UP A WIRE ROPE TO THE FRONT.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1917, Page 4

UP A WIRE ROPE TO THE FRONT.

(By Hamilton Fyfe.)

With the Italian Army, June 29. There is on the Italian front a mountain, one of the highest of the Dolomite group, nearly 10,000 ft., considered a pretty hard climb. To reach the summit from Cortina 1 takes the best part of a day. Only hardened 'climbexa can reach it. I left Cortina one morning at seven, and before nine I was on top of this moantain, looking round upon a panorama of peaks, far as the eye could see north, south, east and . west, nn,d down into the valley where the village seemed a scattered handful of pinecones, the river a mere silver thread. Of course I had not walked.. Exclude, equally, the possibility of motoring. Italian military engineers have done such marvels in the way of mountain road-making that one might believe they could compass the impossible. But the rocky Dolomites rise up too sheer to allow of their being ascended by any but the narrowest paths. How had 1 got to the top, then? I had gone up by Telef erica or rather-by two Telef ericas. I had

climbed into a narrow box like a wide coffin, just room for two people, and this box, slung on a wire rope, bad been tugged upward, sometimes at an angle approaching the perpendicular, until it landed me only a hundred feet or so below the peak. Immediately I arrived I was asked by a brisk little captain of Alpini what T thought the sensation was like. I replied immediately: “ Like Hying in an aeroplane,” 1 Aeroplanes, it is true, move very fast. The Teleferica coffin moves slowly (thank goodness). But from an aeroplane you see the ground apparently passing beneath you,' in just the same way as you watch it from your wire rope. The far greater height of the aeroplane counteracts the effect of its speed, so far as the earth and the eye are concerned, ... Not that the Teleferica keeps near the ground. It swings you at times in mid-air many hundred feet above rocks, loose stones, or snow. You rise, as a rule, gradually. First you notice the tree-tops below you, then the ground-scape becomes rapidly more minute. The Teleferica Station diminishes. You feel you must take hold of the sides of the car. You grip them tightly. You look over the side and wonder whether it would be preferablei to fall on to rock or snow. You speculate as to what would happen if the motor, which is tug-tug-trigging you, were to break down. , Now we are nearing the earth again. But only for a short space of seconds. Up soars the rope, Ihe co.ffin tilts dizzily ; I feel as if I might slide out. Every instant fresh summits come into view. We are rising at the rate of nearly 200 ft a minute. Turning my head to find out how far the goal is, I see the rocky sides of the mountains nbont to close in upon us. Vague, sinister memories of an Edgar Allan Poe-ish character flit through rny perturbed mind. - We plunge from sunlight into the shade of the rock-

masses, and shiver. I have no desire now to lean over and look down, I keep my gaze fixed upon distant lofty peaks. An involuntary glimpse into the valley 7.000 ft below makes my heal swim. I force myself to make a flippant remark. Next minute we have reached our stopping-place. I get out gratefully, but very glad 1 came. % # Those are some of the sensations of a voyage in a Teleferica. I must add to them the illusion of the ground sinking suddenly beneath your heels which accompanies the first sight of the wire rope upon which you are to travel, soaring vertiginously into space, so that you tilt your head back to follow and have difficulty in keeping it in view. But very quickly these sensations wear off. I came down from this I Dolomite mountain without anywhatever. I grew as much at ease travelling in coffins on wire ropes, as the suburban season-ticket holder is in his suburban train. Familiarity bred not contempt but grateful friendliness, and a limitless admiration for the skill of the Teleferica engineers who have so simplified the difficulties of transport pn these mountain fronts.

Everything that is needed by the Alpine troops who are making war on the roof of the world'-is sent up to theni by wire rqpe. Where they dwell there is nothing but rock and show; not a tree,'hot a blade of grass. All building materials must be obtained from "kindlier regions; Day and night I have seen Telefericas carrying up wood for stoves. “ What a Business 1 What a labour! ’* I said to Y young’ officer with me. ' “ That?” he said. “ That’s nothing. For a long time it all came up on men’s backs. Now' we’re signori ” “ And you—how did you get up then {V ' ' " ' ' :; ' “ Walked, or else like this. 5 ’ He seized the end of a fope which dangled from above ana Sprang up the rocky, straight side of the mountain, using his arms to pull hjmself up by and his legs merely to kpep himself off the jagged wall. *■’

Men and officers; all Alpini climb with the lithe activity of gymnasts and the coolest of cool heads.

“ Mind you don’t slip/’ one of them said reassuringly as I scrambled' and struggled; holding a fope firmly, to the fSrv fop of the Dolomite mountain. “If'you do, you’ll go down to Cortina Without stopping/ 1 ~ • * * * *

They are a gay, songful, chaffing compa’ny, tlie Alpini—when they have no fighting to do. Set them to fight, whether it,be against bad weather or against' the Austrians, and they are changed' men. - They harden; they bectjme'fierce. Qn the march they are more like Coridottieri of the Middle Ages than modern troops. They get their green felt feathered “ Alpine ” hats at a rakish, devil-may-care tilt. Carrying alpen-stocks as- well as rifles, one on either shoulder, they rest their packs on the cross formed 1

behind their necks. They look like soldiers of fortune, like men who, on the whole, enjoy their trade. Their gaiety is streaked with discomfort, and even suffering, in their high Alpine positions. Drinking snow water, for example, causes internal irritations. Snowstorms lasting ibr days may delay food supplies. There are rats and vermin even among the eternal snows, undesirable aliens, surreptitious travellers by Teleferica. The cold in winter is a pain. In summer the dazzle of sun on snow luakes eyes painful, and even blind, if goggles are not regularly worn. Existence is for the most part uneventful. The tedium of being thrown entirety upon their own resources is wearing' upon the offi c.ers especially. Their faces are burnt almost black. They have developed robust physique, which gives many of them the appearance of prize-fighters in training. But for active-ruiud.e.d men it is a truncated kind of life.

One I made friends with showed me a photograph of himself taken before the war. He had a business ’in Genoa. As we came back one day from ski-iug and dog-sleighing across a vast glacier to the fire “ trenches,” lie asked me to call him up if ever I was in Genoa after the war.

“ I will,” I promised. “Give me your telephone number.” He thought a little, then he said : “ Do you know. I’ve clean forgotten it ? That will show yon how far-off my former life lias drifted from me.”

One of my viyidest Telefericau memories is the wav that clear fellow’s dog jumped into the ear with him to go up or down. The devoted beast was quite happy swinging between earth and sky. Whereever his master went was good enough for hini. I hope they will both *• come through ” safe to the end.