THE MEXICAN HERALD

Mexico City, Mexico

2 February 1901

(page 5)

BOLD ALPINE CLIMBER.

Chevalier O'Rourke Succeeds in

Attaining Ixtaccihuati's Summit.

Chevalier O'Rourke [pseudonym of Aleister Crowley], the famous Alpine rover, returned to the city Thursday. With him he brings a fortnight's growth of whiskers, his mountain climbing companion, O. Eckenstein [Oscar Eckenstein], and a bunch of secret information about their flirtation with "The White Lady," (Ixtaccihuatl), which has already aroused the envy and jealousy of those who have gone before, but not so far, into the graces of the famous old woman.

The chevalier is a clip, and with his aide-de-camp, Eckenstein, they have explored the snowy bosom of the hitherto unattainable lady to further orders. They discovered that the topmost point of her classic bust moved their aneroid to announce the height at 17,343 feet. This enviable familiarity with the White Lady was reached by a perilous exertion on the north side of her sleeping apartment, and the chevalier describes it as being very difficult of approach owing to the steep powdery snow. This bit of information regarding the vanity of the Lady who until now had never been known to use such an article of artistic adornment as powder, is, according to the gallant chevalier, a delicate subject, which he unwillingly makes public, at the same time considering it of too much importance to withhold.

The Lady entertained them in one of her choicest apartments in a camp at 13,800 feet, where the chevalier says they were attacked by nothing except dyspepsia and cold feet. The furnaces have not been in working order with the White Lady for a great many years, but otherwise her reception was of the most cordial nature. On the North peak they spent some at an altitude of 16,882 feet which the Lady assured them had never before been trodden by mortal man. In this particular the chevalier and his distinguished friend were allowed privileges about the dominion which they highly esteem.

At another time the Lady entertained Mr. Eckenstein, unaccompanied, in her favorite drawing room where the apartment, Mr. Eckenstein asserts, is furnished with a group of rock towers, the highest of which was exceedingly difficult of exploration.

"Our visit was deucedly uneventful," said the Chevalier last evening. "The White Lady received us royally. She abhors animal life which is entirely extinct in all her possessions. She eats very little, since she is a confirmed sleeper; and we were compelled to subsist upon canned goods which I think have come from what was left of the embalmed beef which was fed to the American soldiers. I and my fellowman have both a beastly attack of dyspepsia."

Mr. O'Rourke added that it was not definitely decided just where their next exploration would take them. He aspires to scale the Mount of Orizaba before he forsakes the country, and his friends all bid him Godspeed. He related a number of his experiences last evening in the American club, where he is a provisional member.