of Nature. 
Unluckily the genuine mountaineer is aped by a host of paltry 
followers who have reduced the science of climbing to a point 
at times narrowly verging on the ridiculous. Many of the so-called 
climbers are no climbers at all, and it shows their belief in them- 
selves and their capabilities that they will submit cheerfully to be 
tied together like strings of donkeys and dragged, hustled and 
pushed through snow or across ice for the mere satisfaction of 
saying that they have reached some point a trifle higher than the 
rest of the surface of the earth in the immediate neighbourhood. 
Such people, to use the expressive phrase of a naval officer who 
has been my companion for many years but who shies consistently 
at big hills, would seem to find unbounded joy in ever “ pandering 
to the sky-line.” The annual list of victims of both sexes of this 
class is painful evidence of the unfitness of many of the so-called 
climbers. The result of these popular ideas about mountain climbing 
is that when any man in the course of the pursuit of natural history 
or sport chances to be attracted to mountainous countries where 
climbing, in its more literal sense, is essential, he is at once supposed 
g; 
to be one of the confraternity of Alpinists and is assumed to adopt 
their ways. Thus many people, hearing of some of my expeditions 
into the mountains after birds’ nests, ask me whether I always rope 
my party together and carry an alpenstock ? 
Without venturing to intrude into the sacred domain of the 
traditional Alpinist, or to criticize his methods, I am content to say 
that for the class of climbing I have indulged in for so many years, 
to rope one’s party together would be almost suicidal and that 
an alpenstock would, as a rule, be an unmitigated nuisance. At 
the same time I am keenly alive to the advantages to be gained 
by a rational use of ropes, as also to the comfort and assistance to 
be got from an alpenstock under certain conditions. In fact, owing 
