Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot

Name: Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot
Author: George Wherry

George Wherry's Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot gathers his seasonal records of Alpine holidays from 1891 to 1895, told in reverse chronological order, interspersed with natural-history and anatomical observations and closing with a chapter of general reflections on mountaineering accidents. The 1895 chapter opens with training climbs from Kandersteg, including the Tschingellochtighorn and the steep south face of the Birrenhorn with Mr. M., his son, and Melchior Anderegg, where Wherry finds a perfect viper's cast and notes larches overtaking pines in the valley forests. He climbs the Doldenhorn with the guide Hari, crosses the Petersgrat to Ried, and ascends the rotten-rock arête of the Bietschhorn, feeling nothing of an earthquake that alarmed Zermatt. At Zermatt he rejoins guides Alois Kalbermatten and Peter Perren, hears of Mr. M.'s fortieth-anniversary ascent of Monte Rosa with Melchior, and himself climbs Monte Rosa by the Lys route, suffering cold feet from his nailed boots. Crossing the Furggen Joch, Perren is struck on the head by a falling stone; Wherry dresses the wound, and despite his fear of complications, Perren insists on traversing the Matterhorn from Italy the next day, which they accomplish successfully, learning en route of Emile Rey's death on the Aiguille du Géant. Captain Abney photographs the bare feet of Wherry's guides climbing a rock, material he says is treated separately in the "Climbing Foot" chapter. News arrives of Miss Sampson's fatal accident on the Triftjoch and of a friend's mother's death, curtailing climbing; Wherry nonetheless traverses the Charmoz from Montanvers, witnessing a huge stone avalanche off the Grépon, and later sees Mr. M. bid an emotional farewell to Melchior at Chamounix. The chapter closes with Wherry's own verses to his folding lantern. The 1894 chapter, set partly in the Dauphiné, covers wet weather and fly-fishing at Kandersteg, a completed Birrenhorn ascent with guide Joseph Truffer, an icy ascent of the Blümlis-Alphorn with Joseph Hari, and travel via Grenoble and Vizille to La Bérarde, where Wherry stitches guide Maximin Gaspard's tongue after a heel-strike accident. With Hippolyte Rodier and Truffer he traverses the Pointe des Ecrins despite Truffer's frostbitten hand, passing a sheep killed by a falling stone and a marmot killed by an eagle. After treating porter Etienne's frostbitten fingers and climbing the Grande Aiguille, Wherry—nursing a rib broken earlier at Dartmoor and reinjured—nonetheless ascends the Meije with guide Joseph Turc, breaking the rib completely near the summit's "cheval rouge" and descending in pain, before returning to England. The 1893 chapter follows travel from Kandersteg through the Val d'Anniviers to Zinal, a benighted crossing of the Zinal glacier, observations of glacier tables and ice baths, a crevasse fall by guide Xaver Imseng on the Col Durand, the ascent of the Dent Blanche (with another climber collapsing from exhaustion and a lost-and-recovered rope), the ascent of the Weisshorn amid a distant thunderstorm, news of Mr. Lucas's death near the Täschhorn, and a crossing via the Furggen Joch into Italy. Wherry and his companion then traverse Mont Blanc from the Italian side via the Aiguille Grise hut, encountering fog and storm near the summit's new Vallot observatory hut before descending safely to Chamounix, followed by ascents of the Aiguille du Dru and the Aiguille Verte. He also records a frostbitten guide named Maquignaz at Chamounix and reflects on the season's mix of fine weather and increased stone-fall danger, plus the great flood disaster at St. Gervais. The 1892 chapter describes travel to Saas Fée via the Grimsel Pass, a friend's mountain sickness on the Finsteraarhorn, a tired lady rescued on the Matterhorn, Wherry's own successful Matterhorn ascent with guides Alois Kalbermatten and his brother, an ascent of the Ober-Gabelhorn, a storm-driven retreat from the Trift Joch, an ascent of the Jungfrau from the Concordia hut, and an abandoned attempt on the Bietschhorn. News of Mr. R. L. Nettleship's death on Mont Blanc and a failed attempt on the Aiguille du Dru in a storm follow, along with an account of the catastrophic glacier flood at St. Gervais and its aftermath. The 1891 chapter traces a journey with his wife by the Lake of Geneva, the Great St. Bernard Pass and its dogs, into Italy via Aosta and Châtillon, over the St. Theodule Pass to Zermatt, where the Matterhorn proves unclimbable that season; Wherry tours the mountain's base, then ascends the Mischabeljoch and Alphubel with a friend whose knee is strained. At Saas Fée he describes the chapel walk and old bridge, then makes a hard bivouac ascent of the Südlenzspitze and Nadelhorn, and climbs the Laquinhorn and the Rothhorn with guides Xaver Imseng and Alois Kalbermatten, closing with travel home via Brieg, Rieder Furka, and Geneva. A concluding note gives detailed route directions for the Birrenhorn's south face, followed by the "Climbing Foot" chapter proper, in which Wherry examines whether guides' feet differ structurally from amateurs' in the angle made with the leg, using Captain Abney's photographs of guides' and an infant's feet, discussion of infant grasping reflexes, and Darwin's observations on Gaucho horsemen's balance, concluding that guides' advantage lies chiefly in trained balance and economy of muscular effort rather than anatomical difference. The final chapter addresses forethought and danger in climbing: a knife saving a man's life after a fall, Dr. Jenner's account of surviving a snowstorm, the lightning death of Dr. Reese on the Drym, Mr. Justice Wills' warning on bad weather, falling stones, and grass slopes, comparisons to climbing accidents among scaffolders and workmen, and a call for collective investigation and preventive knowledge akin to that developed within the Alpine Club, closing with reflections on age, pace, and the enduring pleasures of climbing.

By George Wherry · First published 1896 · Genre: Travel Writing, Memoir, Mountaineering Literature · 7 chapters · 24,585 words

First lines

1895

Training at Kandersteg-Climbing the south face of the Birrenhorn-The viper's cast-The larches replacing the pines-The ascent of the Doldenhorn-The Petersgrat-The ascent of the Bietschhorn-An interesting anniversary ascent-Ascent of Monte Rosa by the Lys Pass-Cold feet on the glacier-The Furggen Joch-Accident to a guide-Traverse of the Matterhorn-Naked feet of guides photographed in climbing position-The Traverse of the Charmoz-Farewell to Melchior-Lines to my lantern.

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Genres

Travel Writing — The work is fundamentally structured as a detailed account of journeys through the Alps over multiple seasons, with descriptions of routes, locations visited, and travel experiences forming the primary narrative arc.
Memoir — Written in first person with personal reflections on experiences, relationships with guides spanning multiple years, physical challenges endured, and emotional responses to events, creating an intimate autobiographical narrative.
Mountaineering Literature — Extensive technical content regarding climbing expeditions, equipment (boots, spikes, ropes), route descriptions, guide techniques, and detailed accounts of ascents across multiple peaks form the central focus and demonstrate specialized knowledge of the climbing subject.
Adventure Literature — The narrative contains dramatic episodes including near-fatal accidents (stone strike on guide, frost-bitten climbers), dangerous weather encounters, crevasse falls, avalanches, and personal injury, building tension and adventure throughout the accounts.

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Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot is listed on Textopian as a historical account by George Wherry, dated 1896 CE.

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Work type: Historical account
Author: George Wherry
Date: 1896 CE
Language: English
Genres: Travel Writing, Memoir, Mountaineering Literature, Adventure Literature, Natural History Writing
Length: 24,585 words
Structure: 7 chapters, 215 paragraphs
Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

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