Reviews

Climbs And Ski Runs: by F. S. Smythe. (Blackwood & Sons, pp. xiv. and 308, 215. net). Quite literally “ to the true-souled climber who can enjoy a tough bit of rock, even if it is only fifty, aye, or twenty feet high ” and to the Alpine expert who is qualified to tackle the most serious ascents guideless, as well as to all the intermediate gradations of mountaineers and mountain lovers, Mr. Smythe’s book offers most attractive reading. Quite literally, for he conducts us from a small outcrop of gritstone close to Leeds, up the Welsh Crags, the Dolomites, Alpine peaks, passes, and glaciers to an unprecedented ascent of the Courmayeur face of Mont Blanc, and we are glad to be with him all the time. In fact Mr. Smythe is gifted with a happy aptitude for catching the correct atmosphere, and that without effort, and as a consequence we are now and again surprised into finding ourselves in spirit actually with him in many places where we fain would be, and, it must be admitted, in some where we had much rather not, from juxtaposition in a hut to a horror who has filled himself with odorous salami to the ascent of the four arêtes which form a series of Bridges of Paradise on his great Courmayeur face ascent.

One word of warning. It would seem to be exceedingly risky to accompany Mr. Srnythe in the flesh when there is electricity about. He seems a very storm focus and on one occasion came as near as no matter to featuring as a lightning conductor. Fortunately his clothes were saturated and the direct hit slid off him very much after the manner of water off a duck’s back,leaving him,however,temporarily stunned. In the description of these storms Mr Smythe’s powers are admirably illustrated. There is nothing forced about them here, or in fact anywhere. There is indeed one little passage on page 247 which leaves quite as eerie an impression as anything in E.A.Poe, yet, unlike that writer’s work, it is quite without affectation.

Purists will doubtless find opportunities in criticizing Mr. Smythe’s style, but he will be well advised to pay no attention to these critics. Its individuality constitutes one of the charms of the volume and no writer who values that great asset should be over attentive to critics.

In his last chapter, Mr. Smythe has greatly dared, and ventured into the Region Perilous of the Philosophy of Mountaineering. He has come out of the ordeal as well as most, better in fact, for he writes just as he feels and thinks, not as he wants other people to think he feels and thinks, and the distinction is to his credit. The various chapters have not been touched on in detail. They should be read for themselves.–C.E.B.

Oxford Annual For Boys.—November, 1929.—Homeland Mountaineering: by C. E. Benson. This magazine article is a plain setting forth of the first principles of fell walking and rock climbing in Britain for the guidance of those growing lads who, fed up with the mechanization of car and cycle, yearn for the greater glories of the fell side and the mountain. Mr. Benson, in that quaint staccato style which he has made his own, deals with Walking, Scrambling and Climbing in their natural order. Of Walking he rightly points out how large a part it plays in the “ ascent ” of any mountain, even of Scawfell by Deep Ghyll; and insists on a reasonable pace and a zig-zag track, with a swing from the hips, not the knees. ” Immer langsam,” as the Swiss guide says, or to vary the wording, “ Never take one step where two will do.”

” Climbing ” he describes as “ an ascent entailing the constant use of hands and feet, together with such other portions of the anatomy as may be requisitioned,” and Scrambling as “betwixt and between, entailing the frequent but not constant use of hands, as well as feet, over sections of no great length or difficulty ”—both very good definitions.

Scrambling is dismissed with the remark that it is the best all round school for a beginner, if taken with a companion. Climbing is dealt with in more detail, and after admitting its risks but comparing them with those of motoring, he lays stress on two points, the choice of easy climbs first and the paramount use of the feet and not the hands in climbing. This latter point and the need for deliberation (to which the writer might have added “ balance,” i.e., the gradualshifting of the weight or grip), if obeyed, the lucid description of the components of a climbpitch, stance, etc., and the compendium of particular suggestions for leader, second, and third man, if followed, would go far to make the “ Compleat ” climber of rocks, Snowcraft is not touched on, of set purpose, but surely a climbing party in Deep Ghyll at Easter might find an ice-axe make all the difference and should be told how to use it. May we suggest also a note of warning against trusting any handhold without testing it, and not too much then—expertocrede !—W. A. B.

Alpine Journal (twice a year, 10s. 6d. net).—Looking again through the last three numbers, one cannot help but think that the Alpine journal grows more thrilling than ever. Nowadays new Climbs in the Alps are of the most prolonged and most diflicult type, and seem to be only for super-men who regard a bivouac as a trifle and can climb severes under a big load.

The last number (May, 1930) contains accounts of the Bavarian attack on Kangchenjunga, of the Scheidegg face of the Wetterhorn, and Slovene climbs on the Triglav, where impossible places are forced by hammering in a succession of pitons.

To the pot-holer M. Blanchet’s accounts of long descents by means of the doubled rope, in which he now specializes, will be of much interest and amusement. In the course of rediscovering the amazing way in which ropes close together can twist round one another, M. Blanchet almost came to disaster, and his experiences will remind veterans of painful experiments in fancy methods of tackling pitches which shipwrecked on the same difficulty.

The number for November, 1929, contains three tributes to the memory of our ex-President, William Cecil Slingsby, one of some length by Norwegians.

Himalayan Journal, Vol. I., No. 1, April, 1929. Edited by Kenneth Mason. ( W.Thacker and Co., 150 pp., 8s.).—The two Indian Clubs of recent formation are now amalgamated, and an important result is the issue of a Journal, to which the Alpine Journal intends to leave in future the detailed recording of Himalayan expeditions.

The wealth of interest and the vastness of the range are reflected in the variety of the articles. Sir Geoffrey Corbett tells us with authority that the first a in Himalaya is long, and the last two short, while an article on “The Attraction of the Himalaya” explains how it is that the latest calculations of the height of Everest arrive at 29,146 and 29,149 ft. and then apply a correction which reduces it to 29,075 with a possible error of 25 ft.

There is not in this first number a great deal of sheer climbing, but the contents and the formation of the Club will be of the greatest service to men serving in India who desire to accomplish something in reasonable time.

British Ski Year Book.—This sumptuous publication deals as usual in the completest possible manner with the ski-ing technicalities of the day and the racing of the past winter. The British preference for down-hill racing seems to be making converts among other nations, even among the Norwegians, and some good British jumpers are arising—forty-one metres !

The members have not, we fancy, given Mr. Lunn so many mountain articles as in recent years, but Smythe has done his share and furnished an account of his winter attempt on the Eiger.

Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal.-The S.M.C., while confining its articles to Scotland, always contrives to make up pleasant reading with the aid of its meets and short notes on the members’ doings. Dr. Inglis Clark has written delightful reminiscences of Ben Nevis, while the reader will find amusement in following the new “ Munro,” and the invention of “ sub-Munros,”

Pinnacle Club Journal, No. III. (1927-8, published 1929).—Of the contents it is sufficient to say that the Editor, Mrs. Armstrong Richards (Miss D. E. Pilley), sums up in Climbing Notes the remarkable achievements of the women’s club, the traverse of the Coolins, several guideless climbs in the Graians, a lead of the Crowberry ridge direct, a lead of the Grooved Arête, most enterprising wanderings in Iceland, and striking new ascents with guides, Dent Blanche N. ridge and variant on N.E. face, Roc du Grépon, Kilimanjaro, etc.

The advance in technical skill and endurance is startling, but the Editor draws attention on that point to the prominent part played by women in winter mountaineering before ski.

Journal Of The Fell And Rock Climbing Club, (No. 23 for 1929, published 1930).—The numerous membership has supplied Mrs. K. C. Chorley with interesting articles outside the perennial subject of Lakeland, on Mont Blanc, Lofoten, Sikkim, Corsica, and British Columbia.

Miss Thompson records the first lady’s ascent of the Brouillard Ridge of Mont Blanc, made in very quick time behind that crack guide, Joseph Georges. Mr. Wood-Johnson is now a very experienced Himalayan rnountaineer, and we sincerely hope that he will have better luck next time than in the expedition recorded and in the Kangchenjunga journey, and reach the top of a big peak. Easter in Corsica seems to be a wintry and unpleasant time.

After reading the discussions on the protection of Lakeland, we feel a good deal more hopeful than we did about public opinion and the possibility of repelling the intrusion of monstrous motor roads. The danger is that any single proposal will split the would-be protectors into equal bodies, for and against, and that the commercialist will triumph.

Rucksack Club Journal, Vol. VI., No. 4.—Another thrilling serial was perhaps too much to expect, but the 1930 number does not fail to give us another lively skit on climbing matters, a review by Scott of a German Mountain Climbing Encyclopaedia in his own droll manner.

There are two most useful articles on Western Ireland and the Pyrenees, with sketch maps. The former gives valuable information as to inns, but apart from that, might well be reprinted in Geography. In the latter, Hughes has saved the world much repetition of labour by discussing and making out a bibliography of maps and books on the Pyrenees, while he has also given his recent experiences of huts and refuges.

Climbers’ Club Journal, 1929, Vol. IV., No. 1.—According to his own account, a new Editor, Mr. J. D. Hills, has only been found with great difficulty. He has written one of the several current articles on Corsica, and is very hard on the food there, The party had a good expedition on the ridge from the Pietra Nella to Monte Rotondo.

Four new expeditions abroad are recorded, and detailed descriptions given of many new rubber-shoe climbs in North Wales, which are continued in the Bulletin, April, 1930. The Editor prefaces the latter with an “ Insurance Policy warning.”

Wayfarers’ Journal, No. 2.—Twenty pages are filled with a detailed guide, on the lines now usual, to the climbs, mostly very difficult, on Helsby Crag, between Warrington and Chester. The number is otherwise of interest in that it contains, not only an article of the sort many rock-climbers have thought of writing, sorting out their impressions after two or three seasons in the Alps, but also a piece of fiction introducing a song which follows (but some people say by accident), and an account ol Lost Johns’ Cave, in which apparently a Wayfarer had made an expedition but which the Editor happily discovered to have been the object of more serious work by the Foleys’ party. We note too the discovery of a cave entrance on the Eglwyseg, near Llangollen.

Gritstone Club Journal, Vol. III., No. 3.—Three of the four articles in this Journal, still gallantly produced by typing, are of interest in that they amplify the mention of the expeditions in the present issue of the Y.R.C.J.

We acknowledge with thanks the receipt of the Cairngorm Journal and the Proceedings of the Bristol Speleological Society.