Mary T. S. Schäffer

“ We had followed a most marvellous Indian trail over the worst bed of boulders I ever met for horses to travel, had climbed on and on, lured by the old trail, until well toward 9,000 feet, when we suddenly surprised a band of sheep. They had probably never seen a human being before. ”

“ When two or three men have climbed habitually together the safety of each one constantly depending upon the skill, judgment and watchfulness of his companion or companions, I believe that a feeling of confidence, sympathy and friendship must spring up between them strong enough to outlast all the wear and tear of later life. Last night's meeting impressed upon me the great development that has taken place within recent years in the Club, and also the value of the possession it has become to us. ”

“ Beginning with Sir Alfred Wills, and even some before him, and going on to the list of other delightful writers—we can never forget 'Peaks, Passes and Glaciers'—they have been men of observation in many scenes of quite unrivalled beauty; not only of unrivalled beauty, but of mystery—a solitariness—a mystery that always makes an impression upon the sensitive mind. ”

“ With mental power and physical energy of a calibre such as these names indicate, it is not difficult to understand why the Mother Club stands to-day on a pinnacle whose heights, have been climbed by her alone. It shows most conclusively that of all noble sports, that of mountaineering is most noble, in that it appeals to all classes and professions and brings forth the lofty traits of patience, perseverence, courage and skill. ”

“ It has, moreover, much to do with the formation of a nation's character, in the development of the intellectual and religious senses, the former through scientific inquiry and artistic representation, and the latter through the unseen but much felt force of an Almighty Power behind an apparent chaos, evolving a scientific scheme of order and an artistic blending of color. An alpine club built on lines similar to the Mother Club is a national asset of which a country may well feel proud. ”

“ From the parent club has sprung a large family, one hundred and sixty-six in number. While many of these are, properly speaking, tourist associations rather than actual alpine clubs, yet the same keen activity, the same spirit of emulation and the same desire to come in touch with the cruder forms of nature is the mainspring of each organization.
The constitution of the Alpine Club does not admit of women members, and, though the climbing record of many is on a par, if not superior to that of the average member, they are without the pale. ”

“ An Indian after all is a "person," and to find a spot where an Indian has not been in that great hunting ground, which has doubtless been hunted over from time immemorial by the plains tribes, would seem an absolute impossibility. The caribou, goat and sheep yet wander in these lonely fastnesses, and a few Indians still come to the haunts of their forefathers; but in the further valleys the teepee-poles are fallen and decayed, and thus the story of the passing of the red man is simply and sadly told. ”

“ I cannot quite myself take that view, for it is not till towards the time when we are approaching the end of our more active career that we realize to the full all that the mountains have done for us— (hear, hear) —and indeed, the consciousness may come quite suddenly upon us that we have perhaps, after we have climbed our very last mountain, gained a great possession of valued friendships and of happy memories— (hear, hear) —memories of which the recollection can fade away only with life itself. ”

“ The club has expanded, developed and increased its membership. But, notwithstanding all this, the essential old bond of union—the love of the mountains—remains as it always has been, and the club has been constantly true to its traditions on the lines which you, the founders, laid down, and which you, the early members, so successfully developed. (Hear, hear) . It has been said often that it is with a feeling of regret that one finds one's mountaineering is coming to an end. ”

“ It is hard, at best, to leave behind the days of freedom, the constantly shifting panorama of mountains, lakes and rivers, the balsam-laden air; to return to the beaten track, to four walls, and all the cares which know so well how to creep within them. ”

“ In the first volume of 'Peaks, Passes and Glaciers' John Ball wrote: 'The community of taste and feeling amongst those who in the life of the High Alps have shared the same enjoyments, the same labors and the same dangers constitutes a bond of sympathy stronger than many of those by which men are drawn into association.' Is not this true? ”

“ In the same spirit we ought to cherish, and do cherish, the heritage that has been handed down to us by the climbers of the fifties and sixties in the records, traditions and literature of the Alpine Club. ”

“ Is it possible that Alpine Club men can climb as they do without breaking out into art, if they can use their fingers at all? Why, our club rooms are at this moment crowded and overcrowded with examples of the art of members. ”

“ In a moment your companion is like a steel spring, instinct with keenness of mind. He knows exactly the right thing to do, and exactly the right way to do it. Many and many a time that steel spring, instinct with keennes of mind, has saved a valuable life. ”

“ The press pronounced it to be an association of suicidal monomaniacs, and Ruskin uttered a wild protest in which he declared that 'the Alps themselves, which your own poets used to love so reverently, you look upon as soaped poles in a bear garden, which you set yourselves to climb and slide down again with shrieks of delight.' But the storm soon blew over. Ruskin himself found that men might climb mountains without vulgarising them, and gave practical effect to his recantations by himself joining the Club. ”

“ The foreging extracts serve to illustrate the high estate to which a national institution such as the Alpine Club of England may arrive within a period of fifty years, and the valuable national asset it may become as a bond of sympathy and good feeling between men in various paths of life, as well as an exponent of all that is best in literature, science and art. ”

“ But more than that, anything that the skilled Alpine climber does must be virile and strenuous. Therefore you have thoughtful, imaginative, strenuous, virile literature as the natural literature which comes from the Alpine Club. (Hear, hear) . It has been—I was going to say my duty—my pleasure to look once more at some of the literature which Alpine Club men have put forth to the world, apart from descriptions of mountaineering efforts. ”

“ The Alps are threatened with invasion by a horde of Goths and Vandals: the company-promoter, the syndicate and the speculator. Men who know not Nature, and whose God is Mammon, are in the field. They make pretence to be philanthropists. They would have us believe that they desire to benefit the peasantry and the economic tourist. ”

“ In proposing the toast of "The Alpine Club" the President said: "I find an extract which I should like to read to you, dating from the year 1854; it was an early time in the history of climbing, but I am privileged to say that this was not written by Sir Alfred Wills. This is the extract: 'It is a somewhat remarkable fact that a large proportion of those who have made the ascent of Mt. Blanc have been persons of unsound mind.' (Laughter) . ”

“ The original explorer had chosen the south and more "muskeggy" ground, where we ourselves were forced to travel to avoid the arduous labor of chopping a trail. This was the only section of the eight or nine hundred miles we travelled where there was a doubt that Indians had gone; at least, it had never been a highway.
From the Athabasca we turned our attention to the sources of the Saskatchewan and Brazeau Rivers, to the "Valley of the Lakes," a branch of the North Fork of the former stream, and to the West Branch, a tributary of the Saskatchewan flowing from the Lyell group. ”

“ From the camp at the junction of the North Fork and the main Saskatchewan River, we travelled up the east bank of the North Fork for about 13 miles; here, being low water, we easily found a crossing, and followed the west shore for a mile more, when an old Indian trail led directly to the unknown valley. As far as the red man is concerned, it is many years since his moccasined foot has trodden that moss-covered way. ”

“ I have always peculiarly prized my honorary membership in the Club, for not only has the Club itself done a great work, but it has set the standard for all similar organizations in all other countries, and its example has counted much in many fields other than those of strict mountaineering. ”

“ The trail remains beaten and worn, but overgrown and impeded with huge fallen trees, and only the blaze of a white man's axe seven or eight feet above the ground showed that a hunter had gone that way in the dead of winter to test his fortune with traps and rifle. ”

“ The author died before 1972, meaning that copyright on that author's works expired before the Canadian copyright term was extended non-retroactively from 50 to 70 years on 30 December 2022. The longest-living author of this work died in 1939, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”

“ By the latter part of August all the river banks were a continuous strawberry bed, a welcome addition to our limited larder, but we never saw a bush of the blueberry (Vaccinium ovaliform) which grows so profusely in the Selkirks. ”

“ His standing teepee-poles but give the touch the artist loves, while the centuries-old hunting trails are filled with soundless stories which interested eyes may easily read as they follow in the wake of the feet that have gone by and will never return.
As far as I can learn, only one white man has ever penetrated to the end of the West Branch, and this was Jean Habel, a German explorer, who visited it in the summer of 1901. He did not then recognize the superb pyramid of faultless outline which stands guard at the extreme southern limit of the valley as Mt. ”

“ They have found the right way up peaks in the Andes, in the Himalaya, in the Caucasus, in the Rockies; while in the English Lake District and Scotland they have found the wrong way up nearly every conceivable ascent. ”