It is hard for us to realize nowadays how difficult it was for the pioneers. 1 one or two places such as Zermatt and Chamonix, which had rapidly become 2 , Alpine village tended to be 3 settlements cut off from 4 by the high mountains. Such inns as there were generally dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese 5 by bread often twelve months old, all 6 with coarse wine. Often a valley 7 no inn at all, and climbers found shelter wherever they could -- sometimes with the local priest (who was usually as poor as his parishioners), sometimes with shepherds or cheese-makers. Invariably the background was the same: dirt and poverty, and very uncomfortable. For men accustomed to eating seven-course dinners and sleeping between fine linen sheets at home, the change to the Alps must have very hard indeed.