ONE-LEGGED CLIMBER ASCENDS MATTERHORN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 9

ONE-LEGGED CLIMBER ASCENDS MATTERHORN

WONDERFUL FEAT ACCLAIMED BY ALPINISTS (United P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service)' GENEVA, Thursday. Extraordinary nerve and splendid endurance were displayed in an ascent of the Matterhorn by the distinguished Cambridge climber, Mr. Geoffrey Winthrop Young, who lost a leg in the Great War. The limb was amputated above the knee, and Mr. Young wears a metal peg limb. He rode on a mule to a hut feet up. Without sleep Mr. Young started the ascent at 10 p.m. and reached the summit at 7 a.m. next day. He descended to the hut in six hours. His most hazardous experience was his six hours’ descent on the mule by moonlight from the hut to Zermatt. Alpinists describe the feat as the greatest in the history of the Matterhorn.

Air. Geoffrey Winthrop Young was born in October, 1876. He was educated at Marlborough and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Monte San Gabriele, was mentioned in despatches. He was awarded the Order of Leopold 1., the silver medal for valour twice, Italian Red Cross silver medal of honour with palm, Legion of Honour, Belgian War Cross, Italian War Cross, Order of the Crown of Italy, Italian decoration the disabled, 1914, Star with rose, British Campaign medal with oak leaf, Victory medal, and Italian Campaign medal with three stars. An enthusiastic mountaineer. Ml*. Young has written ‘‘Wall and Roof Climbing,” ‘‘Mountain Craft,” “On the High Hills” and .several books of poems.