102 



RECREATION 



scale. Even the ascent twenty years 

 earlier of the Matterhorn, and along 

 some of the upper ice-fields of Switzer- 

 land, did not bring more impressive 

 spectacles of glacier, mountain and val- 

 ley. 



We soon stopped fishing, and longed 

 to traverse that glacier-field. Its neve 

 is very accessible. Several guides from 

 the Alps live at the hotel, and are avail- 

 able for the tourist. They charge from 



cities, "tenderfeet" who would not walk 

 a mile over the pavements at home, 

 would be seized with an uncontrollable 

 longing for mountain and glacier "ex- 

 ploration." Then they would go to 

 the hotel ofhce, and "book" themselves 

 for a climb over the hills. The man 

 who assigns the guides to "parties" did 

 not smile, at least outwardly. He re- 

 ceived the deposits of cash, ordered lun- 

 cheons put up, helped the novices to 



THE TONGUE OF THE GLACIER 



three to five dollars daily for their ser- 

 vices. A powerful, low-set, wiry and 

 athletic coterie, they are not only vital 

 aids on the hills, but are cultured, in- 

 telligent, and admirable companions. 



The mountain-climbing fever is both 

 contagious and infectious. It "works 

 like madness in the brain." The results 

 at Glacier House were often ludicrous. 

 Belles in high-heeled shoes, portly 

 grandpapas and grandmas, weaklings 

 escaped from the pampered life of the 



Photographed by Dan Beard 



don hobnail shoes and choose alpen- 

 stocks, and listed them to be called at 

 four o'clock the next morning. Often 

 these climbing parties would return 

 long after dark, tired to the verge of 

 collapse, yet vowing that their day had 

 been "perfectly lovely." The guide did 

 not sneer — such parties pay him well. 



But when two or three ambitious or 

 sturdy men would propose a trip up 

 Sir Donald or to the upper Glacier, it 

 was different. Then he would prepare 



