THE STRAXD MAGAZINE. 
190 
carried off the first prizes for ski-running, 
sleighing, and skating. On January 26th of 
the same year at Chamonix she added to her 
trophies the first Ladies’ International bob- 
sleigh championship, the Leon Auscher Cup. 
Finally, she was the first woman to ascend the 
Buet, Balme, and Voza heights on skis. 
“ Yes/’ said she, “ 1 am passionately fond 
of mountains, but T prefer them in summer. 
Then the mountain scenery is divine. One 
of the best guides in Chamonix, Camille 
Ravancl, showed me the beauty of the moun- 
tains nine years ago, when I first began to 
climb Mont Blanc, and then I fully understood 
the pure joy which the mountain scenery 
STARTING ON Uiili UALLOON -Till J 1 1 ROM 
from a i l/y Rol. 
affords to those who care to try the risks of 
the ascent. 
“ I realized the attraction of those white 
peaks, which seemed to call, to challenge us 
to explore their mysteries. They sparkle in 
the red, pink, and purple glow of the sun, 
under the broad blue sky, and we feel that 
we must go up ; we cannot stay below on 
the prosaic earth. We must obey the call of 
the peaks, to climb them, surmounting all 
the hidden dangers of the way. And when 
each successive danger is overcome, what 
joy, what triumph ! On one occasion, as 
Camille, the guide, Siinond, the porter, and 
1 were steadily climbing the great irregular 
walls of rock, all at once there was a noise 
like thunder breaking the breathless silence 
of the Alps. Camille looked up and shouted, 
‘ Turn to the right ; lie down flat ! 5 An 
avalanche of stones came pouring down the 
mountain-side. I had just time to dash under 
a projecting cliff and lie down in the hollow 
at its foot among the snow-drifts. I assure 
you that I had the sensation of being brushed 
by the wing of Death as the great stones came 
whizzing past us with a deafening noise. 
We crept out of our hiding-place, shivering 
a little, and, in accordance with the custom 
of the mountains, we silently shook hands.” 
There is hardly a mountain peak whereon 
Mile. Marvingt has not planted her conquering 
alpenstock— the Giant’s Tooth. 
Monte Rosa, the Shark’s Tooth, 
the Red Needles, the Wetter- 
horn and the Monk’s Needle, 
the Tacul, the Jungfrau, and 
many others. Some of these 
ascents, which dismay the most 
experienced mountaineers, have 
taken seventeen hours to ac- 
complish. She is the only woman 
who has climbed in a single day 
the Grands Charmoz and the 
Grepon Pass, with the guides 
of the Payot family, of 
Chamonix. 
Such achievements are not 
attained without a record of 
most interesting impressions, 
and 1 asked Mile. Marvingt to 
give me some of her experiences. 
** Willing! y,” replied she. 
“For one thing, when I was 
climbing the Grepon, I was 
nearly crushed to death by a 
block of stone which must have 
weighed several tons, and which 
must have surely awaited my 
arrival to choose that moment 
to separate itself from the side of the pass. 
When I did get to the top I was nearly 
blown away by the most terrible thunder- 
storm which I have ever seen even in the 
Alps, and Alpine thunderstorms are some- 
thing to remember. 
“ When I was climbing the Giant’s Needle, 
my guides and I were overtaken by a dense 
snowstorm, and we wandered for seven long- 
hours along the glacier without knowing where 
we were. Another time, when we were climb- 
ing the Needle, one of the members of a 
neighbouring party slipped and brought his 
guides down with him. Nothing could have 
saved them from going over the precipice 
if it had not been for the lucky accident 
HOLLAND TO ENGLAND. 
