The Strength of the Hills

(Arrowemith. 10s. 6d.) Climbs and Ski-Runs. By F. S. Smythe. (Blackwoods. 21s.)

IT is a joy to the reviewer to find books which he can praise without qualification : this batch are all good of their kind : the best is Mr. Smythe's Climbs and Ski-runs, which is assured of a definite place in the literature of adventure. Mr. Williams does not attempt to provide a complete guide to ski-ing and skating centres in his Winter Sport in Europe, though he does try to be thoroughly candid and practical about the many places he knows. There is not a suspicion of the travel-agent or the pamphleteer 'throughout his work ; his suggestions are sensible ; his style easy and vivid : his information, so far as we have been able to check it, is both accurate and up to date. The countries he deals with are Switzerland, Austria, France, Norway, Sweden, Germany, with short sections on the Dolo- mites and Pyrenees ; and over such a wide range it is obviously Mapossible to follow the author in detail, but anyone wanting to make up his or her mind where to ski or skate this year could not do better-than first to read Mr. Williams and then consult General Wroughton for corroboration and particulars as to prices. -Both these authors are themselves travellers and sportsmen. The Winter Sports Annual is compiled by =General 'Wroughton after five or six months travelling every year from Montana at Christmas to Finse in May. The author is one of 'the most experienced ski-ers in England, and he sees more hoteii in ativelvemOnth than-most of us do-in a lifetime. He says in his preface that his post-bag grows heavier every year with enquiries from readers : to add to it we give his address :

Alma Cottage, Bovingdon Green, Marlow—but the reader will. probably find all the information he requires in this excellent Annual without the need of correspondence.

Curling becomes increasingly popular each year in Switzer- land, and Messrs. Mobbs and McDermott's book is therefore timely : as a matter of fact, there has not yet been published•

a book giving instructions how to play the game scientifically. The authors do more than this : there is an interesting account'

of experiments to determine the value of " sooping " and at list of winter-sports places where curling can -be enjoyed, as well as the fullest practical and theoretical .directions for playing the " roaring game." • " Nothing so good in this way has appeared in print since

Whymper's time," claim the publishers of Climbs and Ski-runs : Messrs. Blackwood (pre-eminent among " adventure " pub- lishers) do not make this claim without reason : it is true that

Mr. Smythe is a writer of great power as well as one of the most distinguished of the younger generation of mountaineers.

The only fault we have to find with his book is its title : there is nothing in, it of any importance about ski-running, except a chapter on avalanches and such other items of mountain-lore as would naturally find a place in a book on climbing. But if the reader does not expect dissertations on stem-turning and telemarks (and many of us think that the technique of ski-ing is being overdone, so that we forget that its object is not to pass " tests " but to explore snowficlds) he will discover much else to stir his imagination and quicken his love of beauty. Here, for instance, is a comparison between our British hills and the Alps :-

' . . a gradual merging of the delicate blues and purples of the south with the tender greens, saffron, and oranges of the heavens, while always there is the suggestion of distant sea, with its burnish of silver and gold. There is no striving for effect, no blatancy in such a sunset, yet it possesses a beauty and dignity beyond the power of pen or brush to interpret. In the High Alps you may stand on the threshold of a but and say ' wonderful," marvellous,' or 'superb,' but on a fellside you will gaze without a word. for no words can describe the loveliness and peacefulness of the day's end: . . . The British hills are capricious, sometimes astounding in their temper changes, yet they are great-hearted : they will not seek to

enact an um. vit toll." . .

In Wales, Mr. Smythe was one of a party that climbed for the first time, in 1928, the Far West Buttress of Clogwyn dur

Arddu. He ends :

" . . . four and a half looms from the foot of the buttress, wo were grasping England's hand on the summit of the crags and congratulating him upon his magnificent leadership. It had boon a great, a grand climb, and a very happily-combined party. Now, as we stood on the summit the storm was easing. In the cast dim hills peered unsubstantially through a mist veil ; overhead tho rear- guard of fat cumuli shook the last raindrops from their skirts, a steady line of washed blue advanced hard on tho cloudy legions of the retreating storm. In the West, a bushel of golden sun sovereigns gleamed in the distant sea. Turning, wo plunged down into the shadowed cwm."

But Mr. Smythe's greatest exploit as yet has been his ascent with Professor Graham Brown of the South-east face of Mont Blanc, in August, 1927. We have not space to quote from his account of that famous climb, nor his descriptions of a storm on the Peteret Ridge, or of his bivouac on the terrible Aiguille du Plan ; they will long be remembered by those to whom the

high peaks call.

Mr. Smythe's final chapter " The Philosophy of a Moun- taineer " is remarkable for its simplicity and sincerity ; there is more to help humanity here than in tomes full of professional and academic philosophy and as much original thought. From the Pope in Rome to the humblest citizen in Europe, there arc millions of us who turn our eyes to the hills " whence cometh our help " ; the desire to achieve the impossible, to court risk,

to sweat and struggle and conquer, is a' force that moves the world. Mr. Young says in his preface that mountain-climbing may not long persist as an escape into adventure, owing to the increasing uniformity and mechanization of our lives. We do not believe in such pessimism. While Mr. Smythe and men of his generation are ready to balance " at comfortless angles, and to smite and grip with their fingers at elemental surfaces " we need have no fears for the future. Adventure will not die until the Alps are worn as flat as Lombardy. We have given high praise to Mr. Smythe's book : we would add that his pictures are worthy of it, and a revelation of what the camera can do in depicting storms and sunrises.