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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 11, 2014 - 05:45pm PT
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Found this introduction in a musty, dusty book of mine: My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus, A.F. Mummery. He seems to hit upon some wisdom about the satisfaction of climbing once climbing days are over:
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Apr 11, 2014 - 06:04pm PT
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That Victorian style required a number of re-readings to get the gist
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 11, 2014 - 06:08pm PT
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Nice.
And reminds me of another climber who, when he could not climb, looked back and began writing. Bill Murray was taken prisoner in North Africa in WWII, and wrote "Mountaineering in Scotland" as a way to get through the next several years in a German Prison camp. It is some of the best writing on climbing that I've ever read, and I've read a lot.
That Mummery introduction above has the same feel.
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thebravecowboy
climber
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Apr 11, 2014 - 06:09pm PT
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furor scribendi = today's selfie and climbing blog narcissism?
"knitted more firmly the bonds of well-tried relationships"
sorta like when we rapped the wrong station in 60 mph wind without enough rope and I got a phone call to the effect of: "dude, we have a problem - I have no juggage materials and not enuff rope."...?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 11, 2014 - 06:11pm PT
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that more here would so succumb,
and perhaps promote modus vivendi,
it would be a better place.
thanks Tom, there are other ways in which that piece soothes my recent experience which has moved me from "that reckless, lucky, tireless youth, when the grass slopes, and the stones, and the other ills of life, had not found the art of troubling." For the last few weeks, that art was found for me.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 11, 2014 - 06:58pm PT
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Beautiful but, climbing days over.....perish the thought!
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Apr 11, 2014 - 07:11pm PT
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Thanks for posting that, Tom. Climbers of that era had a way with words.
;>)
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Apr 11, 2014 - 07:16pm PT
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hey there say, LongAgo...
oh my and a 'double wow' this is very special... very lovely piece of writing and very deep, yet, high, at the same time...
well, if you know the greatoutdoors, of COURSE we know HOW that can be...
vast... and near...
all at once...
thank you so very much for sharing this...
*will copy and past, and like ekat suggested--
fit for framing... :)
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Apr 11, 2014 - 09:40pm PT
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That is beautiful, capturing the essence of the thing in a way that transcends time and style.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 11, 2014 - 09:48pm PT
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People knew how to write back then. I've been reading letters British
midshipmen wrote during the Napoleonic wars and it is amazing how well some
of those 14 and 15 year olds could turn a phrase.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Apr 11, 2014 - 10:11pm PT
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Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada
by Clarence King
1874
FROM THE PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
"There are turning-points in all men’s lives which must give them both pause and retrospect. In long Sierra journeys the mountaineer looks forward eagerly, gladly, till pass or ridge-crest is gained, and then, turning with a fonder interest, surveys the scene of his march; letting the eye wander over each crag and valley, every blue hollow of pine-land or sunlit gem of alpine meadow; discerning perchance some gentle reminder of himself in yon thin blue curl of smoke floating dimly upward from the smouldering embers of his last camp-fire. With a lingering look he starts forward, and the closing pass-gate with its granite walls shuts away the retrospect, yet the delightful picture forever after hangs on the gallery wall of his memory. It is thus with me about mountaineering; the pass which divides youth from man-hood is traversed, and the serious service of science must hereafter claim me. But as the cherished memories of Sierra climbs go ever with me, I may not lack the inspiring presence of sunlit snow nor the calming influence of those broad noble views. It is the mountaineer’s privilege to carry through life this wealth of unfading treasure. At his summons the white peaks loom above him as of old; the camp-fire burns once more for him, his study walls recede in twilight revery, and around him are gathered again stately columns of pine. If the few chapters I have gathered from these agreeable memories to make this little book are found to possess an interest, if along the peaks I have sought to describe there is reflected, however faintly, a ray of that pure, splendid light which thrills along the great Sierra, I shall not have amused myself with my old note-books in vain."
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/mountaineering_in_the_sierra_nevada/preface.html#note
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 11, 2014 - 11:01pm PT
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Sigh.
It does become apparent that
"Furor scribendi"
and
"Carpe Vinum"
have seized many of my evenings of late, at age 64.
Thank you for the Mummary quote. What adventures that man enjoyed.
I do need to re-read that book: MY CLIMBS IN THE ALPS AND CAUCAUSUS
I recall he died on Nanga Parbat?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 11, 2014 - 11:33pm PT
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Mummery left behind a lot to be admired...
From Miriam O'Brien-Underhill National Geographic August 1934.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 12, 2014 - 01:16am PT
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Just a small world bump:
I guided a woman up Rainier in about '71 who had done an FA with the Underhills in the Tetons in 1948 IIRC.
I thought she was pretty ancient, like late 50's! LOL! She was very nice but she did try to kill me.
I just remembered that she was referred to me by John Marts who had guided her in the Tetons.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Apr 12, 2014 - 07:16pm PT
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Thanks Tom, Kevin, and Ed for the Mummery and King excerpts.
There is a mostly frustration, but occasional deep satisfaction, in trying to express in words what we have experienced in the mountains.
Thrilling to have a flash of recognition: “yes, that’s exactly how it is,” coming from these old texts.
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pa
climber
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Apr 12, 2014 - 07:56pm PT
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz CA
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Apr 12, 2014 - 09:10pm PT
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Though perhaps we've gone too far in the other direction these days.
Ya think?
Susan
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Apr 12, 2014 - 09:30pm PT
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I hear you Randisi. Oblique, prosaic, the parlance of the parvenu as well. And Victorian. It was 119 years ago.
Let's not miss repeating Mummery's death was by avalanche on Nanga Parbat's Rakhiot Face; he was only 39, the son of a well-to-do Mayor of Dover and prosperous leather tanner. The event also took his two Gurkhas. It was 1895 in August. These were the first to expire on that Pakistani summit.
Twenty-eight more had to die before Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest summit on earth, gave up her gifts to Hermann Buhl. Her name means "Naked Summit" in Urdu.
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