MAKING A MOUNTAINEER

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 113, 16 May 1925, Page 16

MAKING A MOUNTAINEER

AN EVEREST CLIMBER'S EXPERI-

ENCE.

The disaster on Mount Everest ■underlines once again the strange lure of the peaks and the great silences, and lends unusual interest to Mr. George Inge Finch's elaborate book, "The Making of a Mountaineer," recently published, . writes jG. T. Weston in the "Graphic." Mr. Finch, it may be remembered, together with Captain J. E... Bruce, made the world's record for height in reaching 0ver.27,200-feet on Everest in. the-. 1922 expedition.. He has been climbing for sixteen years, and what he says carries weight. Mr. FineK has enjoyed more than the ordinary Englishman's opportunities for indulging in his chosen sport, as for some years ho 'was at Zurich for educational purposes, and was able to spend many week-ends in the mountains. '

The climbing recorded, however, covers not only the Swiss and Savoy Alps, but also some climbs in Corsica besides, of course, Everest. From the beginning Mr. Finch' has aimed at acquiring the art and habit of route finding, an art which is all too rare amongst the mass of climbers who, from habitually following- professional guides, have never had tins forced upon them. His ability in this.is well shown in his ascents of the east face of Monte Rosa and his climbs on the Jnngfrau, 'while on climbs which are more largely rock, his ascents of the Jiifertenstock by a new route and the Grepon, including the Venetz crack, stamp him as a great master and afford excellent reading. His margin of safety is here and there somewhat narrow, narrower than he would wish to recommend for those who would endeavour to follow his achievements. -

There is hardly a chapter that fails to hold one as an accurate and simply tow.story of resource, endurance, and skill pitted against natural forces, and with the spice of the danger element always present. Mr. Finch holds strono- opinions on some points, and it is perhaps a pity that he should diverge from his subject to such controversies as comparisons between English rock climbing and mountaineering, and as to the ethics ol the use of oxygen in climbing. The English rock climbers' clubs have supplied many very worthy recruits to mountaineering in recent years.