Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/688

670 breathing. A long stride had to be taken, and one went at it as usual with a momentary holding of the breath. The penalty was instantly exacted—a giddiness supervened, and had to be puffed and pumped away." Mr. Conway's greatest altitude on the Pioneer Peak was 22,500 feet, which is believed to be the greatest altitude from which an observation on the spot was ever taken. The difficulty in reconciling Mr. Graham's and Mr. Conway's narrative lies especially in the fact that all of Mr. Conway's party suffered—Englishmen, Swiss guide, and Ghoorkas—while none of Mr. Graham's party were affected.

This question of loss of breath at great altitudes can not, however, be taken as a sure test of the height reached. The state of health of the climbers, and whether they are in proper training or not, whether they have had a sufficiency of food, and the different states of the weather are very large factors in the comforts or discomforts of an ascent. Count Henry Russell, one of the most experienced of mountaineers, suffered severely on Mont Blanc (15,800 feet), while Mr. Henry Gale Gotch, after an easy ascent of the same mountain, tried the experiment of jumping a number of times over an alpenstock, which he did without any inconvenience whatever—his guide, Henri Dévouassoud, however, confiding to him after a few days his abiding astonishment at so peculiar a mode of resting after an ascent. Mr. Whymper and the Carrels suffered severely on Chimborazo (21,424 feet), while on the other hand Dr. Güssfeldt on Aconcagua reached 21,000 feet without suffering any inconvenience; and Mr. Freshfield's party of six did not suffer in any way from the air, though they almost ran up the last rocks of Elbruz (18,526 feet).

As the question now stands, we can not be certain which is the highest mountain ascent. There are certainly mistakes in the measurements of the Indian Survey. Peak K 2, Mr. Conway's "Watch Tower," will have to come down from its 28,200 feet to something nearer 27,700 feet; and it is quite possible that too high a measurement may have been given to Kabru, which has not been measured either by mountain barometer or boiling-point thermometer. It is not impossible that Mr. Graham may have been mistaken in his peak, and gone up some other mountain instead. If Mr. Johnson had been a less reticent man than he is described as being, and if more were known of his ascents, he might be a possible claimant for the record. The careful notes on breathing made by Mr. Conway, however, prove pretty conclusively that beyond 21,000 feet every one will, at any rate at certain times, suffer more or less from want of air, and the general feeling in the Alpine Club at present is that Mr. Conway has the highest established record.