e Swiss characteristics--great dignity, independence and respect for
wise people.

On a long and dangerous tour the safety of the party may ultimately
depend upon the trust and confidence placed in the Guide in charge,
and by him in his clients, and this should be remembered in all
negotiations. These men often have to risk their lives for the sake of
the people who employ them, and their staunch unselfishness is a fine
example of human endeavour for the benefit of others. Their fees may
appear to be high, but when everything is taken into consideration,
including the shortness of their Winter and Summer Seasons, it is soon
realized that the fees are not exorbitant.

MAPS AND FINDING THE WAY

Every Ski runner going across country should carry a map. Even on a
short run a great deal can be learnt from a map, which will prove
useful later on a longer run. Both time and risk can be saved by
people who run by their map and who know how to avoid dangerous places
and how to take advantage of narrow safe openings.

There are different types of maps to be had in Switzerland. The
best are the official Ordnance Maps published by the Eidg.
Landestopographie at Bern. The mountain districts are produced at a
scale of 1 centimetre in 50,000 centimetres or 2 centimetres in one
kilometre, and large or small sheets can be bought almost everywhere.
The gradients are clearly shown by contour lines. The equidistance
being 30 metres, or roughly 100 feet, the dotted contour lines when
height is marked some every 8 or 10 ordinary contour lines. This
differs according to the edition. Cliff and rock are shown grey, while
glacier contour lines are blue.

Some districts, such as the Bernese Oberland, have produced this map
with red lines showing all the Ski runs. In other places they also
provide Ski-ing maps, but on a different scale and not as good as the
Ordnance Map.

All maps are best when mounted on linen, as the weathering they
receive on a run may reduce a paper map to pulp or rag.

It is easy to work out the distance of runs or the gradient of slopes
from the large scale Ordnance Map. 1 in 50,000 metres means that 1
centimetre on the map equals a run of 50,000 metres; 2 centimetres
equal a kilometre or 100,000 metres; 8 kilometres equal five English
miles. Therefore, if a centimetre measure be carried, the distances
are soon ascertained with a minimum of arithmetic.

Throughout this chapter I have taken the mathematical