4 6<5 SPORTS AND GAMES 



191 1 will always be remembered for four great climbs carried out by Messrs. G. Winthrop 

 Young and H. C. Jones. Mr. Todhunfer joined these on the new route up the Grepon. 

 Altogether this victorious party carried out six new expeditions, of which the Grepon marks 

 the high water mark of rock climbing, though the two ridges of the Jorasses are only a little 

 less severe. The Jorasses had previously been climbed by its south face, and the first object 

 of this party was to find a route up the terrific wall that stoops down to the Col des Hiron- 

 delles. The ascent of this ridge was proved to be utterly impossible, but the descent was 

 accomplished by an ingenious and daring combination of fixed ropes and pitons On this 

 climb Joseph Knubel was the leading guide and Laurent Croux represented Courmayeur. 

 The same party climbed for the first time the west ridge which had defied so many previous 

 assaults. On this occasion Knubel was the only guide. Not content with this triumph 

 Young, Jones, the famous Austrian climber Dr. Blodig, and Knubel defeated one of the last 

 virgin ridges on Mont Blanc, the great Brouillard arete. And finally this unconquered party, 

 with Todhunter in place of Dr. Blodig and an extra guide; Brocherel, forced a new direct 

 route up the great northern face of the Grepon. The Grepon by the ordinary route is as 

 hard as most climbs in the Alps or elsewhere, and it is scarcely a peak on which to look for 

 variation routes. "Knubel's ascent of the last mentioned slab," wrote Mr. Jones, "relying 

 solely on an axe with its point inserted into a minute crack as hand-hold and merely on friction 

 for the rest, is one of the most remarkable climbing feats I know of." As a member of the 

 Alpine Club remarked after Mr. Jones had finished reading his paper, this kind of climbing 

 can only be appreciated by about a do/en British mountaineers, and can be eclipsed by no 

 living cragsman. The only other climb yet made which can be mentioned in the same 

 category with these achievements was Dr. Piacenza's desperate ascent of the Matterhorn by 

 the Furggen arete. 



Other interesting new ascents of 1911 may be mentioned ; the direct ascent of the Jungfrau 

 from the Jungfraujoch by H err Weber with the guide Schlunegar of Wengen, and the first 

 passage of the GJetcherjoch by Dr. O. K. Williamson. This climb roused some comment, as 

 Dr. Williamson introduced a practice which was first made use of in Welsh gullies. He 

 climbed the pass from the easy side, and let down a rope on the top of the difficult section to 

 facilitate the traverse of the pass on another day. 



Beyond the Alps Captain Corry and Lieut. Squires did some interesting new climbs in the 

 Himalaya, of which the North Peak of Kolahoi was perhaps the finest; and in the Andes Dr. 

 Helbling made the first ascent of a virgin peak over twenty thousand feet in height. 



The winter of 1911-12 was as disappointing as the summer was satisfactory. British 

 climbers, as usual, did very little, and such ascents as were recorded fell to foreign moun- 

 taineers. The Alpine Ski Club claimed the three ascents made by British ski-runners, and 

 one of these, the Lauterbrunnen Breithorn, was probably a first winter asce.nl. It was 

 climbed at the end of January by Mr. Edward Tennant and Mr. Arnold Lunn. 



The summer of 1912 was remarkable for persistent bad weather. The indefatigable Mr. 

 Young climbed the last of the Dames Anglais, and Messrs. Mallory, Pope, and Portman 

 made without guides a fine variation ascent of the Dent Blanche, perhaps the finest guide- 

 less climb as yet'accomplished. The season was marred by[an accident in which the brilliant 

 young Cambridge professor and expert climber, Mr. H. C. Jones, was killed with his wife and 

 the guide Truffer on Mont Rouge de Peuteret, not as originally stated on the Aiguille Blanche 

 de Peuteret. Mont Rouge is not a difficult mountain, and the climb was well within the 

 powers of Mrs. Jones. Truffer came away with a detached boulder, and the whole party 

 were dragged from holds and killed. An unroped Austrian climber ahead escaped. 



At the end of the season Hugh Pope (perhaps the finest rockclimber known) was killed 

 on the Pic du Midi d'Ossau. He was climbing alone, and death was caused by rotten rock. 

 The search party organised by Mr. Young found his body after a day's search. 



Polo. 



A noteworthy change in connection with polo in 1912 was the definite adoption by 

 the Hurlingham authorities, who make the rules and govern the game in Great Britain, 

 of the system of playing without penalty for offside, and with eight periods of seven and 

 a half minutes each instead of six of ten. This system had been given an exhaustive 

 trial the year before, but the change in the rules is directly traceable to the influence of 

 the Meadow Brook team in 1909, whqn the International Cup, which for twenty-three 

 years had rested on the English side of the Atlantic, "was regained by the Americans. 

 English players then learned that there were possibilities of the development of greater 

 pace and greater accuracy of hitting, without real loss of combination, in the less restrict- 

 ed American game; and the victory of Mr. Whitney's team and their success in retaining 

 the trophy against the challenge of the Hurlingham team under Captain Lloyd in 1911 

 have otherwise been far-reaching. In the United States, indeed, polo has received a 

 decided stimulus, and there has been a marked increase of players and clubs, especially 



