THE MOUNTAINEERING ACCIDENT IN DAUPHINE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5345, 16 November 1885, Page 4

THE MOUNTAINEERING ACCIDENT IN DAUPHINE.

Full particulars are published ma Viennese paper of the accident by which Professor Emil Zsigmondy recently lost his life in an attempted ascent of the Meije, in Dauphine. His exploits m Switzerland last year, in the company of Professor Schulz, of Vienna, marked him out as one of the rashest of mountaineera, and he har now paid the penalty of his unfortunate foolhardiness. To attempt the ascent of Monte Rosa from Macugnago, which was among Herr Zsigmondy's;. exploits of last season, is about as. sensible a proceeding a3 to walk across the artillery ranges at Shoeburyness when practice is, going on. You may, of course, escap6 being hit, and so, on those, slopes, where millions of tons of ice and rocks are constantly descending, you may chance to dodge the avalanches. But to take such a route ii merely t o play blindly with fate; and the man whose mountaineering was of this kind was sure, if he persevered, sooner or later to meet with a tragic end. "None the less touching- is? the letter in which his brother writes to his mother an account of the .catastrophe. Zsigmondy, it seems, desired to ascend the Meijeby a new route, along that southern arete which appears the most "direct, but which has hitherto baffled all climbers. On the night of the sth'of August the party, consisting of the • two brothers Zsigmondy and Professor ■'•"• Schulz, 'but without any guides, slept at the shelter hut of the French Alpine Club at Chattclcret, and started at 6 a.m. The weather was at first bad, but soon improved. The glacier was crossed, and some progress was made up the rocks. At about two o'clock, however, the party, ... who had been continuously led by Emil Zaigmondy, were stopped by what seemed an insuperable obstacle. The face of rock before them was absolutely precipitous ; they tried to the right and the left without success. . The rest of the narrative may. be told in the words of Otto Zsigmohdy's letter to his mother :— " Emil tried to make his way straight up the ' crags above us. The rocks were there perpendicular, and even overhanging, and he ovei rated his powers. He worked slowly upwards. The length of our rope was 65 ft, while Schulz's silk cord was- ' about 30ft. Emil tried to ascend a few yards further in order to reach a ledge. I ought to have remonstrated, but a sort of lethargy had com« over me, and I did I :' nothing.- I shall regret- this all my life. The climb appeared to Erail impracfic able, and he turned, hitching the rope round a projecting rock, so as to steady him, and clambered slowly downwards. He had scarcely begun the decent .when the rope above slipped, and in an instant Emil lost his footing. I cannot describe what followed. I will tell you hereafter ..... .in. words'. I seized our end of the cord, wound it round my hands and arms, and Schulz held it too. I received a tremendous blow on the head, was pulled forward, laid hold of a jutting rock, was then jerked backwards and remained hanging ; but to my horror Emil was gone. The worst had happened ; tho rope was broken. The fearful height from which he fell made it impossible for me to hold him ; but I tried my utmost, and if the rope had not given way I must have perished too. Truly I wished I had ; but God willed it otherwise. Poor Emil fell down a precipice nearly 2,000 ft in •■■" depth, and remained lying on the Glacier below. I held the rest of the cord in my hands.; blood streamed from my head ; the i'bpe had. cut deeply into my flesh ; my left thumb was broken. The d escent was - terrible; ;£Esjiiiemed to have little life left, and only the constant help of Professor ;-, Schulz, himself badly hurt, kept me up. I cannot describe the condition of Emil when we found him, three hours after tho catastrophe, at the foot of the rock wall. We left him lying in the snow, as it was impossible for us to remove him, and , made our way to the hut, where we passed the night. On the following day we went on to La Berarde, To-morrow the .'•inquest will take place, and the mortal will then be laid at St Christophers, three hours away, by an Evangel ic al minister from Grenoble. The Catholic j .priest of St Christopher's is a worthy man, ' •' and offered no objection to the funeral in 1 the Catholic churchyard. It would, I "'"■ think, accord with the wishes of deceased to be buried here ; but if you, dearest '- mother, wish that the remains should be taken 10 Vienna let us know by telegraph. Againstf this, however, there, are many " i things ; above all the terrible condition of the body. I am now only anxious to leave these detestable mountains, to throw myself at yo- r feet and implore forgiveness for him and for myself. Oh, that I f , could spare you this pain - that I could have its whole burden on myself. I thought mountaineering a noble and worthy pastime, but am now terribly convinced of the contrary. The mountains,' onre ..my chief delight, are now my horror. '*■ Our chief consolation is that this is a > death which had no terror for him." To this narrative Professor Schulz adds a few <f?<N W ordsj explaining that Otto Zsigmondy ; had no reason to blame himself ; that he ' had d one his utmost to save his brother's y- life even at the sacrifice of his own ; and , : that the fearful height'of the fall — nearly 100 feet — made it impossible to check it, for no rope, no mortal hand, and no human force could resist such a shock. The story, is a tragic one ; all the sadder because the victim was, like our own Professor Balfour, wh'n- perished in a somewhat similar fashion, a man of rare

promise. But it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that Zsigmondy belonged to the school of mountaineers whose bold,ness degenerates into foolhardiness, and that hia. fate was one which he himself courted.