Chapter II: Preface

In 1905, when nearer fifty than forty, had I not been the happy father of a girl of seven I should have had no occasion to write this book. I bought, for her to play with, a pair of small ski in deal, which I remember cost nine francs. For myself I bought a rough pair, on which to fetch and bring her back to shore if the small ship foundered.

No sooner had I equipped myself, standing, as a Newfoundland dog, on the brink of the waves, ready to rescue a child from snow peril, than I was born again into a ski-runner.

Since, I have devoted some of my spare time to revisiting--in winter--the passes and peaks of Switzerland.

The bringing of the ski to Switzerland ushered in the “New Mountaineering,” of which a few specimens seek in these pages the favour of the general public.

The reader may notice that I never spell “ski” with an _s_ in the plural, because it is quite unnecessary. One may stand on one ski, and one may stand on both ski. The _s_ adds nothing to intelligibility.

Nor do I ever pronounce ski otherwise than I write it. There is in ski the _k_ that appears in skipper and in skiff. Though cultured Germans say _Schiff_ and _Schiffer_, the _k_ sound of ski is quite good Norse. It has been preserved in the French _esquif_, of same origin.

The _i_ should be pronounced long as in “tree.”

So let us always say _s-k-ee_ and write ski for both numbers.

SAAS-FEE. _August 14, 1912._

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

SKI-RUNNING IN THE HIGH ALPS 17

The different ski-ing zones--Their characteristics and
dangers--The glaciers as ski-ing grounds--The ski-running
season--Inverted temperature--The conformation of winter
snow--Precautionary measures--Glacier weather--Rock
conditions--Weather reports--Guides and porters.

CHAPTER II

WITH SKI TO THE DIABLERETS 34

_First Ascent_--The Bear inn at Gsteig--The young
Martis--Superstitions--The rights of guides.

_Second Ascent_--The composition of the caravan--Odd
symptoms--Winter amusements on the glacier--A broken ankle--The
salvage operations--On accidents--My juvenile experience--A
broken limb on the Jaman.

_Third Ascent_--The Marti family--The Synagogue once more--An
old porter--We are off.

CHAPTER III

FROM THE COL DU PILLON TO THE GEMMI PASS (DIABLERETS, WILDHORN,
WILDSTRUBEL, AND KANDERSTEG) 59

The range--Ski-runners’ logic--Itinerary--The Plan des
Roses--Untoward experiences on the Rawyl pass--Death
through exposure--The _Daily Mail_ and Mr. Arnold Lunn’s
feat--House-breaking--On the Gemmi--Perspective and
levels--Relief models of the Alps--My smoking den--Old Egger.

CHAPTER IV

THE SKI-RUNNER OF VERMALA 83

Vermala--The mysterious runner--The Plain of the
Dead--Popular beliefs--The purification of the grazings--A
haunted piece of rock--An awful noose is thrown over the
country-side--Supernatural lights and events--The Babel of
tongues--The Saillon and Brigue testimonies--The curé of Lens
and his sundial--The people’s cure--The Strubel--_Chauffage
central_--Did I meet the Ski-runner of Vermala?--My third
ascent of the Wildstrubel--A night encampment on the
glacier--Meditations on mountains, mountaineers, and the
Swiss--How to make _café noir_--Where to sleep and when not
to--Alpine refuges--The old huts and the new--The English
Alpinists and the Swiss huts--The Britannia hut.