THE ALPS: To Woo a Termagant

In summertime the queen of the Alps, 15,781-ft. Mont Blanc, puts only minor difficulties in the path of those who would woo and conquer her. Each year in the climbing season some 75,000 mountaineers flock to the resort town of Chamonix to have a try at scaling her heights, and most of them succeed. But in the winter, when her steep slopes are swept by gales often reaching 100 miles an hour and the temperature drops below zero, the icy-hearted mountain becomes a fickle and merciless termagant. Few, even among expert mountain...

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