This, as we are made all too conscious by the
daily papers, is the season of Alpine tragedies. That particular noun is inevitable, for what could be more tragic than the premature and sudden death of young men, as almost all the victims are, gifted, as the very nature of their undertaking indicates that they arc, with more than common enterprise and vigour ? How much, in sum, is lost to their generation. What then is to be said ? That Alpine climbing should be abandoned ? That, manifestly, would be going much too far. It would involve equally the abandonment of climbing in Scotland and the Lakes. There arc many climbs which with ordinary care are perfectly safe even without guides. But there are others on which guides should always be taken, and here it has to be recognised, most deplorably, that lives are lost every year for lack of francs. The tourist allocation covers ordinary expenses reasonably, but it leaves little margin ; and guides for a stiff climb are apt to be regarded as a luxury that cannot be afforded. Actually, in many cases they are a necessity, and if the francs are not available the climb ought to be forgone ; young men's lives are too valuable to be needlessly imperilled. I write of the franc difficulty only as it affects Englishmen, and has in fact cost English lives, but Frenchmen and Italians and others no doubt suffer equally.
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