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Random Facts about the Alps
The Alps comprise about 180 mountains, from 4,000 to
15,732 feet high, the latter being the height of Mount
Blanc, the highest spot in Europe. The summit is a sharp
ridge, like the roof of a house, consisting of nearly
vertical granite rocks. The ascent requires 2 days, 6 or 8
guides are required, and each guide is paid 100 francs
($20.00). It was ascended by two natives, Jacques Belmat and
Dr. Packard, August 8, 1786, at 6 a.m. They staid up 30
minutes, with the thermometer at 14 degrees below the
freezing point. The provisions froze in their pockets; their
faces were frost-bitten, lips swollen, and their sight much
weakened, but they soon recovered on their descent. De
Saussure records in his ascent August 2, 1760, that the
color of the sky was deep blue; the stars were visible in
the shade; the barometer sunk to 16.08 inches (being 27.08
in Geneva) the thermometer was 26-1/2 degrees, in the sun 29
degrees (being 87 degrees at Geneva). The thin air works the
blood into a high fever, you feel as if you hardly touched
the ground, and you scarcely make yourself heard. A French
woman, Mademoiselle d'Angeville, ascended in September,
1840, being dragged up the last 1,200 feet by guides, and
crying out: "If I die, carry me to the top." When there, she
made them lift her up, that she might boast she had been
higher than any man in Europe. The ascent of these awful
solitudes is most perilous, owing to the narrow paths,
tremendous ravines, icy barriers, precipices, etc. In many
places every step has to be cut in the ice, the party being
tied to each other by ropes, so that if one slips he may be
held up by the rest, and silence is enforced, lest the noise
of talking should dislodge the avalanches of the Aiguille du
Midi. The view from the mountain is inexpressibly grand. On
the Alps the limit of the vine is an elevation of 1,600
feet; below 1,000 feet, figs, oranges and olives are
produced. The limit of the oak is 3,800 feet, of the
chestnut 2,800 feet,of the pine 6,500 feet, of heaths and
furze to 8,700 and 9,700 feet; and perpetual snow exists at
an elevation of 8,200 feet. Lauterbrunnen is a deep part of
an Alpine pass, where the sun hardly shines in winter. It
abounds with falls, the most remarkable of which is the
Staubbach, which falls over the Balm precipice in a
drizzling spray from a height of 925 feet; best viewed in
the morning sun or by moonlight. In general, it is like a
gauze veil, with rainbows dancing up and down it, and when
clouds hide the top of the mountain, it seems as poured out
of the sky.
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