A WOMAN’S CLIMBS IN THE HIGH ALPS 
By Dora KEEN 
With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author and Others 
LIMBING in the High Alps ina 
G bad season may mean exhausting 
rock work, at times very much 
lengthened and complicated by a cover- 
ing of snow. It may mean very fatiguing 
or dangerous experiences on snow and 
ice, or sudden storms, with peril of freez- 
ing to death or of losing one’s way, or 
there may be various thrilling combina- 
tions of experiences. 
The Alps are not, however, to be 
named with what may be experienced in 
higher mountains in other lands; for 
when very hard work has to be done at 
very high altitudes, or is combined with 
problems of intense cold, a jungle base, 
an exhausting approach, or two or more 
of these conditions combined, the diffi- 
culties of mountaineering become enor- 
mously complicated. The Alps present 
no such problems. 
They are not to be compared with the 
brilliant achievements of such spirited 
and versatile explorers as the Duke of 
the Abruzzi and others, in the Hima- 
layas, in Alaska, in Africa, in the Andes, 
and even in the Caucasus. My story of 
two short seasons in the Alps is therefore 
presented in all modesty, with no claim 
to have done any more than others 
under like conditions, and no space to 
try to make the reader feel the call ot 
the mountains, to dwell on why it all 
pays. 
The High French Alps, in the region 
of Chamonix, Haute Savoie, and Dau- 
phiné, and the Swiss peaks about Grin- 
delwald and Zermatt, present about as 
difficult actual mountaineering work, I 
believe, as has yet been attempted any- 
where. Especially is this true when bad 
weather makes the condition of the 
mountains such as it has been for the last 
two summers. This is the way that I 
know them; for what serious mountain 
climbing I have done has been done dur- 
ing a month at Zermatt, in 1909, and a 
little less time at Chamonix, in 1910 
WHY I CLIMB 
To those whose love of sport and ad- 
venture need not yield before considera- 
tions of time and cost, the little explored 
peaks of distant Asia and other lands, 
and even the Canadian Rockies, of 
course have greater charm, since in those 
regions are lofty and difficult mountains 
that have not yet been climbed. To me, 
however, mountain climbing is a sport 
that is worth while in itseli—to those 
who enjoy it—apart from any question 
of fame or of new achievement. My ob- 
jects have been neither. 
I climb for pleasure, for the wonder- 
ful views and the vigorous exertion, for 
the relaxation of a complete change for 
mind and body, and because of the inspi- 
ration to the spirit. To combine explo- 
ration with mountaineering must, no 
doubt, so increase the interest as to well 
repay the augmented difficulties. All I 
would emphasize is that to climb any- 
where repays the effort, even if it must 
be within reach of civilization and where 
others have gone before. To me there 
is ample reward in the uplift of the spirit ; 
in the moral discipline, the keen interest, 
and the training to think, of a hard bat- 
tle carefully planned; in the satisfaction 
of a love of adventure, and in the invig- 
orating physical exercise. 
CLIMBING FACILITATED IN THE ALPS 
The Alps are accessible, far more ac- 
cessible as yet, even to Americans, than 
are the finer peaks of America. Rail- 
ways, villages, and huts make approach 
to their very bases easy. No extensive 
and expensive camping outfit is required. 
Food and clothing do not have to be car- 
ried great distances by porters or mules, 
and shelter from cold at night or from 
