OVER THE HILLS.
Climbs on Alpine Peaks. By Abate Achille Ratti. (Fisher Unwin. 8s. 6d. net.) Climbs on Alpine Peaks. By Abate Achille Ratti. (Fisher Unwin. 8s. 6d. net.)
This volume, with an Introduction by the Bishop of Salford and a Foreword by the well-known Alpinist, Dr. Douglas Freshfield, consists of a translation of four articles, one of them contributed to the Bollettino and the rest to the Rivista Mensile of the Italian Alpine Club by the Abate Achille Ratti, now Pope Pius XI. There must be many people who are unaware that the Pope is a mountaineer of considerable achievement ; yet, even without Mr. Freshfield's testimony, his Holiness's accounts of the three important climbs included in the present book are sufficient to prove it. In the first he describes his ascent of Monte Rosa from Macug- nage, of which Mr. Freshfield writes :— " Few more daring feats are on record. The ascent of the precipitous face of Monte Rosa above Macugnaga was for years reckoned one of the unsolved problems of the Alps. It was accom- plished at last and more than once, but not by Italians. The successful climbers on their return agreed in declaring that, owing toithe unavoidable risk incurred from avalanches and falling stones, the expedition ought to be banned. Mgr. Ratti's patriotism made him eager that this spectacular feat should be repeated by his countrymen. . . ."
His Holiness's description of the climb, told plainly and simply, makes excellent reading, as do his accounts of an ascent of the Matterhorn (beneath the summit of which he and his companions were compelled to spend a night in the open) and another of Mont Blanc. The articles are well trans- lated by Mr. J. E. C. Eaton and are illustrated by several admirable photographs. A translation of the account of the ascent of Monte Rosa, which we noticed not long ago, was published in a limited edition by Mr. Daniel O'Connor towards the end of last year, but the rest, we believe, now appear in English for the first time.
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