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126 Sierra Club Bulletin 



'Teaks and Mountaineering has its historians, and its men of science, 

 Precipices"* its artists and its poets ; Guido Rey is one of its poets, al- 

 though he writes in prose. Mountaineering, as it is known 

 in Europe at least, has also developed specialists in the several branches 

 of its technique, and Signor Rey is an eminent authority on his specialty. 

 This specialty, the reader of his books will discover, is that phase of 

 mountain climbing known colloquially among Sierrans as "rock-work." 

 In the arduous scaling of precipices, demanding more than human na- 

 ture can normally supply of fortitude and endeavor, Signor Rey finds a 

 consuming joy. His book is an apology for that form of madness which 

 drives men to attempt these "impossible" climbs, and so frankly, so ap- 

 pealingly and so beautifully does he describe them and their noble ef- 

 fects of inspiration and elevation above the level of normal mortal ex- 

 perience, that at the end he almost convinces the reader of the reason- 

 ableness of these perilous enterprises ; he is altogether convincing as to 

 the fascination of them. 



Descriptions of ten of the author's later climbs, literally "peaks and 

 precipices," in the Dolomites and the Savoyan Alps, constitute his book. 

 But the combination of the specialist in his particular form of sport with 

 the vision of the poet which is the man himself makes his story some- 

 thing altogether different from the usual records of mountain climbs. 

 The pages fairly glow with the writer's vibrant personality, which warms 

 the reader to an unusual intimacy of thought and feeling. And the man 

 himself wins the esteem of mountain lovers. Manly, simple, good-hu- 

 mored, unassuming in his narrative, Signor Rey yet loves his mountains 

 with an ardent passion which is more than phrases. Contact with them 

 gives inspiration and strength; they are "human, wholesome, loyal, un- 

 broken, incapable of treachery." Each precipice and peak is individually 

 a friend, the more so for the terrific struggle of dominating it. But Sig- 

 nor Rey's joy in these remarkable climbs is not from success in the 

 physical struggle, for all his natural but very modest pleasure in his 

 prowess (he had passed his fiftieth year when these later climbs were 

 made). He rejoices much more in the spiritual exaltation of the effort 

 and of the victory, in the "self-revelation which we attain through the 

 savage struggle with the mountains," in the "arduous fatigue which 

 gives health to the body, the wonderful visions that ennoble the intellect, 

 the great emotions that mature the soul," 



It is fortunate that a man so sympathetic as Guido Rey with the 

 spiritual lessons of the mountains is so gifted with the power of ex- 

 pression. He lavishes upon the objects of his admiration a truly remark- 

 able beauty of description. The familiar thrilling details of daring climb- 

 ing are in his narrative described with unusual vividness. But still more 

 admirable are the veteran climber's splendid tributes to the peaks he 

 loves so well. The fervor and the beauty of his thoughts are poetic. One 



* Peaks and Precipices; Scrambles in the Dolomites and Savoy. By Guido Rey. 

 Translated from the Italian by J. E. C. Eaton. New York. Dodd, Mead & Company. 

 1915. 238 pages, 76 illustrations. Price, $3.50 net. 



