diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42758-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42758-0.txt | 6936 |
1 files changed, 6936 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42758-0.txt b/42758-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08cd9b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/42758-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6936 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42758 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + The Preface listed as being on page vii is on page ix. + + + + + TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAIN + ADVENTURE + + + + + [Illustration: MELCHIOR ANDEREGG 1894. + _Frontispiece._] + + + + + TRUE TALES OF + MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE + + FOR NON-CLIMBERS YOUNG AND OLD + + BY + MRS AUBREY LE BLOND + (MRS MAIN) + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY + 1903 + + + + + (_All rights reserved._) + + + + + TO + MR EDWARD WHYMPER + + + WHOSE SPIRITED WRITINGS AND GRAPHIC PENCIL FIRST AWAKENED + AN INTEREST IN MOUNTAINEERING AMONGST THOSE WHO + HAD NEVER CLIMBED, I DEDICATE THESE TRUE TALES + FROM THE HILLS, THE MATERIAL FOR SOME OF + THE MOST STRIKING OF WHICH I OWE + TO HIS GENEROSITY. + + + + +PREFACE + + +There is no manlier sport in the world than mountaineering. + +It is true that all the sports Englishmen take part in are manly, but +mountaineering is different from others, because it is sport purely +for the sake of sport. There is no question of beating any one else, +as in a race or a game, or of killing an animal or a bird as in +hunting or shooting. A mountaineer sets his skill and his strength +against the difficulty of getting to the top of a steep peak. Either +he conquers the mountain, or it conquers him. If he fails, he keeps on +trying till he succeeds. This teaches him perseverance, and proves to +him that anything is possible if he is determined to do it. + +In mountaineering, all the party share the pleasures and the dangers. +Every climber has to help the others. Every climber has to rely both +on himself and on his companions. + +Mountaineering makes a person quick in learning how to act in moments +of danger. It cultivates his presence of mind, it teaches him to be +unselfish and thoughtful for others who may be with him. It takes him +amongst the grandest scenery in the world, it shows him the forces of +nature let loose in the blinding snow-storm, or the roaring avalanche. +It lifts him above all the petty friction of daily life, and takes him +where the atmosphere is always pure, and the outlook calm and wide. It +brings him health, and leaves him delightful recollections. It gives +him friends both amongst his fellow-climbers, and in the faithful +guides who season after season accompany him. It is a pursuit which he +can commence early in life, and continue till old age, for the choice +of expeditions is endless, and ascents of all scales of difficulty +and of any length are easily found. + +That I do not exaggerate the joys and the benefits of mountaineering +will be borne out by those extracts from the true tales from the hills +of which this book chiefly consists. Some may think I have dwelt at +undue length on the catastrophes which have darkened the pages of +Alpine history. I do not apologize. If in one single instance any one +who reads these pages becomes afterwards a climber, and takes warning +from anything I have told him, I am amply justified. + +It has been difficult in a work like this to know always what to +include and what to omit. My guiding principle has been to give +preference to descriptions which are either so exciting by reason of +the facts narrated, or else so brilliantly and wittily written, that +they cannot fail to excite the reader's interest. To these I have +added four chapters, those on mountaineering, on glaciers, on +avalanches, and on the guides of the Alps, which may help to make +climbing more intelligible to those who have never attempted it. + +My warm thanks are due to Sir Leslie Stephen, Messrs Whymper, Tuckett, +Charles Pilkington, and Clinton Dent who have rendered the production +of this book possible by allowing me to quote at considerable length +from their writings; also to Messrs Longman who have permitted me to +make extracts from works of which they hold the copyright, and to +Messrs Newnes and Messrs Hutchinson for their kind permission to +re-print portions of my articles which have appeared in their +publications. + +I am also under a debt of gratitude to Mr Philip Gosset, who has not +only allowed me to reprint his account of the avalanche on the +Haut-de-Cry, but has also most kindly placed his wide knowledge of +glaciers at my disposal by offering to revise the chapter I have +written on that subject in this book. + +Dr Kennedy, whose beautiful edition of Mr Moore's diary, "The Alps in +1864," recently appeared, has generously given me permission to make +any extracts I desire from it. + +Colonel Arkwright, whose brother perished on Mont Blanc in 1866, has +been good enough to allow me to reproduce a most interesting and +hitherto unpublished photograph of the relics discovered in 1897. + +The illustrations, except those connected with the Arkwright accident, +and a view of the Matterhorn, by the late Mr W. F. Donkin, are from +photographs by me. By them I have tried rather to show how climbers +carry out their mountaineering than to illustrate any particular +locality. + +In my own writings I have adopted, in the spelling of names of places, +the modern official forms, but, of course, when quoting I have kept to +those followed by each writer. + +If, in the following pages, I have given any pleasure to those who +have never scaled a peak, or have perhaps recalled happy days amongst +the mountains to a fellow-climber, it will be a very real +gratification to me. + + E. LE BLOND. + + 67, THE DRIVE, + BRIGHTON, _Oct. 30th, 1902_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + PREFACE vii. + + I. WHAT IS MOUNTAINEERING? 1 + + II. A FEW WORDS ABOUT GLACIERS 7 + + III. AVALANCHES 15 + + IV. THE GUIDES OF THE ALPS 22 + + V. THE GUIDES OF THE ALPS (Continued) 50 + + VI. AN AVALANCHE ON THE HAUT-DE-CRY--A RACE + FOR LIFE 59 + + VII. CAUGHT IN AN AVALANCHE ON THE MATTERHORN--THE + ICE-AVALANCHE OF THE ALTELS--AN AVALANCHE + WHICH ROBBED A LADY OF A GARMENT 72 + + VIII. LOST IN THE ICE FOR FORTY YEARS 92 + + IX. THE MOST TERRIBLE OF ALL ALPINE TRAGEDIES 107 + + X. A WONDERFUL SLIDE DOWN A WALL OF ICE 113 + + XI. AN ADVENTURE ON THE TRIFT PASS--THE PERILS OF + THE MOMING PASS 122 + + XII. AN EXCITING PASSAGE OF THE COL DE PILATTE 134 + + XIII. AN ADVENTURE ON THE ALETSCH GLACIER--A LOYAL + COMPANION--A BRAVE GUIDE 142 + + XIV. A WONDERFUL FEAT BY TWO LADIES--A PERILOUS CLIMB 153 + + XV. A FINE PERFORMANCE WITHOUT GUIDES 170 + + XVI. THE PIZ SCERSCEN TWICE IN FOUR DAYS--THE FIRST + ASCENT BY A WOMAN OF MONT BLANC 194 + + XVII. THE ASCENT OF A WALL OF ICE 208 + + XVIII. THE AIGUILLE DU DRU 221 + + XIX. THE MOST FAMOUS MOUNTAIN IN THE ALPS--THE + CONQUEST OF THE MATTERHORN 250 + + XX. SOME TRAGEDIES ON THE MATTERHORN 268 + + XXI. THE WHOLE DUTY OF THE CLIMBER--ALPINE DISTRESS + SIGNALS 289 + + GLOSSARY 293 + + INDEX 295 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + Melchior Anderegg, 1894 _Frontispiece_ + + Climbers Descending the Ortler 2 + + The Aletsch Glacier from Bel Alp 7 + + General View of a Glacier 8 + + A Glacier Table: after a Storm 11 + + A Crevassed Glacier 13 + + An Avalanche near Bouveret: a Tunnel through an + Avalanche 17 + + Edouard Cupelin 22 + + Descending a Rock Peak near Zermatt 31 + + A Big Crevasse: the Gentle Persuasion of the Rope 37 + + A Typical Couloir: the Ober Gabelhorn: the Wrong Way + to Descend: Very Soft Snow 42 + + Piz Palü: Hans and Christian Grass 44 + + Christian Almer, 1894 54 + + An Avalanche Falling 59 + + Eiger and Mönch from Lauberhorn 66 + + Avalanche Falling from the Wetterhorn 79 + + On Monte Rosa 83 + + Mr Whymper: Mrs Aubrey Le Blond: Group on a High Peak + in Winter 85 + + Mrs Aubrey Le Blond and Joseph Imboden: Crossing a Snow + Couloir 89 + + Mont Blanc: Nicolas Winhart: a Banker of Geneva: the + Relics of the Arkwright Accident 92 + + Alpine Snow-Fields 108 + + A Start by Moonlight: Shadows at Sunrise: a Standing + Glissade: a Sitting Glissade 136 + + On a Snow-Covered Glacier 148 + + Martin Schocher and Schnitzler 150 + + Exterior of a Climber's Hut: Interior 157 + + The Meije: Ascending a Snowy Wall 171 + + Top of Piz Scerscen: Party Descending Piz Bernina: On + a Mountain Top: Descent of a Snow-Ridge 194 + + Hard Work: Setting Out in a Long Skirt 204 + + A Steep Icy Slope: On the Top of a Pass 216 + + A Slab of Rock: Negotiating a Steep Passage 225 + + The Family of Herr Seiler, Zermatt: Going to Zermatt in + the Olden Days 250 + + The Guides' Wall, Zermatt 259 + + The Zermatt Side of the Matterhorn: Rising Mists 260 + + A Bitterly Cold Day: The Matterhorn from the Zmutt Side 265 + + Jost, Porter of Hotel Monte Rosa, Zermatt 268 + + Hoar Frost in the Alps 274 + + + + +ERRATA + + + The plate labelled to face page 225, to face page 11. + + " " " " 5, " 83. + + + + +TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAIN + +ADVENTURE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHAT IS MOUNTAINEERING? + + +Mountaineering is not merely walking up hill. It is the art of getting +safely up and down a peak where there is no path, and where steps may +have to be cut in the ice; it is the art of selecting the best line of +ascent under conditions which vary from day to day. + +Mountaineering as a science took long to perfect. It is more than a +century since the first ascent of a big Alpine peak was accomplished, +and the early climbers had but little idea of the dangers which they +were likely to meet with. They could not tell when the snow was safe, +or when it might slip away in an avalanche. They did not know where +stones would be likely to fall on them, or when they were walking over +one of those huge cracks in the glacier known as crevasses, and +lightly bridged over with winter snow, which might break away when +they trod on it. However, they soon learnt that it was safer for two +or more people to be together in such places than for a man to go +alone, and when crossing glaciers they used the long sticks they +carried as a sort of hand-rail, a man holding on to each end, so that +if one tumbled into a hole the other could pull him out. Of course +this was a very clumsy way of doing things, and before long it +occurred to them that a much better plan would be to use a rope, and +being all tied to it about 20 feet apart, their hands were left free, +and the party could go across a snow-field and venture on bridged-over +crevasses in safety. + +At first both guides and travellers carried long sticks called +alpenstocks. If they came to a steep slope of hard snow or ice, they +hacked steps up it with small axes which they carried slung on their +backs. This was a very inconvenient way of going to work, as it +entailed holding the alpenstock in one hand and using the axe with the +other. So they thought of a better plan, and had the alpenstock made +thicker and shorter, and fastened an axe-head to the top of it. This +was gradually improved till it became the ice-axe, as used to-day, and +as shown in many of my photographs. This ice-axe is useful for +various purposes besides cutting steps. If you dig in the head while +crossing a snow-slope, it acts as an anchor, and gives tremendous +hold, while to allude to its functions as a tin-opener, a weapon of +defence against irate bulls on Alpine pastures, or as a means for +rapidly passing through a crowd at a railway station, is but to touch +on a very few of its admirable qualities. + + [Illustration: CLIMBERS DESCENDING A SNOW-CLAD PEAK (THE ORTLER).] + +When people first climbed they went in droves on the mountains, or I +should say rather on the mountain, for during the first half of the +nineteenth century Mont Blanc was the object of nearly all the +expeditions which set out for the eternal snows. After some years, +however, it was found quite unnecessary to have so many guides and +porters, and nowadays a party usually numbers four, two travellers and +two guides, or three, consisting generally of one traveller and two +guides, or occasionally five. Two is a bad number, as should one of +them be hurt or taken ill, the other would have to leave him and go +for help, though one of the first rules of mountaineering is that a +man who is injured or indisposed must never be left alone on a +mountain. Again, six is not a good number; it is too many, as the +members of the party are sure to get in each other's way, pepper each +other with stones, and waste no end of time in wrangling as to when to +stop for food, when to proceed, and which way to go up. A good guide +will run the concern himself, and turn a deaf ear to all suggestions; +but the fact remains that six people had better split up and go on +separate ropes. And if they also, in the case of rock peaks, choose +different mountains, it is an excellent plan. The best of friends are +apt to revile each other when stones, upset from above, come whistling +about their ears. + +The early mountaineers were horribly afraid of places which were at +all difficult to climb. Mere danger, however, had no terrors for them, +and they calmly encamped on frail snow-bridges, or had lunch in the +path of avalanches. After a time the dangerous was understood and +avoided, and the difficult grappled with by increased skill, until +about the middle of the nineteenth century there arose a class of +experts, little, if at all, inferior to the best guides of the present +day. + +The most active and intelligent of the natives of Chamonix, Zermatt, +and the Bernese Oberland now learnt to find their way even on +mountains new to them. Some were chamois hunters, and accustomed to +climb in difficult places. Others, perhaps, had when boys minded +the goats, and scrambled after them in all sorts of awkward spots. +Others, again, had such a taste for mountaineering that they took to +it the very first time they tried it. Of these last my own guide, +Joseph Imboden, was one, and later on I will tell you of the +extraordinary way in which he began his splendid career. + + [Illustration: ON A ROCK RIDGE NEAR THE TOP OF MONTE ROSA. + + The Schallihorn may be seen in the top right-hand corner of the + picture.] + +It is from going with and watching how good guides climb that most +people learn to become mountaineers themselves. Nearly all take guides +whenever they ascend difficult mountains, but some are so skilful and +experienced that they go without, though few are ever good enough to +do this quite safely. + +I am often asked why people climb, and it is a hard question to answer +satisfactorily. There is something which makes one long to mountaineer +more and more, from the first time one tries it. All climbs are +different. All views from mountains are different, and every time one +climbs one is uncertain, owing to the weather or the possible state of +the peak, if the top can be reached or not. So it is always a struggle +between the mountain and the climber, and though perseverance, skill, +experience, and pluck must give the victory to the climber in the +end, yet the fight may be a long one, and it may be years before a +particularly awkward peak allows one to stand on its summit. + +Perhaps, if you have patience to read what follows, you may better +understand what mountaineering is, and why most of those who have once +tried it become so fond of it. + + [Illustration: THE ALETSCH GLACIER FROM BEL ALP. + + The medial moraine is very conspicuous. This glacier is about a mile + in width.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A FEW WORDS ABOUT GLACIERS + + +Of all the beautiful and interesting things mountain districts have to +show, none surpass the glaciers. + +Now a glacier is simply a river of ice, which never melts away even +during the hottest summer. Glaciers form high up on mountains, where +there is a great deal of snow in winter, and where it is never very +hot even in summer. They are also found in northern lands, such as +Greenland, and there, owing to the long cold winter and short summer, +they come down to the very level of the sea. + +A glacier is formed in this way: There is a heavy fall of snow which +lies in basins and little valleys high up on the mountain side. The +air is too cold for it to melt, and as more falls on the top of it the +mass gets pressed down. Now, if you take a lump of snow in your hand +and press it, you get an icy snow-ball. If you squeeze anything you +make it warmer. The pressing down of the great mass of snow is like +the squeezing of the ball in your hand. It makes it warmer, so that +the snow first half melts and then gradually becomes ice. You bring +about this change in your snow-ball in a moment. Nature, in making a +glacier, takes much longer, so that what was snow one year is only +partly ice the next--it is known as _nevé_--and it is not until after +several seasons that it becomes the pure ice we see in the lower part +of a glacier. + +One would fancy that if a quantity of snow falls every winter and does +not all melt, the mountains must grow higher. But though only a little +of the snow melts, it disappears in other ways. Some is evaporated +into the atmosphere; some falls off in avalanches. Most of it slowly +flows down after forming itself into glaciers. For glaciers are always +moving. The force of gravity makes them slide down over their rocky +beds. They flow so slowly that we cannot see them move, in fact most +of them advance only a few inches a day. But if a line of stakes is +driven into the ice straight across a glacier, we shall notice in a +few weeks that they have moved down. And the most interesting part +of it is that they will not have moved evenly, but those nearest the +centre will have advanced further than those at the side. In short, a +glacier flows like a river, the banks keeping back the ice at the +side, as the banks of a river prevent it from running so fast at the +edge as in the middle. + + [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW ON THE LOWER PART OF A LARGE GLACIER. + + The surface is ice, not snow. The snow-line may be seen further up.] + +A large glacier is fed by such a gigantic mass of snow that it is in +its upper part hundreds of feet thick. Of course when it reaches +warmer places it begins to melt. But the quantity of ice composing it +is so great that it takes a long time before it disappears, and a big +glacier sometimes flows down far below the wild and rocky parts of +mountains and reaches the neighbourhood of forests and corn-fields. It +is very beautiful at Chamonix to see the white, glittering ice of the +Glacier des Bossons flowing in a silent stream through green meadows. + +The reason that mountaineers have to be careful in crossing glaciers +is on account of the holes, cracks, or, to call them by their proper +name, crevasses, which are met with on them. Ice, unlike water, is +brittle, so it splits up into crevasses whenever the glacier flows +over a steep or uneven rocky bed. High up, where snow still lies, +these chasms in the ice are often bridged over, and if a person +ventures on one of these snow bridges it may break, and he may fall +down the crevasse, which may be so deep that no bottom can be found to +it. He is then either killed by the fall or frozen to death. If, as I +have explained before, several climbers are roped together, they form +a long string, like the tail of a kite, and not more than one is +likely to break through at a time. As the rope is--or ought to +be--kept tightly stretched, he cannot fall far, and is easily pulled +out again. + +The snow melts away off the surface of the glacier further down in +summer. It is on this bare, icy stream, scarred all over with little +channels full of water running merrily down the melting rough surface, +that the ordinary tourist is taken when he visits a glacier during his +summer trip to Switzerland. + + [Illustration: A GLACIER TABLE (page 11).] + + [Illustration: Taken in Mid-Winter on reaching the Lower Slopes of a + Mountain after a terrific Storm of Snow and Wind. The local Swiss + snow-shoes were used during part of the ascent.] + +You will notice in most of the photographs of glaciers black streaks +along them, sometimes only near the sides, sometimes also in the +centre. These are heaps of stones and earth which have fallen from the +mountains bordering the glacier, and have been carried along by the +slowly moving ice. The bands in the centre have come there, owing +to the meeting higher up of two glaciers, which have joined their side +heaps of rubbish, and have henceforward flowed on as one glacier. The +bands of piled up stones are called moraines, those at the edge being +known as lateral moraines, in the centre as medial moraines, and the +stones which drop off the end (or snout) of a glacier, as terminal +moraines. + +Besides these compact bands, we sometimes find here and there a big +stone or boulder by itself, which has rolled on to the ice. Often +these stones are raised on a pedestal of ice, and then they are called +"glacier-tables." They have covered the bit of ice they lie upon, and +prevented it from melting, while the glacier all round has gradually +sunk. After a time the leg of the table begins to feel the sun strike +it also. It melts away on the south side and the stone slips off. A +party of climbers, wandering about on a glacier at night or in a fog, +and having no compass, can roughly take their bearings by noticing in +what position these broken-down glacier-tables lie. + +Occasionally sand has been washed down over the surface of the ice, +and a patch of it has collected in one place. This shields the glacier +from the sun, the surrounding ice sinks, and eventually we find cones +which are lightly covered with sand, the smooth ice beneath being +reached directly we scratch the surface with the point of a stick. + +It is difficult to realise the enormous size of a large glacier. The +Aletsch Glacier, the most extensive in the Alps, would, it has been +said, if turned to stone, supply building material for a city the size +of London. + +With regard to the movement of glaciers, the entertaining author of "A +Tramp Abroad" mildly chaffs his readers by telling them that he once +tried to turn a glacier to account as a means of transport. +Accordingly, he took up his position in the middle, where the ice +moves quickest, leaving his luggage at the edge, where it goes +slowest. Thus he intended to travel by express, leaving his things to +follow by goods train! However, after some time, he appeared to make +no progress, so he got out a book on glaciers to try and find out the +reason for the delay. He was much surprised when he read that a +glacier moves at about the same pace as _the hour hand of a watch_! + + [Illustration: A DISTORTED AND CREVASSED GLACIER. + + Showing the rough texture of the surface of a Glacier below the + Snow-line.] + +Many thousands of years ago there were glaciers in Scotland and +England. We are certain of this, as glaciers scratch and polish the +rocks they pass over as does nothing else. Stones are frozen into +the ice, and it holds them and uses them as we might hold and use a +sharply-pointed instrument, scratching the rock over which the mighty +mass is slowly passing. In addition to the scratches, the ice polishes +the rock till it is quite smooth, writing upon it in characters never +to be effaced the history of past events. Another thing which proves +to us that these icy rivers were in many places where there are no +glaciers now, is the boulders we find scattered about. These boulders +are sometimes of a kind of rock not found anywhere near, and so we +know that they must have been carried along on that wonderful natural +luggage-train, and dropped off it as it melted. We find big stones in +North Wales which must have come on a glacier beginning in Scotland! +Glacier-polished rocks are found along the whole of the west coast of +Norway, and there are boulders near Geneva, in Switzerland, which have +come from the chain of Mount Blanc, 60 miles away. + +So you see that the glaciers of the Alps are far smaller than they +were at one time, and that in many places where formerly there were +huge glaciers, there are to-day none. The Ice Age was the time when +these great glaciers existed, but the subject of the Ice Age is a +difficult and thorny one, which is outside the scope of my information +and of this book. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AVALANCHES + + +Many of the most terrible accidents in the Alps have been due to +avalanches, and perhaps, as avalanches take place from different +causes and have various characteristics, according to whether they are +of ice, snow, or _débris_, some account of them may not be out of +place. + +We may briefly classify them as follows:-- + + 1. Ice avalanches, only met with on or near glaciers. + + 2. Dust avalanches, composed of very light, powdery snow. + + 3. Compact avalanches (_Grund_ or ground avalanches, as the + Germans call them), consisting of snow, earth, stones, + trees, and anything which the avalanche finds in its path. + These take place only in winter and spring, while the two + other kinds happen on the mountains at any season. + +An ice avalanche is easily understood when it is borne in mind that a +glacier is always moving. When this river of ice comes to the edge of +a precipice, or tries to crawl down a very steep cliff, it splits +across and forms tottering crags of ice, which lean over more and more +till they lose their balance and go crashing down the slope. Some of +the ice is crushed to powder by its fall, yet many blocks generally +survive, and are occasionally heaped up in such huge masses below that +they form another glacier on a small scale. If a party of mountaineers +passes under a place overhung by threatening ice, they are in great +danger, though at early morning, before the sun has loosened the +frozen masses, the peril is less. Sometimes, too, if the distance to +be traversed is very short and the going quite easy, it is safe enough +to dash quickly across. + + [Illustration: A TUNNEL 300 FEET LONG THROUGH AN AVALANCHE. + + Tree trunks, etc., can be seen embedded in it.] + + [Illustration: AN AVALANCHE NEAR BOUVERET, LAKE OF GENEVA.] + +Dust avalanches occur when a heavy fall of light, powdery snow takes +place on frozen hillsides or ice-slopes, and so long as there is no +wind or disturbance, all remains quiet, and inexperienced people would +think there was no danger. But in reality dust avalanches are the most +to be feared of any, for they fall irregularly in unexpected places, +and their power is tremendous. While all seems calm and peaceful, +suddenly a puff of wind or the passage of an animal disturbs the +delicately-balanced masses, and then woe betide whoever is within +reach of this frightful engine of destruction. First, the snow begins +to slide gently down, then it gathers pace and volume, and even miles +away the thunder of its fall can be heard as it leaps from ledge to +ledge. Covered with a cloud of smoking, powdery dust, it is a +veritable Niagara of giant height, and as it descends towards the +forests, it carries with it whatever it finds in its path. Trees are +mown down with as much ease as the tender grass of spring. Houses are +lifted from the ground and tossed far away. + +An avalanche is preceded by a blast even more destructive than the +masses of snow which it hurls along. As it advances with +ever-increasing rapidity the air in front is more and more compressed +as the avalanche rushes on with lightning-like speed behind it. The +wind sweeps everything before it, and many are the tales related by +those who have survived or witnessed a display of its power. On one +occasion more than a hundred houses were overwhelmed by a huge +avalanche at Saas (Prättigau, near Davos), and during the search +afterwards the rescue party found amidst the ruins a child lying +asleep and uninjured in his cradle, which had been blown to some +distance from his home, while close by stood a basket containing six +eggs, none of which were broken. I have myself seen a row of telegraph +posts in an Alpine valley in winter thrown flat on the ground by the +air preceding an enormous avalanche, which itself did not come within +300 yards of them. It is a very wonderful thing that persons buried +beneath an avalanche can sometimes hear every word spoken by a search +party, and yet not a sound that they utter reaches the ears of those +outside. A great deal of air is imprisoned between the particles of +snow, and so it is possible for those overwhelmed by an avalanche to +live inside it for hours. Cases have been known where a man, buried +not far below the surface, has been able to melt a hole to the outer +air with his breath, and eventually free himself from his icy prison. +On 18th January, 1885, enormous avalanches fell in some of the +mountainous districts of northern Italy, houses, cattle, crops, and +granaries being carried away, and many victims buried beneath the +ruins. Some touching episodes of wonderful escapes were related. "For +instance, at Riva, in the valley of Susa, a whole family, consisting +of an old woman of seventy, her two daughters, her four nieces, and a +child four months old, were buried with their house in the snow, +exposed apparently to certain death from cold and hunger. But the +soldiers of the Compagnie Alpine, hearing of the sad case, worked with +all their might and main to save them, and at last they were found and +brought out alive, the brave old grandmother insisting that the +children should be saved first, and then her daughters, saying that +their lives were more precious than her own." The soldiers, who worked +with a will above all praise, were obliged in several cases to +construct long galleries in the snow in order to reach the villages, +which were sometimes buried beneath 40 feet of snow. + +Compact avalanches, though very terrible on account of their +frequently great size, can be more easily guarded against than dust +avalanches, because they always fall in well-defined channels. A +compact avalanche consists of snow, earth, stones, and trees, and +comes down in times of thaw. Many fall in early spring in Alpine +valleys, and though it is not unusual for them to come right across +high roads, the fatal accidents are comparatively few. The inhabitants +know that wherever, high up on the hills, there is a hollow which may +serve as a _reservoir_ or collecting-basin for the snow, and below +this a funnel or shoot, there an avalanche may be expected. Often they +take means to prevent one starting, for an avalanche, whose power is +irresistible when once it has begun to move quickly, is very easily +kept from mischief if it is not allowed a running start. The best of +all ways for preventing avalanches is to plant the gullies with trees, +but where this cannot be done, rows of stakes driven into the ground +will serve to hold up the snow, and where the hillside is extremely +steep, and much damage would be caused if an avalanche fell, stone +walls are built one above another to keep the soil and the snow +together, very much as we see on precipitous banks overlooking English +railways. + +The driving roads over Alpine passes are in places exposed to +avalanches in winter. At the worst spots galleries of stone are built, +through which the sleighs can pass in perfect safety, and if an +avalanche fell while they were inside it would pass harmlessly over +their heads. On the Albula Pass, in Switzerland, as soon as the +avalanches come down, tunnels are cut in the snow through them, and +are in constant use till early summer. + +Occasionally houses or churches are built in the very path of an +avalanche. A V-shaped wall, called an avalanche-breaker, is put +behind, and this cuts the snowy stream in two parts, which passes on +harmlessly on either side of the building. Sometimes avalanche-breakers +of snow, hardened into ice by throwing water over them, are constructed +behind barns which have been put in exposed places. + +In order that an avalanche may get up speed enough to commence its +swift career, the slope the snow rests on where it starts must be at +an angle of from 30° to 35° at least. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GUIDES OF THE ALPS: WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY DO + + +There is no profession drawing its members from the peasant class +which requires a combination of so many high and rare qualities as +that of a mountain guide. Happily, the dwellers in hill countries seem +usually more noble in mind and robust of frame than the inhabitants of +plains, and all who know them well must admit that among Alpine guides +are to be found men whose intelligence and character would rank high +in any class of life. + +I have usually noticed that the abilities and duties of a guide are +little understood by the non-climber, who often imagines that a +guide's sole business is to know the way and to carry the various +useless articles which the beginner in mountaineering insists on +taking with him. + + [Illustration: EDOUARD CUPELIN OF CHAMONIX. + + The Guide with whom Mrs Aubrey Le Blond commenced her climbing.] + +Guiding, if it sometimes does include these duties, is far more +than this. The first-class guide must be the general of the little +army setting out to invade the higher regions. He need not _know_ the +way--in fact, it sometimes happens that he has never before visited +the district--but he must be able to _find_ a way, and a safe one, to +the summit of the peak for which his party is bound. An inferior guide +may know, from habit, the usual way up a mountain, but, should the +conditions of ice and snow alter, he is unable to alter with them and +vary his route. You may ask: "How does a guide find his way on a +mountain new to him?" There are several means open to him. If the peak +is well known, as is, say, the Matterhorn, he will have heard from +other guides which routes have been followed, and will know that if he +desires to take his traveller up the ordinary way he must go past the +Schwarz-see Hotel, and on to the ridge which terminates in the Hörnli, +making for the hut which he has seen from below through the telescope. +Then he remembers that he must cross to the east face, and while doing +so he will notice the scratches on the rocks from the nailed boots of +previous climbers. Now, mounting directly upward, he will pick out the +passages which seem easiest, until, passing the ruined upper hut, he +comes out on the ridge and looks down the tremendous precipice which +overhangs the Matterhorn Glacier. This ridge, he knows, he simply has +to follow until he reaches the foot of a steep face of rock some 50 +feet high, down which hangs a chain. He has heard all about this bit +of the climb since his boyhood, and he tells his traveller that, once +on the top of the rock, all difficulty will be over, and the final +slope to the summit will be found a gentle one. So it comes to pass +that the party reaches the highest pinnacle of the great mountain +without once diverging from the best route. Occasionally the leading +guide may take with him as second guide a man from the locality, but +most climbers will prefer to keep with them the two guides they are +used to. + +It is not only on mountains that a guide is able to find his way over +little known ground. Many years ago Melchior Anderegg came to stay +with friends in England, and arrived at London Bridge Station in the +midst of a thick London fog. "He was met by Mr Stephen and Mr +Hinchliff," writes his biographer in _The Pioneer of the Alps_, "who +accompanied him on foot to the rooms of the latter gentleman in +Lincoln's Inn Fields. A day or two later the same party found +themselves at the same station on their return from Woolwich. 'Now, +Melchior,' said Mr Hinchliff, 'you will lead us back home.' Instantly +the skilful guide, who had never seen a larger town than Berne, +accepted the situation, and found his way straight back without +difficulty, pausing for consideration only once, as if to examine the +landmarks at the foot of Chancery Lane." + +Now, let us see how a guide sets about exploring a district where no +one has previously ascended the mountains. Of this work I have seen a +good deal, since in Arctic Norway my Swiss guides and I have ascended +more than twenty hitherto-unclimbed peaks, and were never once unable +to reach the summit. Of course, the first thing is to see the +mountains, and, to do this, it is wise to ascend something which you +are sure, from its appearance, is easy, and then prospect for others, +inspecting others again from them, and so on, _ad infinitum_. You +cannot always see the whole of a route, and, perhaps, your leading +guide will observe: "We can reach that upper glacier by the gully in +the rocks." "What gully?" you ask. "The one to the left. There _must_ +be one there. Look at the heap of stones at the bottom!" Thus, from +the seen to the unseen the guide argues, reading a fact from writing +invisible to the untrained eye. Between difficulty and danger, too, he +draws a sharp distinction, and attacks with full confidence a steep +but firm wall of rock, turning back from the easy-looking slope of +snow ready to set forth in an avalanche directly the foot touches it. + +And how is this proficiency obtained? How does the guide learn his +profession? + +In different ways, but he usually begins young, tending goats on steep +grassy slopes requiring balance and nerve to move about over. Later +on, having decided that he wishes to be a guide, the boy, at the age +of seventeen or eighteen, offers himself for examination on applying +for a certificate as porter. The requirements for this first step are +not great: a good character, a sound physique, a knowledge of reading +and writing, and in most Alpine centres the guild of guides will grant +him a license. He can now accompany any guide who will take him, on +any expedition that guide considers within the porter's powers. His +advancement depends on his capacity. Should he quickly adapt himself +to the work, the guides will trust him more and more, taking him on +difficult ascents and allowing him occasionally to share the +responsibility of leading on an ascent and coming down last when +descending. It will readily be seen that the leader must never slip, +and must, when those who follow are moving, be able to hold them +should anything go wrong with them. The same applies to the even more +responsible position of last man coming down. When a porter reaches +this stage, he is little inferior to a second guide. He can now enter +for his final examination. If he is competent, he has no trouble in +passing it, and I fear that if the contrary--as is the case in many of +those who apply--he gets through easily enough. + +At Chamonix the guides' society is controlled by Government. The rules +press hardly on the better class of guides there, or would do so if +observed; but a first-class guide is practically independent of them, +and mountaineers who know the ropes can avoid the regulations. At +Zermatt greater liberty is allowed, and, indeed, I believe that +everywhere except at Chamonix a guide is free to go with any climber +who applies for him. At Chamonix the rule is that the guides are +employed in turn, so that the absurd spectacle is possible of a man of +real experience carrying a lady's shawl across the Mer de Glace, while +a guide, who is little better than a porter, sets out to climb the +Aiguille de Dru! However, the exceptions to this rule make a broad +way of escape, for a lady alone, a member of an Alpine club, or a +climber bent on a particularly difficult ascent, may choose a guide. + +The pay of a first-class guide is seldom by tariff, for the class of +climber who alone would have the opportunity of securing the services +of one of the extremely limited number of guides of the first order +generally engages him for some weeks at a time. Indeed, such men are +usually bespoken a year in advance. The pay offered and expected is 25 +fr. a day, including all expeditions, or else 10 fr. a day for rest +days, 50 fr. for a peak, 25 fr. for a pass, in both cases the guide to +keep himself, while travelling expenses and food on expeditions are to +be paid for by the employer. If a season is fine and the party +energetic, the former rate of payment may be the cheaper. The second +guide generally receives two-thirds as much as the first guide. + +When a novice is about to choose a guide, the advice of an experienced +friend is invaluable, but, failing this, it is worse than useless to +rely on inn-keepers, casual travellers, or the _guide-chef_ at the +guides' office of the locality. From these you can obtain the names of +guides whom they recommend, but before making any definite +arrangements, see the men themselves and carefully examine their books +of certificates. In these latter lie your security, if you read them +intelligently. Bear in mind that their value consists in their being +signed by competent mountaineers. For instance, you may find something +like the following in a guide's book:-- + + A. Dumkopf took me up the Matterhorn to-day. He showed + wonderful sureness of foot and steadiness of head, and I + consider him a first-class guide, and have pleasure in + recommending him. + + (Signed) A. S. SMITH. + +Now, this is by some one you never heard of, and a very little +consideration will show you that A. S. Smith is quite ignorant of +climbing, judging by his wording of the certificate. That which +follows, taken from the late Christian Almer's _Führerbuch_, is the +sort of thing to carry weight:-- + + Christian Almer has been our guide for three weeks, during + which time we made the ascents of the Matterhorn (ascending + by the northern and descending by the southern route), + Weisshorn (from the Bies Glacier), Dent Blanche, and the + Bietschhorn. Every journey that we take under Almer's + guidance confirms us in the high opinion we have formed of + his qualities as a guide and as a man. To the utmost daring + and courage he unites prudence and foresight, seldom found + in combination. + + (Signed) W. A. B. COOLIDGE. + Visp, September 22nd, 1871. + +It is when things go badly that a first-class guide is so +conspicuously above an inferior man. In sudden storms or fog you may, +if accompanied by the former, be in security, while the latter may get +his party into positions of great peril. The former will take you +slowly and carefully, sounding, perhaps, at every step, over what +appears to you a perfectly easy snow plateau. The latter goes across a +similar place unsuspecting of harm and with the rope loose, and, lo +and behold, you all find yourselves in a hidden crevasse, and are +lucky if you escape with your lives. In the early days of +mountaineering guides were frequently drawn from the chamois hunters +of a district, a sport requiring, perhaps, rather the quickness and +agility of the born climber and gymnast than the qualities of +calculation and prudence needed in addition by the guide. + + [Illustration: A careful party descending a Rock Peak near Zermatt + (the Unter Gabelhorn).] + +The most thoroughly unorthodox beginning to a great career of which I +have ever heard was that of Joseph Imboden, of St Nicholas. When a +boy his great desire, as he has often told me, was to become a guide. +But his father would not consent to it, and apprenticed him to a +boot-maker. During the time he toiled at manufacturing and mending +shoes he contrived to save 20 fr. He then, at the age of sixteen, ran +away from his employer, bought a note-book, and established himself at +the Riffel Hotel above Zermatt. On every possible occasion he urged +travellers to employ him as guide. + +"Where is your book, young man?" they invariably enquired. + +He showed it to them, but the pages were blank, and so no one would +take him. + +"At last," Imboden went on, "my 20 fr. were all but spent, when I +managed to persuade a young Englishman to let me take him up Monte +Rosa. I told him I knew the mountain well, and I would not charge him +high. So we started. I had never set foot on a glacier before or on +any mountain, but there was a good track up the snow, and I followed +this, and there were other parties on Monte Rosa, so I copied what the +guides did, and roped my gentleman as I saw the guides doing theirs. +It was a lovely day, and we got on very well, and my gentleman was +much pleased, and offered me an engagement to go to Chamonix with him +over high passes. + +"Then I said to myself: 'Lies have been very useful till now, but the +time has come to speak the truth, and I will do so.' + +"So I said to him: 'Herr, until to-day I have never climbed a +mountain, but I am strong and active, and I have lived among +mountaineers and mountains, and I am sure I can satisfy you if you +will take me.' + +"He was quite ready to do so, and we crossed the Col du Géant and went +up Mont Blanc, but could do no more as the weather was bad. Then he +wrote a great deal in my book, and since then I have never been in +want of a gentleman to guide." + +Imboden's eldest son, Roman, began still younger. When only thirteen +he was employed by a member of the Alpine Club, Mr G. S. Barnes, to +carry his lunch on the picnics he made with his friends on the +glaciers near Saas-Fée. The party eventually undertook more ambitious +expeditions, and one evening, Roman, who was very small for his age, +was seen entering his native village at the head of a number of +climbers who had crossed the Ried Pass, the little boy proudly +carrying the largest knapsack of which he could possess himself, a +huge coil of rope, and an ice-axe nearly as big as himself. Thus +commenced the career of an afterwards famous Alpine guide. + +During some fifteen seasons Imboden accompanied me on my climbs, +frequently with Roman as second guide. Once the latter went with me to +Dauphiné, and, though only twenty-three at the time, took me up the +Meije, Ecrins, and other big peaks, his father being detained at home +by reason of a bitter feud with the railway company about to run a +line through his farm. It is sad to look back to the terrible ending +of Roman's career at a period when he was the best young guide in the +Alps. How little, in September 1895, as with the Imbodens, father and +son, I stood on the summit of the Lyskamm, did any of us think that +never again should we be together on a mountain, and that from the +very peak on which we were Roman would be precipitated in one awful +fall of hundreds of feet, his companions, Dr Guntner and the second +guide Ruppen, also losing their lives. + +I shall never forget the evening the news reached us at Zermatt. +Imboden was, as usual, my guide, but Roman was leading guide to Dr +Guntner. A month or two previously this gentleman had written to +Roman asking if he would climb with him. Roman showed the letter to +his father, saying: "I only go with English people, so I shall +refuse." "Do not reply in a hurry," was the answer; "wait and see what +the Herr is like, he is coming here soon." So Roman waited, saw Dr +Guntner, liked him immensely, and engaged himself, not only till the +end of the season, but also for a five months' mountaineering +expedition in the Himalayas. We had all arrived at Zermatt from Fée a +few days before, and while we waited in the valley for good weather, +Dr Guntner, Roman Imboden, and Ruppen went to the Monte Rosa Hut to +get some exercise next day on one of the easier peaks in the +neighbourhood. Dr Guntner much wished to try the Lyskamm. Roman was +against it, as the weather and snow were bad. However, in the morning +there was a slight improvement, and as Dr Guntner was still most +anxious to attempt the Lyskamm and Roman was so attached to him that +he wished to oblige him in every way he could, he consented to, at any +rate, go and look at it. Another party followed, feeling secure in the +wake of such first-rate climbers, and, though the snow was atrocious +and the weather grew worse and worse, no one turned back, and the +summit was not far distant. + +The gentleman in the second party did not feel very well, and made a +long halt on the lower part of the ridge. Something seems to have +aroused his suspicions--some drifting snow above, it was said, but I +could never understand this part of the story--and an accident was +feared. Abandoning the ascent, partly because of illness, partly on +account of the weather, the party went down. At the bottom of the +ridge, wishing to see if indeed something had gone wrong, they bore +over towards the Italian side of the mountain. Directly the snowy +plain at the base of the peak became visible, their worst fears were +confirmed, for they perceived three black specks lying close together. +Examining them through their glasses, it was but too certain that what +they saw were the lifeless bodies of Dr Gunnter, Roman, and Ruppen. + +Meanwhile, unconscious of the awful tragedy being enacted that day on +the mountains, I had sent Imboden down to St Nicholas to see his +family, and, after dinner, was sitting writing in the little salon of +the Hotel Zermatt when two people entered, remarking to each other, +"What a horrible smash on the Lyskamm!" + +I started to my feet. Something told me it must be Roman's party. +Crossing quickly over to the Monte Rosa Hotel, I found a silent crowd +gathering in the street. I went into the office. + +"Who is it?" I asked. + +"Roman's party," was the answer. + +"How do you know?" + +"The other party has telephoned from the Riffel; we wait for them to +arrive to hear particulars." + +The crowd grew larger and larger in the dark without. All waited in +cruel suspense. I could not bear to think of Imboden. + +An hour passed. Then there was a stir among the waiting throng, and I +went out among them and waited too. + +The other party was coming. As the little band filed through the +crowd, one question only was whispered. + +"Is there any hope?" Sadly shaking their heads, the gentleman and his +guides passed into Herr Seiler's room, and there we learned all there +was to hear. + +I need not dwell on Imboden's grief. He will never be the same man +again, though three more sons are left him; but I must put on record +his first words to me when I saw him: "Ruppen has left a young wife +and several children, and they are very poor. Will you get up a +subscription for them, ma'am, and help them as much as possible?" + + [Illustration: STOPPED BY A BIG CREVASSE. + + The party descended a little till a better passage was found by + crossing a snow-bridge (page 37).] + + [Illustration: THE GENTLE PERSUASION OF THE ROPE (page 39).] + +It was done, and for Roman a tombstone was erected, "By his English +friends, as a mark of their appreciation of his sterling qualities as +a man and a guide." Roman was twenty-seven at the time of the +accident. Neither Imboden nor I cared to face the sad associations of +the Alps after the death of Roman, and the next and following years we +mountaineered in Norway instead. + +It will have been noticed that a climber nearly always takes two +guides on an expedition. A visitor at Zermatt, or some other climbing +centre, was heard to enquire: "Why do people take two guides? Is it in +case they lose one?" + +There are several reasons why a climbing party should not number less +than three. In a difficult place, if one slips, his two companions +should be able to check his fall immediately, whereas if the party +number but two the risk of an accident is much greater. Again, a +mishap to one of a party of two is infinitely more serious than had +there been three climbing together. A glance at the accompanying +photograph of some mountaineers reconnoitring a big crevasse will make +my point clear. + +A first-class guide will use the rope very differently to an inferior +man, who allows it to hang about in a tangle, and to catch on every +point of projecting rock. + +A friend of mine, a Senior Wrangler, was extremely anxious to learn +how to use a rope properly. So, instead of watching the method of his +guide, he purchased a handbook, and learned by heart all the maxims +therein contained on the subject. Shortly after these studies of his I +was descending a steep face of rock in his company. I was in advance, +and had gone down as far as the length of rope between us permitted. A +few steps below was a commodious ledge, so I called out: "More rope, +please!" + +My friend hesitated, cleared his throat, and replied: "I am not sure +if I ought to move just now, because, in _Badminton_, on page +so-and-so, line so-and-so, the writer says----" + +"Will you please give the lady more rope, sir!" called out Imboden. + +"He says that if a climber finds himself in a position----" + +"Will you go on, sir, or must I come down and help you?" exclaimed +Imboden from above, and, at last, reluctantly enough, my friend moved +on. He is now a distinguished member of the Alpine Club, so there is, +perhaps, something to be said in favour of learning mountaineering +from precept rather than example! + +Occasionally a guide's manipulation of the rope includes something +more arduous than merely being always ready to stop a slip. If his +traveller is tired and the snow slopes are long and wearisome, it may +happen that a guide will put the rope over his shoulder and pull his +gentleman. A mountaineer of my acquaintance met a couple ascending the +Breithorn in this manner. It was a hot day, and the amateur was very +weary. Furthermore, he could speak no German. So he entreated his +compatriot to intercede for him with the guide, who would insist on +taking him up in spite of his groans of fatigue. + +"Why do you not return when the gentleman wishes it?" queried the +stranger. + +"Sir," replied the guide, "he can go, he must go; he has paid me in +advance!" + +The rope generally used by climbers is made in England, is known as +Alpine Club rope, and may be recognised by the bright red thread which +runs through the centre of it. A climber should have his own rope, and +not trust to any of doubtful quality. + +Should climbers desire to make ascents in seldom explored parts of the +world, such as the Caucasus, the Andes, or the Himalayas, they must +take Alpine guides with them, for mountains everywhere have many +characteristics in common, and as a good rider will go over a country +unknown to him better than a bad horseman to whom it is familiar, so +will a skilful guide find perhaps an easy way up a mountain previously +unexplored, while the natives of the district declare the undertaking +an impossible one. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company have +recognised the truth of this, and have secured the services of Swiss +guides for climbing in the Rockies. + +The devotion of a really trustworthy guide to his employer is a fine +trait in his character. My guide, Joseph Imboden, has often told me +that for years the idea that he might somehow return safe from an +expedition during which his traveller was killed, was simply a +nightmare to him. Directly the rope was removed his anxiety commenced, +and he was just as careful to see that the climber did not slip in an +easy place as he had been on the most difficult part of the ascent. It +is an unbroken tradition that no St. Nicholas guide ever comes home +without his employer; all return safely or all are killed. Alas! the +list of killed is a long one from that little Alpine village. In the +churchyard, from the most recent grave, covered by the beautiful white +marble stone placed there by Roman's English friends, to those +recalling accidents a score or more of years ago, there lies the dust +of many brave men. But I must not dwell on the gloom of the hills; let +me rather recall some of the many occasions when a guide, by his +skill, quickness, or resource, has saved his own and his charges' +lives. + +A famous Oberlander, Lauener by name, noted for his great strength, +performed on one occasion a marvellous feat. He was ascending a steep +ice slope, at the bottom of which was a precipice. He was alone with +his "gentleman," and to this fact, usually by no means a desirable +one, they both owed their lives. A big boulder seemed to be so deeply +imbedded in the ice as to be actually part of the underlying rock. The +traveller was just below it, the guide had cut steps alongside, and +was above with, most happily, the rope taut. As he gained the level of +the boulder he put his foot on it. To his horror it began to move! He +took one rapid step back, and with a superhuman effort positively +swung his traveller clean out of the steps and dangled him against the +slope while the rock, heeling slowly outwards, broke loose from its +icy fetters and plunged down the mountain side, right across the very +place where the climber had been standing but an instant before. + +A small man, whose muscles are in perfect condition, and who knows how +to turn them to account, can accomplish what would really appear to be +almost impossible for any one of his size. + +Ulrich Almer, eldest son of the famous guide, the late Christian +Almer, saved an entire party on one occasion by his own unaided +efforts. They were descending the Ober Gabelhorn, a high mountain near +Zermatt, and had reached a ridge where there is usually a large +cornice. Now, a cornice is an overhanging eave of snow which has been +formed by the wind blowing across a ridge. Sometimes cornices reach an +enormous size, projecting 50 feet or more from the ridge. In climbing, +presence of mind may avail much if a cornice breaks--absence of body +is, however, infinitely preferable. Even first-class guides may err in +deciding whether a party is or is not at an absolutely safe distance +from a cornice. Though not actually on that part of the curling wave +of snow which overhangs a precipice, the party may be in danger, for +when a cornice breaks away it usually takes with it part of the snow +beyond. + + [Illustration: A typical Couloir is seen streaking the peak from + summit to base in the centre of the picture (page 73).] + + [Illustration: The Cross marks the spot where the accident happened on + the cornice of the Ober Gabelhorn in 1880 (page 43).] + + [Illustration: THE WRONG WAY TO DESCEND.] + + [Illustration: Very soft Snow which, on a steep slope, would cause an + Avalanche (page 60).] + +By some miscalculation the first people on the rope walked on to the +cornice. It broke, and they dropped straight down the precipice +below. But at the same moment Ulrich saw and grasped the situation, +and, springing right out on the other side, was able to check them in +their terrible fall. It was no easy matter for the three men, one of +whom had dislocated his shoulder, to regain the ridge, although held +all the time by Ulrich. Still it was at length safely accomplished. +The two gentlemen were so grateful to their guide that they wished to +give him an acceptable present, and after much consideration decided +that they could not do better than present him with a cow! + +In trying to save a party which has fallen off a ridge, either by the +breaking of a cornice or by a slip, I am told by first-rate guides +that the proper thing to do is to jump straight out into the air on +the opposite side. You thus bring a greater strain on the rope, and +are more likely to check the pace at which your companions are +sliding. I had a very awkward experience myself on one occasion when, +owing to the softness of the snow, we started an avalanche, and the +last guide, failing to spring over on the other side, we were all +carried off our feet. Luckily, we were able, by thrusting our axes +through into a lower and harder layer of snow, to arrest our wild +career. + +Piz Palü, in the Engadine, was once nearly the scene of a terrible +tragedy through the breaking of a cornice, the party only being saved +by the quickness and strength of one of their guides. The climbers +consisted of Mrs Wainwright, her brother-in-law Dr B. Wainwright and +the famous Pontresina guides Hans and Christian Grass. Bad weather +overtook them during their ascent, and while they were passing along +the ridge the fog was so thick that Hans Grass, who was leading, got +on to the cornice. He was followed by the two travellers, and then +with a mighty crack the cornice split asunder and precipitated them +down the icy precipice seen to the right. Last on the rope came sturdy +old Christian Grass, who grasped the awful situation in an instant, +and sprang back. He held, but could, of course, do no more. Now was +the critical time for the three hanging against the glassy wall. Both +Hans and the lady had dropped their axes. Dr Wainwright alone retained +his, and to this the party owed their lives. Of course he, hanging at +the top, could do nothing; but after shouting out his intentions to +those below, he called on Hans to make ready to catch the axe when it +should slip by him. A moment of awful suspense, and the weapon was +grasped by the guide, who forthwith hewed a big step out of the ice, +and, standing on it, began the toilsome work of constructing a +staircase back to the ridge. At last it was done, and when the three +lay panting on the snow above, it was seen that by that time one +strand only of the rope had remained intact. + + [Illustration: The dotted line in the top right-hand corner shows the + spot on Piz Palü where the Wainwright accident took place, the slope + being the one the party fell down.] + + [Illustration: HANS AND CHRISTIAN GRASS.] + +The following account of a narrow escape from the result of a cornice +breaking has an especially sad interest, for it was found amongst the +papers of Lord Francis Douglas after his tragic death on the +Matterhorn, and was addressed to the Editor of the _Alpine Journal_. +The ascent described was made on 7th July 1865, and the poor young man +was killed on the 14th of the same month. + +The Gabelhorn is a fine peak, 13,365 feet high, in the Zermatt +district. + +Lord Francis Douglas writes:--"We arrived at the summit at 12.30. +There we found that some one had been the day before, at least to a +point very little below it, where they had built a cairn; but they had +not gone to the actual summit, as it was a peak of snow, and there +were no marks of footsteps. On this peak we sat down to dine, when, +all of a sudden, I felt myself go, and the whole top fell with a crash +thousands of feet below, and I with it, as far as the rope allowed +(some 12 feet). Here, like a flash of lightning, Taugwald came right +by me some 12 feet more; but the other guide, who had only the minute +before walked a few feet from the summit to pick up something, did not +go down with the mass, and thus held us both. The weight on the rope +must have been about 23 stone, and it is wonderful that, falling +straight down without anything to break one's fall, it did not break +too. Joseph Viennin then pulled us up, and we began the descent to +Zermatt." + +Here, again, one of the guides saved the party from certain +destruction. + +It is in time of emergency that a really first-rate guide is so far +ahead of an inferior man. In many cases when fatal results have +followed unexpected bad weather or exceptionally difficult conditions +of a mountain, bad guiding is to blame, while the cases when able +guides have brought down themselves and their employers from very +tight places indeed, are far more frequent than have ever been +related. + +A really wonderful example of a party brought safely home after +terrible exposure is related in _The Pioneers of the Alps_. The +well-known guides, Andreas Maurer and Emile Rey, with an English +climber, had tried to reach the summit of the Aiguille du Plan by the +steep ice slopes above the Chamonix Valley. "After step-cutting all +day, they reached a point when to proceed was impossible, and retreat +looked hopeless. To add to their difficulties, bad weather came on, +with snow and intense cold. There was nothing to be done but to remain +where they were for the night, and, if they survived it, to attempt +the descent of the almost precipitous ice-slopes they had with such +difficulty ascended. They stood through the long hours of that bitter +night, roped together, without daring to move, on a narrow ridge, +hacked level with their ice-axes. I know from each member of the party +that they looked upon their case as hopeless, but Maurer not only +never repined, but affected rather to like the whole thing, and though +his own back was frozen hard to the ice-wall against which he leaned, +and in spite of driving snow and numbing cold, he opened coat, +waistcoat and shirt, and through the long hours of the night he held, +pressed against his bare chest, the half-frozen body of the traveller +who had urged him to undertake the expedition. + +"The morning broke, still and clear, and at six o'clock, having thawed +their stiffened limbs in the warm sun, they commenced the descent. +Probably no finer feat in ice-work has ever been performed than that +accomplished by Maurer and Rey on the 10th August 1880. It took them +ten hours of continuous work to reach the rocks and safety, and their +work was done without a scrap of food, after eighteen hours of +incessant toil on the previous day, followed by a night of horrors +such as few can realize." Had the bad weather continued, the party +could not possibly have descended alive, "and this act of unselfish +devotion would have remained unrecorded!" + +Perhaps the most remarkable instance of endurance took place on the +Croda Grande. The party consisted of Mr Oscar Schuster and the +Primiero guide, Giuseppe Zecchini. They set out on 17th March 1900, +from Gosaldo at 5.10 A.M., the weather becoming unsettled as they went +along. After they had been seven hours on the march a storm arose, +yet, as they were within three-quarters of an hour of the top of their +peak, they did not like to turn back. They duly gained the summit, the +storm momentarily increasing in violence, and then they descended on +the other side of the mountain till they came to an overhanging rock +giving a certain amount of shelter. The guide had torn his gloves to +pieces during the ascent, and his fingers were raw and sore from the +difficult icy rocks he had climbed. As the cold was intense, they now +began to be very painful. The weather grew worse and worse, and the +two unfortunate climbers were obliged to remain in a hole scooped out +of the snow, not only during the night of the 17th, but also during +the whole day and night of the 18th. On the 19th, at 8 A.M., they made +a start, not having tasted food for forty-eight hours. Five feet of +snow had fallen, and the weather was still unsettled, but go they had +to. First they tried to return as they came, but the masses of snow +barred the way. They were delayed so long by the terrible state of the +mountain that they had to spend another night out, and it was not till +6 P.M. on the 20th, after great danger that they reached Gosaldo. The +guide, from whose account in _The Alpine Journal_ I have borrowed, +lost three fingers of his right hand and one of the left from +frost-bite; the traveller appears to have come off scot free. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GUIDES OF THE ALPS--(_continued_). + + +The fathers of modern mountaineering were undoubtedly the two great +Oberland guides, Melchior Anderegg and Christian Almer, who commenced +their careers more than half a century ago. The former is still with +us, the latter passed away some two years ago, accomplishing with ease +expeditions of first-rate importance till within a season or two of +his death. Melchior began his climbing experiences when filling the +humble duties of boots at the Grimsel Inn. He was sent to conduct +parties to the glaciers, his master taking the fee, while Melchior's +share was the _pourboire_. His aptitude for mountain craft was soon +remarked by the travellers whom he accompanied, and in a lucky hour +for him--and indeed for all concerned--he was regularly taken into the +employ of Mr Walker and his family. At that time Melchior could speak +only a little German in addition to his Oberland _patois_, and was +quite unaccustomed to intercourse with English people. He was most +anxious, however, to say the right thing, and thought he could not do +better than copy the travellers, so Mr Walker was somewhat startled on +finding himself addressed as "Pa-pa," while his children were greeted +respectively as "Lucy" and "Horace." The friendship between Melchior +and the surviving members of Mr Walker's family has lasted ever since, +and is worthy of all concerned. Melchior was born a guide, as he was +born a gentleman, and no one who has had the pleasure of his +acquaintance can fail to be impressed by his tact and wonderful +sweetness of disposition, which have enabled him to work smoothly and +satisfactorily with other guides, who might well have felt some +jealousy at his career of unbroken success. + +Melchior's great rival and friend, Christian Almer, was of a more +impetuous disposition, but none the less a man to be respected and +liked for his sturdy uprightness and devotion to his employers. The +romantic tale of his ascent of the Wetterhorn, which first brought him +into notice, has been admirably told by Chief-Justice Wills in his +"Wanderings among the High Alps." Mr Wills, as he then was, had set +out from Grindelwald to attempt the ascent of the hitherto unclimbed +Wetterhorn. He had with him the guides Lauener, Bohren, and Balmat. +The former, a giant in strength and height, had determined to mark the +ascent in a way there should be no mistaking, so, seeking out the +blacksmith, he had a "Flagge," as he termed it, prepared, and with +this upon his back, he joined the rest of the party. The "Flagge" was +a sheet of iron, 3 feet long and 2 broad, with rings to attach it to a +bar of the same metal 10 or 12 feet high, which he carried in his +hand. "He pointed first to the 'Flagge,' and then, with an exulting +look on high, set up a shout of triumph which made the rocks ring +again." + +The Wetterhorn is so well seen from Grindelwald that it was natural +some jealousy should arise as to who should first gain the summit. At +this time Christian Almer was a chamois hunter, and his fine climbing +abilities had been well trained in that difficult sport. He heard of +the expedition, and took his measures accordingly. + +Meanwhile Mr Wills' party, having bivouacked on the mountain side, had +advanced some way upwards towards their goal, and were taking a little +rest. As they halted, "we were surprised," writes Mr Wills, "to behold +two other figures, creeping along the dangerous ridge of rocks we had +just passed. They were at some little distance from us, but we saw +they were dressed in the guise of peasants." + +Lauener exclaimed that they must be chamois hunters, but a moment's +reflection showed them that no chamois hunter would come that way, and +immediately after they noticed that one of them "carried on his back a +young fir-tree, branches, leaves, and all." This young man was +Christian Almer, and a fitting beginning it was to a great career. + +"We had turned aside to take our refreshment," continues Mr Wills, +"and while we were so occupied they passed us, and on our setting +forth again, we saw them on the snow slopes, a good way ahead, making +all the haste they could, and evidently determined to be the first at +the summit." + +The Chamonix guides were furious, declaring that no one at Chamonix +would be capable of so mean an action, and threatening an attack if +they met them. The Swiss guides also began to see the enormity of the +offence. "A great shouting now took place between the two parties, the +result of which was that the piratical adventurers promised to wait +for us on the rocks above, whither we arrived very soon after them. +They turned out to be two chamois hunters, who had heard of our +intended ascent, and resolved to be even with us, and plant their +tree side by side with our 'Flagge.' They had started very early in +the morning, had crept up the precipices above the upper glacier of +Grindelwald before it was light, had seen us soon after daybreak, +followed on our trail, and hunted us down. Balmat's anger was soon +appeased when he found they owned the reasonableness of his desire +that they should not steal from us the distinction of being the first +to scale that awful peak, and instead of administering the fisticuffs +he had talked about, he declared they were '_bons enfants_' after all, +and presented them with a cake of chocolate; thus the pipe of peace +was smoked, and tranquility reigned between the rival forces." + +The two parties now moved upwards together, and eventually reached the +steep final slope of snow so familiar to all who have been up the +Wetterhorn. They could not tell what was above it, but they hoped and +thought it might be the top. + + [Illustration: CHRISTIAN ALMER, 1894.] + +At last, after cutting a passage through the cornice, which hung over +the slope like the crest of a great wave about to break, Mr Wills +stepped on to the ridge. His description is too thrilling to be +omitted. "The instant before, I had been face to face with a blank +wall of ice. One step, and the eye took in a boundless expanse of +crag and glacier, peak and precipice, mountain and valley, lake and +plain. The whole world seemed to lie at my feet. The next moment, I +was almost appalled by the awfulness of our position. The side we had +come up was steep; but it was a gentle slope compared with that which +now fell away from where I stood. A few yards of glittering ice at our +feet, and then nothing between us and the green slopes of Grindelwald, +9000 feet below. Balmat told me afterwards that it was the most awful +and startling moment he had known in the course of his long mountain +experience. We felt as in the immediate presence of Him who had reared +this tremendous pinnacle, and beneath the 'majestical roof' of whose +blue heaven we stood poised, as it seemed, half-way beneath the earth +and sky." + +Another notable ascent by Almer of the Wetterhorn was made exactly +thirty years later, when, with the youngest of his five sons (whom he +was taking up for the first time) and an English climber he repeated +as far as possible all the details of his first climb, the lad +carrying a young fir-tree, as his father had done, to plant on the +summit. Finally, in 1896, Almer celebrated his golden wedding on the +top of the mountain he knew so well. He was accompanied by his wife, +and the sturdy old couple were guided by their sons. + +But all guides are not the Melchiors or the Almers of their +profession. Sometimes, bent on photography from the easier peaks, I +have taken whoever was willing to come and carry the camera, and on +one occasion had rather an amusing experience with an indifferent +specimen of the Pontresina _Führerverein_. All went well at first, and +our large party, mostly of friends who knew nothing of climbing, +trudged along quite happily till after our first halt for food. When +we started again after breakfast our first adventure occurred. We had +one first-class guide with us in the person of Martin Schocker, but +were obliged to make up the number required for the gang by pressing +several inferior men into our service. One of these was leading the +first rope-full (if such an expression may be allowed), and with that +wonderful capacity for discovering crevasses where they would be +avoided by more skilful men, he walked on to what looked like a firm, +level piece of snow, and in a second was gone! The rope ran rapidly +out as we flung ourselves into positions of security, and as we had +kept our proper distances the check came on us all as on one. We +remained as we were, while the second caravan advanced to our +assistance. Its leading guide, held by the others, cautiously +approached the hole, and seeing that our man was dangling, took +measures to haul him up. This was not very easy, as the rope had cut +deeply into the soft snow at the edge; but with so large a party there +was no real difficulty in effecting a rescue. At last our guide +appeared, very red in the face, puffing like a grampus, and minus his +hat. As soon as he had regained breath he began to talk very fast +indeed. It seemed that the crown of his hat was used by him for +purposes similar to those served by the strong rooms and safes of the +rich; for in his head-gear he was in the habit of storing family +documents of value, and among others packed away there was his +marriage certificate! The hat now reposed at the bottom of a profound +crevasse, and his lamentations were, in consequence, both loud and +prolonged. I don't know what happened when he got home, but for the +rest of the day he was a perfect nuisance to us all, explaining by +voice and gesture, repeated at every halt, the terrifying experience +and incalculable loss he had suffered. Another unlucky result of his +dive into the crevasse was its effect upon a lady member of the party, +who had been induced, by much persuasion, to venture for the first +time on a mountain. So startled was she by his sudden disappearance, +that she jibbed determinedly at every crack in the glacier we had to +cross, and, as they were many, our progress became slower and slower, +and it was very late indeed before we regained the valley. + +Mr Clinton Dent, writing in _The Alpine Journal_, justly remarks: +"Guides of the very first rank are still to be found, though they are +rare; yet there are, perhaps, as many of the first rank now as there +have ever been. The demand is so prodigiously great now that the +second-class guide, or the young fully qualified guide who has made +some little reputation for brilliancy, is often employed as leader on +work which may easily overtax his powers. There is no more pressing +question at the present time in connection with mountaineering, than +the proper training of young guides." + + [Illustration: The dust of an Avalanche falling from the Matterhorn + Glacier may be seen to the right.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +AN AVALANCHE ON THE HAUT-DE-CRY + + +The Haut-de-Cry is not one of the giants of the Alps. It is a peak of +modest height but fine appearance, rising abruptly from the valley of +the Rhone. In 1864 it had never been climbed in winter, and one of our +countrymen, Mr Philip Gosset, set out in February of that year to +attempt its ascent. He had with him a friend, Monsieur Boissonnet, the +famous guide Bennen, and three men from a village, named Ardon, close +by, who were to act as local guides or porters. + +The party had gained a considerable height on the mountain when it +became necessary to cross a couloir or gully filled with snow. It was +about 150 feet broad at the top, and 400 or 500 at the bottom. "Bennen +did not seem to like the look of the snow very much," writes Mr Gosset +in _The Alpine Journal_. "He asked the local guides whether avalanches +ever came down this couloir, to which they answered that our position +was perfectly safe. We were walking in the following order--Bevard, +Nance, Bennen, myself, Boissonnet, and Rebot. Having crossed over +about three-quarters of the breadth of the couloir, the two leading +men suddenly sank considerably above their waists. Bennen tightened +the rope. The snow was too deep to think of getting out of the hole +they had made, so they advanced one or two steps, dividing the snow +with their bodies. Bennen turned round and told us he was afraid of +starting an avalanche; we asked whether it would not be better to +return and cross the couloir higher up. To this the three Ardon men +opposed themselves; they mistook the proposed precaution for fear, and +the two leading men continued their work. + +"After three or four steps gained in the aforesaid manner, the snow +became hard again. Bennen had not moved--he was evidently undecided +what he should do. As soon, however, as he saw hard snow again, he +advanced, and crossed parallel to, but above, the furrow the Ardon men +had made. Strange to say, the snow supported him. While he was +passing, I observed that the leader, Bevard, had ten or twelve feet of +rope coiled round his shoulder. I of course at once told him to uncoil +it, and get on to the arête, from which he was not more than fifteen +feet distant. Bennen then told me to follow. I tried his steps, but +sank up to my waist in the very first. So I went through the furrows, +holding my elbows close to my body, so as not to touch the sides. This +furrow was about twelve feet long, and as the snow was good on the +other side, we had all come to the false conclusion that the snow was +accidentally softer there than elsewhere. Bennen advanced; he had made +but a few steps when we heard a deep, cutting sound. The snow-field +split in two, about fourteen or fifteen feet above us. The cleft was +at first quite narrow, not more than an inch broad. An awful silence +ensued; it lasted but a few seconds, and then it was broken by +Bennen's voice, 'Wir sind alle verloren.'[1] His words were slow and +solemn, and those who knew him felt what they really meant when spoken +by such a man as Bennen. They were his last words. I drove my +alpenstock into the snow, and brought the weight of my body to bear on +it. I then waited. It was an awful moment of suspense. I turned my +head towards Bennen to see whether he had done the same thing. To my +astonishment I saw him turn round, face the valley, and stretch out +both arms. The ground on which we stood began to move slowly, and I +felt the utter uselessness of any alpenstock. I soon sank up to my +shoulders, and began descending backwards. From this moment I saw +nothing of what had happened to the rest of the party. With a good +deal of trouble I succeeded in turning round. The speed of the +avalanche increased rapidly, and before long I was covered up with +snow. I was suffocating, when I suddenly came to the surface again. I +was on a wave of the avalanche, and saw it before me as I was carried +down. It was the most awful sight I ever saw. The head of the +avalanche was already at the spot where we had made our last halt. The +head alone was preceded by a thick cloud of snow-dust; the rest of the +avalanche was clear. Around me I heard the horrid hissing of the snow, +and far before me the thundering of the foremost part of the +avalanche. To prevent myself sinking again, I made use of my arms, +much in the same way as when swimming in a standing position. At last +I noticed that I was moving slower; then I saw the pieces of snow in +front of me stop at some yards distant; then the snow straight before +me stopped, and I heard on a large scale the same creaking sound that +is produced when a heavy cart passes over frozen snow in winter. I +felt that I also had stopped, and instantly threw up both arms to +protect my head, in case I should again be covered up. I had stopped, +but the snow behind me was still in motion; its pressure on my body +was so strong that I thought I should be crushed to death. This +tremendous pressure lasted but a short time; I was covered up by snow +coming from behind me. My first impulse was to try and uncover my +head--but this I could not do, the avalanche had frozen by pressure +the moment it stopped, and I was frozen in. Whilst trying vainly to +move my arms, I suddenly became aware that the hands as far as the +wrist had the faculty of motion. The conclusion was easy, they must be +above the snow. I set to work as well as I could; it was time for I +could not have held out much longer. At last I saw a faint glimmer of +light. The crust above my head was getting thinner, but I could not +reach it any more with my hands; the idea struck me that I might +pierce it with my breath. After several efforts I succeeded in doing +so, and felt suddenly a rush of air towards my mouth, I saw the sky +again through a little round hole. A dead silence reigned around me; I +was so surprised to be still alive, and so persuaded at the first +moment that none of my fellow-sufferers had survived, that I did not +even think of shouting for them. I then made vain efforts to extricate +my arms, but found it impossible; the most I could do was to join the +ends of my fingers, but they could not reach the snow any longer. +After a few minutes I heard a man shouting; what a relief it was to +know that I was not the sole survivor!--to know that perhaps he was +not frozen in and could come to my assistance! I answered; the voice +approached, but seemed uncertain where to go, and yet it was now quite +near. A sudden exclamation of surprise! Rebot had seen my hands. He +cleared my head in an instant, and was about to try and cut me out +completely, when I saw a foot above the snow, and so near to me that I +could touch it with my arms, although they were not quite free yet. I +at once tried to move the foot; it was my poor friend's. A pang of +agony shot through me as I saw that the foot did not move. Poor +Boissonnet had lost sensation, and was perhaps already dead. + +"Rebot did his best. After some time he wished me to help him, so he +freed my arms a little more, so that I could make use of them. I could +do but little, for Rebot had torn the axe from my shoulder as soon as +he had cleared my head (I generally carry an axe separate from my +alpenstock--the blade tied to the belt, and the handle attached to the +left shoulder). Before coming to me Rebot had helped Nance out of the +snow; he was lying nearly horizontally, and was not much covered over. +Nance found Bevard, who was upright in the snow, but covered up to the +head. After about twenty minutes, the two last-named guides came up. I +was at length taken out; the snow had to be cut with the axe down to +my feet before I could be pulled out. A few minutes after 1 P.M. we +came to my poor friend's face.... I wished the body to be taken out +completely, but nothing could induce the three guides to work any +longer, from the moment they saw it was too late to save him. I +acknowledge that they were nearly as incapable of doing anything as I +was. When I was taken out of the snow the cord had to be cut. We tried +the end going towards Bennen, but could not move it; it went nearly +straight down, and showed us that there was the grave of the bravest +guide the Valais ever had or ever will have." + +Thus ends one of the most magnificent descriptions of an avalanche +which has ever been written. The cause of the accident was a mistaken +opinion as to the state of winter snow, which is very different to +the snow met with in summer, and of which at that time the best guides +had no experience. + + +A RACE FOR LIFE + +Once upon a time, in the year 1872, a certain famous mountaineer, Mr +F. F. Tuckett, had with his party a desperate race for life. The +climbers numbered five in all, three travellers and two guides, and +had started from the Wengern Alp to ascend the Eiger. Nowadays there +is a railway to the Wengern Alp, and so thousands of English people +are familiar with the appearance of the magnificent group of +mountains--the Eiger, the Mönch, and the Jungfrau--which they have +before them as they pass along in the train. Suffice it here to say +that the way up the Eiger lies over a glacier, partly fed by another +high above it, from which, through a narrow, rocky gully, great masses +of ice now and again come dashing down. Unless the fall is a very big +one, climbers skirting along the edge of this glacier are safe enough, +but on the only occasion I have been up the Eiger, I did not fancy +this part of the journey. + + [Illustration: Eiger. Mönch. + + FROM THE LAUBERHORN. + +The Cross marks the Scene of "A Race for Life." The dotted line shows +the steep Ice-Wall of the Eigerjoch (page 208).] + +To return to Mr Tuckett and his friends. They were advancing up the +snowy valley below the funnel-shaped opening through which an +avalanche occasionally falls. The guide, Ulrich Lauener, was +leading, and, remarks Mr Tuckett, "He is a little hard of hearing; and +although his sight, which had become very feeble in 1870, is greatly +improved, both ear and eye were perhaps less quick to detect any +unexpected sound or movement than might otherwise have been the case. +Be this as it may, when all of a sudden I heard a sort of crack +somewhere up aloft, I believe that, for an instant or two, his was the +only head not turned upwards in the direction from which it seemed to +proceed, viz., the hanging ice-cliff; but the next moment, when a huge +mass of sérac broke away, mingled apparently with a still larger +contingent of snow from the slopes above, whose descent may, indeed, +have caused, or at least hastened, the disruption of the glacier, +every eye was on the look-out, though as yet there was no indication +on the part of any one, nor I believe any thought for one or two +seconds more, that we were going to be treated to anything beyond a +tolerably near view of such an avalanche as it rarely falls to +anyone's lot to see. Down came the mighty cataract, filling the +couloir to its brim; but it was not until it had traversed a distance +of 600 to 800 feet, and on suddenly dashing in a cloud of frozen spray +over one of the principal rocky ridges with which, as I have said, the +continuity of the snow-slope was broken, appeared as if by magic to +triple its width, that the idea of danger to ourselves flashed upon +me. I now perceived that its volume was enormously greater than I had +at first imagined, and that, with the tremendous momentum it had by +this time acquired, it might, instead of descending on the right +between us and the rocks of the Klein Eiger, dash completely across +the base of the Eiger itself in front of us, attain the foot of the +Rothstock ridge, and then, trending round, sweep the whole surface of +the glacier, ourselves included, with the besom of destruction. + +"I instinctively bolted for the rocks of the Rothstock--if haply it +might not be too late--yelling rather than shouting to the others, +'Run for your lives!' + +"Ulrich was the last to take the alarm, though the nearest to the +danger, and was thus eight or ten paces behind the rest of us, though +he, too, shouted to Whitwell to run for his life directly he became +aware of the situation. But by this time we were all straining +desperately through the deep, soft snow for dear life, yet with faces +turned upwards to watch the swift on-coming of the foe. I remember +being struck with the idea that it seemed as though, sure of its prey, +it wished to play with us for a while, at one moment letting us +imagine that we had gained upon it, and were getting beyond the line +of its fire, and the next, with mere wantonness of vindictive power, +suddenly rolling out on its right a vast volume of grinding blocks and +whirling snow, as though to show that it could out-flank us at any +moment it chose. + +"Nearer and nearer it came, its front like a mighty wave about to +break, yet that still 'on the curl hangs poising'; now it has +traversed the whole width of the glacier above us, taking a somewhat +diagonal direction; and now run, oh, run! if ever you did, for here it +comes straight at us, still outflanking us, swift, deadly, and +implacable! The next instant we saw no more; a wild confusion of +whirling snow and fragments of ice--a frozen cloud--swept over us, +entirely concealing us from one another, and still we were +untouched--at least I knew that I was--and still we ran. Another half +second and the mist had passed, and there lay the body of the monster, +whose head was still careering away at lightning speed far below us, +motionless, rigid, and harmless. It will naturally be supposed that +the race was one which had not admitted of being accurately timed by +the performers; but I believe that I am speaking with precision when I +say that I do not think the whole thing occupied from first to last +more than five or six seconds. How narrow our escape was may be +inferred from the fact that the spot where I halted for a moment to +look back after it had passed, was found to be just twelve yards from +its edge, and I don't think that in all we had had time to put more +than thirty yards between us and the point where our wild rush for the +rocks first began. Ulrich's momentary lagging all but cost him his +life; for in spite of his giant stride and desperate exertions he only +just contrived to fling himself forwards as the edge of the frozen +torrent dashed past him. This may sound like exaggeration, but he +assured me that he felt some fragments strike his legs; and it will +perhaps appear less improbable when it is considered that he was +certainly several yards in the rear, and when the avalanche came to a +standstill, its edge, intersecting and concealing our tracks along a +sharply defined line, rose rigid and perpendicular, like a wall of +cyclopean masonry, as the old Bible pictures represent the waters of +the Red Sea, standing 'upright as an heap' to let the Israelites +through. + +"The avalanche itself consisted of a mixture, in tolerably equal +proportions, of blocks of sérac of all shapes and sizes, up to +irregular cubes of four or five feet on a size, and snow thoroughly +saturated with water--the most dangerous of all descriptions to +encounter, as its weight is enormous. We found that it covered the +valley for a length of about 3300 feet, and a maximum breadth of 1500, +tailing off above and below to 500 or 1000 feet. Had our position on +the slope been a few hundred feet higher or lower, or in other words, +had we been five minutes earlier or later, we must have been caught +beyond all chance of escape." + + * * * * * + +There was no rashness which can be blamed in the party finding +themselves in the position described. Avalanches, when they fall down +the gully, hardly ever come so far as the one met with on this +occasion, and they very seldom fall at all in the early morning. The +famous guide, Christian Almer, while engaged on another expedition, +visited the spot after the avalanche had fallen, and said that it was +the mightiest he had ever seen in his life. Mr Tuckett roughly +estimated its total weight as about 450,000 tons. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "We are all lost." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CAUGHT IN AN AVALANCHE ON THE MATTERHORN + + +The following exciting account is taken from an article by Herr +Lorria, which appeared in _The St Moritz Post_ for 28th January 1888. +The injuries received were so terrible that, I believe, Herr Lorria +never entirely ceased to feel their effects. + +The party consisted of two Austrian gentlemen, Herren Lammer and +Lorria, without guides, who, in 1887, had made Zermatt their +headquarters for some climbs. They had difficulty in deciding which +ascent to begin with, especially as the weather had recently been bad, +and the peaks were not in first-class condition. Herr Lorria writes: + +"I fancied the Pointe de Zinal as the object of our tour; but Lammer, +who had never been on the Matterhorn, wished to climb this mountain by +the western flank--a route which had only once before been attacked, +namely by Mr Penhall. We had with us the drawing of Penhall's route, +published in _The Alpine Journal_. + +"After skirting a jutting cliff, we reached the couloir at its +narrowest point. It was clear that we had followed the route laid down +in _The Alpine Journal_; and although Mr Penhall says that the rocks +here are very easy, I cannot at all agree with him. + +"We could not simply cross over the couloir, for, on the opposite +side, the rocks looked horrible: it was only possible to cross it some +forty or fifty mètres higher. We climbed down into the couloir: the +ice was furrowed by avalanches. We were obliged to cut steps as we +mounted upwards in a sloping direction. In a quarter of an hour we +were on the other side of the couloir. The impression which the +couloir made upon me is best shown by the words which I at the moment +addressed to Lammer: 'We are now completely cut off.' We saw clearly +that it was only the early hour, before the sun was yet upon the +couloir, which protected us from danger. Once more upon the rocks, we +kept our course as much as possible parallel to the N.W. arête. We +clambered along, first over rocks covered with ice, then over glassy +ledges, always sloping downwards. Our progress was slow indeed; the +formation of the rock surface was ever becoming more unfavourable, and +the covering of ice was a fearful hindrance. + +"Such difficult rocks I had rarely seen before; the wrinkled ledges of +the Dent Blanche were easy compared to them. At 1 P.M., we were +standing on a level with the "Grand Tower"; the summit lay close +before us, but as far as we could see, the rocks were completely +coated with a treacherous layer of ice. Immediately before us was a +precipitous ice couloir. All attempts to advance were fruitless, even +our crampons were of no avail. Driven back! If this, in all cases, is +a heavy blow for the mountain climber, we had here, in addition, the +danger which we knew so well, and which was every moment increasing. +It was one o'clock in the afternoon; the rays of the sun already +struck the western wall of the mountain; stone after stone, loosened +from its icy fetters, whistled past us. Back! As fast as possible +back! Lammer pulled off his shoes and I stuffed them into the +knapsack, holding also our two ice-axes. As I clambered down the first +I was often obliged to trust to the rope. The ledges, which had given +us trouble in the ascent, were now fearfully difficult. Across a short +ice slope, in which we had cut steps in the ascent, Lammer was +obliged, as time pressed, to get along without his shoes. The +difficulties increased; every moment the danger became greater; and +already whole avalanches of stones rattled down. The situation was +indeed critical. At last, after immense difficulty, we reached the +edge of the couloir at the place we had left it in the ascent. But we +could find no spot protected from the stones; they literally came down +upon us like hail. Which was the more serious danger, the threatening +avalanches in the couloir or the pelting of the stones which swept +down from every side? On the far side of the couloir there was safety, +as all the stones must in the end reach the couloir, which divides the +whole face of the mountain into two parts. It was now five o'clock in +the afternoon; the burning rays of the sun came down upon us, and +countless stones whirled through the air. We remembered the saying of +Dr Güssfeldt, in his magnificent description of the passage of the Col +du Lion, that only at midnight is tranquility restored. We resolved, +then, to risk the short stretch across the couloir. Lammer pulled on +his shoes; I was the first to leave the rocks. The snow which covered +the ice was suspiciously soft, but we had no need to cut steps. In the +avalanche track before us on the right a mighty avalanche is +thundering down; stones leap into the couloir, and give rise to new +avalanches. + +"Suddenly my consciousness is extinguished, and I do not recover it +till twenty-one days later. I can, therefore, only tell what Lammer +saw. Gently from above an avalanche of snow came sliding down upon us; +it carried Lammer away in spite of his efforts, and it projected me +with my head against a rock. Lammer was blinded by the powdery snow, +and thought that his last hour was come. The thunder of the roaring +avalanche was fearful; we were dashed over rocks, laid bare in the +avalanche track, and leaped over two immense bergschrunds. At every +change of the slope we flew into the air, and then were plunged again +into the snow, and often dashed against one another. For a long time +it seemed to Lammer as if all were over, countless thoughts went +thronging through his brain, until at last the avalanche had expended +its force, and we were left lying on the Tiefenmatten Glacier. Our +fall was estimated at from 550 to 800 English feet. + +"I lay unconscious, quite buried in the snow; the rope had gone twice +round my neck and bound it fast. Lammer, who quickly recovered +consciousness, pulled me out of the snow, cut the rope, and gave me a +good shake. I then awoke, but being delirious, I resisted with all my +might my friend's endeavours to pull me out of the track of the +avalanche. However, he succeeded in getting me on to a stone (I was, +of course, unable to walk), and gave me his coat; and having thus done +all that was possible for me, he began to creep downwards on hands and +knees. He could not stand, having a badly sprained ankle; except for +that he escaped with merely a few bruises and scratches. At length +Lammer arrived at the Stockje hut, but to his intense disappointment +there was nobody there. He did not pause to give vent to his +annoyance, however, but continued his way down. Twice he felt nearly +unable to proceed, and would have abandoned himself to his fate had +not the thought of me kept him up and urged him on. At three o'clock +in the morning he reached the Staffel Alp, but none of the people +there were willing to venture on the glacier. He now gave up all hope +that I could be saved, though he nevertheless sent a messenger to Herr +Seiler, who reached Zermatt at about 4.15 A.M. + +"In half an hour's time a relief party set out from Zermatt. When the +party reached the Staffel Alp, Lammer was unconscious, but most +fortunately he had written on a piece of paper the information that I +was lying at the foot of Penhall's couloir. They found me about +half-past eight o'clock. I had taken off all my clothes in my +delirium, and had slipped off the rock on which Lammer had left me. +One of my feet was broken and both were frozen into the snow, and had +to be cut out with an axe. + +"At 8 P.M. I was brought back to Zermatt, and for twenty days I lay +unconscious at the Monte Rosa Hotel hovering between life and death." + +Herr Lorria pays a warm tribute to the kindness of Seiler and his +wife, and the skill of Dr de Courten, who saved his limbs when other +doctors wished to amputate them. He ends his graphic account as +follows: "The lesson to be learnt from our accident is not 'Always +take guides,' but rather 'Never try the Penhall route on the +Matterhorn, except after a long series of fine, hot days, for +otherwise the western wall of the mountain is the most fearful +mouse-trap in the Alps.'" + + +THE ICE AVALANCHE OF THE ALTELS. + +Those who climbed in the Alps during the summer of 1895 will recollect +how wonderfully dry and warm the weather was, denuding the mountains +of snow and causing a number of rock-falls, so that many ascents +became very dangerous, and, in my own case, after one or two risky +encounters with falling stones, we decided to let the rock peaks alone +for the rest of that campaign. + + [Illustration: In the centre of the picture may be seen an Avalanche, + which a non-climber might mistake for a Waterfall, dropping down the + Rocks of the Wetterhorn.] + +In _The Alpine Journal_ of August 1897, Mr Charles Slater gives an +admirable description of a great ice-avalanche which overwhelmed one +of the fertile pastures near the well-known Gemmi route. From this +account I make some extracts, which will give an idea of the magnitude +of the disaster and its unusual character, as the ice from a falling +glacier rarely ever approaches cultivated land and dwellings. + +The scene of the catastrophe was at Spitalmatten, a pasturage with +châlets used in summer by the shepherds, in a basin at the beginning +of the valley which extends to the pass. Steep slopes bound it on the +east, and above them rises the glacier-capped peak of the Altels. The +glacier was well seen from the Gemmi path, and all tourists who passed +that way must have noticed and admired it. It is believed that a big +crevasse, running right across the glacier, was noticed during the +month of August, and the lower part of the glacier seemed to be +completely cut off from the upper portion by it. + +On the evening of 10th September, the Vice-President of the commune of +Leuk (to which commune the Alp belonged) arrived at the châlets to +settle the accounts of the past summer. Several of the women had +already gone down, taking some of the calves with them, and the rest +of the inhabitants of the little settlement were to follow next day. +The weather was warm but cloudy, with a strong _föhn_ wind.[2] + +On the morning of 11th September, about 5 A.M., the few people who +lived at or near the Schwarenbach Inn heard a roar like an earthquake, +and felt a violent blast of wind. A servant, rushing out of the inn, +saw "what appeared to be a white mist streaming down the Altel's +slope. The huge mass of ice forming the lower end of the glacier had +broken away, rushed down the mountain side, leapt from the Tateleu +plateau into the valley, and, like an immense wave, had swept over the +Alp, up the Uschinen Grat, as if up a 1500 sea-wall, and even sent +its ice-foam over this into the distant Uschinen Thal." + +The only other eye-witness of this appalling catastrophe was a +traveller who was walking up the Kanderthal from Frutigen in the early +morning. "He saw in the Gemmi direction a fearful whirlwind, with dust +and snow-clouds, and experienced later a cold rain falling from a +clear sky, the rain being probably due to the melting of the +ice-cloud." + +The scene after the disaster must have been a terrible one. "Winter +had apparently come in the midst of summer"; the whole pasture was +covered with masses of ice. "The body of the Vice-President was found +lying 180 yards away from the hut. Another body had been flung into +the branches of an uprooted tree, while a third was found still +holding a stocking in one hand, having been killed in the act of +dressing." + +There was no chance of escape for the people, as only a minute or +little more elapsed from the time the avalanche started till it +reached the settlement. The cows were nearly all killed, "they seem to +have been blown like leaves before a storm to enormous distances." + +A year later, much of the avalanche was still unmelted. + +The thickness of the slice of glacier which broke away is believed to +have been about 25 feet, and it fell through a vertical height of 4700 +feet. It moved at about the average rate of two miles a minute. + +"It is difficult to realise these vast figures, and a few comparisons +have been suggested which may help to give some idea of the forces +which were called into play. The material which fell would have +sufficed to bury the City of London to the depth of six feet, and Hyde +Park and Kensington Gardens would have disappeared beneath a layer +six-and-a-half feet deep. The enormous energy of the moving mass may +be dimly pictured when we think that a weight of ice and stones ten +times greater than the tonnage of the whole of England's battle-ships +plunged on to the Alp at a speed of nearly 300 miles an hour." + +An almost exactly similar accident had occurred in 1782. + + +AN AVALANCHE WHICH ROBBED A LADY OF A GARMENT + +One of the greatest advantages in mountaineering as a sport is the +amount of enjoyment it gives even when climbing-days are past. While +actually engaged in the ascent of difficult peaks our minds are apt +to be entirely engrossed with the problem of getting up and down them, +but afterwards we delight in recalling every interesting passage, +every glorious view, every successful climb; and perhaps this gives us +even more pleasure than the experiences themselves. + +If we happen to have combined photography with mountaineering we are +particularly to be envied, for an hour in the company of one of our +old albums will recall with wonderful vividness many an incident which +we should have otherwise forgotten. + +Turning over some prints which long have lain on one side, a wave of +recollection brings before me some especially happy days on snowy +peaks, and makes me long to bring a breath of Alpine air to the +cities, where for so much of the year dwell many of my brother and +sister climbers. + +With the help of the accompanying photographs, which will serve to +generally illustrate my remarks, let me relate what befell me during +an ascent of the Schallihorn--a peak some twelve thousand and odd feet +high, in the neighbourhood of Zermatt. + +Now, although Zermatt is a very familiar playground for mountaineers, +yet even as late as ten years ago one or two virgin peaks and a fair +number of new and undesirable routes up others were still to be found. +I had had my share of success on the former, and was at the time of +which I write looking about for an interesting and moderately safe +way, hitherto untrodden, up one of the lesser-known mountains in the +district. My guide and my friend of many years, Joseph Imboden, racked +his brains for a suitable novelty, and at length suggested that as no +one had hitherto attacked the south-east face of the Schallihorn we +might as well see if it could be ascended. He added that he was not at +all sure if it was possible--a remark I have known him to make on more +than one peak in far away Arctic Norway, when the obvious facility of +an ascent had robbed it of half its interest. However, in those days I +still rose satisfactorily to observations of that sort, and was at +once all eagerness to set out. We were fortunate in securing as our +second guide Imboden's brilliant son Roman, who happened to be +disengaged just then. A further and little dreamed-of honour was in +store for us, as on our endeavouring to hire a porter to take our +things to the bivouac from the tiny village of Taesch no less a person +than the mayor volunteered to accompany us in that capacity. + + [Illustration: MR WHYMPER. ZERMATT, 1896.] + + [Illustration: MRS AUBREY LE BLOND ON A MOUNTAIN TOP. + + _Photographed by her Guide, Joseph Imboden_] + + [Illustration: A HOT DAY IN MID-WINTER ON THE SUMMIT OF A PEAK 13,000 + FEET HIGH.] + +So we started upwards one hot afternoon, bound for some overhanging +rocks, which, we were assured by those who had never visited the spot, +we should find. For the regulation routes up the chief peaks the +climber can generally count on a hut, where, packed in close proximity +to his neighbours, he lies awake till it is time to get up, and sets +forth on his ascent benefited only in imagination by his night's +repose. Within certain limits the less a man is catered for the more +comfortable he is, and the more he has to count on himself the better +are the arrangements for his comfort. Thus I have found a well-planned +bivouac under a great rock infinitely preferable to a night in a hut, +and a summer's campaign in tents amongst unexplored mountains more +really luxurious than a season in an over-thronged Alpine hotel. + +Two or three hours' walking took us far above the trees and into the +region of short grass and stony slopes. Eventually we reached a hollow +at the very foot of our mountain, and here we began to look about for +suitable shelter and a flat surface on which to lay the sleeping-bags. +The pictured rocks of inviting appearance were nowhere to be found, +and what there were offered very inferior accommodation. But the +weather was perfect, and we had an ample supply of wraps, so we +contented ourselves with what protection was given by a steep, rocky +wall, and turned our attention to the Schallihorn. The proposed route +could be well seen. Imboden traced out the way he intended taking for +a long distance up the mighty precipice in front of us. There were +tracks of avalanches at more than one spot, and signs of falling +stones were not infrequent. My guide thought he could avoid all danger +by persistently keeping to the projecting ridges, and his idea was to +descend by whatever way we went up, as the ordinary route is merely a +long, uninteresting grind. + +We now lit a fire, made soup and coffee, and soon after got into our +sleeping-bags. The night passed peacefully, save for the rumble of an +occasional avalanche, when great masses of ice broke loose on the +glacier hard by. Before dawn we were stirring, and by the weird light +of a huge fire were making our preparations for departure. It +gradually grew light as our little party moved in single file towards +the rocky ramparts which threatened to bar the way to the upper world. +As we ascended a stony slope, Imboden remarked, "Why, ma'am, you still +have on that long skirt! Let us leave it here; we can pick it up on +our return." Now, in order not to be conspicuous when starting for a +climbing expedition, I always wore an ordinary walking-skirt over my +mountaineering costume. It was of the lightest possible material, so +that, if returning by a different route, it could be rolled up and +carried in a knapsack. I generally started from the bivouac without +it; but the presence on this occasion of the Mayor of Täsch had quite +overawed me; hence the unusual elegance of my get-up. Lest I be +thought to dwell at undue length on so trifling a matter, I may add +that the skirt had adventures that day of so remarkable a nature that +the disappearance of Elijah in his chariot can alone be compared to +them. + +The skirt was now duly removed, rolled up and placed under a heavy +stone, which we marked with a small cairn, so as to find it the more +easily on our return. Shortly after, the real climb began, and, +putting on the rope, we commenced the varied series of gymnastics +which make life worth living to the mountaineer. We had several +particularly unpleasant gullies to cross, up which Imboden glanced +hastily and suspiciously, and hurried us over, fearing the fall of +stones. At length we came for a little time to easier ground, and as +the day was now intensely hot the men took off their waistcoats, +leaving them and their watches in a hole in the rock. Above this +gentler slope the mountain steepened again, and a ridge in the centre, +running directly upwards, alone gave a possible route to the summit. +This ridge, at first broad and simple, before long narrowed to a +knife-edge. There was always enough to hold; but the rocks were so +loose and rotten that we hardly dared to touch them. Spread out over +those treacherous rocks, adhering by every finger in our endeavour to +distribute our weight, we slowly wormed ourselves upwards. Such +situations are always trying. The most brilliant cragsman finds his +skill of little avail. Unceasing care and patience alone can help him +here. Throwing down the most insecure of the blocks, which fell +sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other of the ridge, we +gradually advanced. The conversation ran rather in a groove: "Not that +one, ma'am, or the big fellow on the top will come down!" "Don't touch +the red one or the little white one!" "Now come up to where I am +without stepping on any of them!" "Roman! look out! I'm letting this +one go!" Then bang! bang! bang! and a disgusting smell as of +gunpowder, while a great boulder dashed in leaps towards the glacier +below, grinding and smashing itself to atoms before it reached the +bottom. + + [Illustration: JOSEPH IMBODEN. MRS AUBREY LE BLOND. + ZERMATT, SEPTEMBER, 1896.] + + [Illustration: CROSSING A SNOW COULOIR (page 73).] + +Thus with untiring thoroughness Imboden led his little band higher and +higher, till at last the summit came in sight and our muscles and +overstrained nerves saw rest ahead. + +I readily agreed to Imboden's decision that we should go down the +ordinary way. + +After descending for a considerable distance we stopped, and the +guides held a short consultation. It seemed that Roman was anxious to +try and fetch the waistcoats and watches and my skirt, and his father +did not object. + +Wishing him the best of good-luck, we parted by the rocks and trudged +on over the snow towards Zermatt. We moved leisurely, as people who +climb for pleasure, with no thought of record-breaking; and as it was +late in September it was dusk as we neared the village. + +Later in the evening I saw Imboden, and asked for news of Roman. He +had not arrived, and as time passed we grew uneasy, knowing the speed +at which, if alone, he would descend. By 10 P.M. we were really +anxious, and great was our relief when a figure with knapsack and +ice-axe came swinging up the narrow, cobbled street. + +It was an exciting tale he had to tell, though it took a good deal of +danger to impress Roman with the notion that there was any at all. +Soon after leaving us he came to the first gully. Just as he was about +to step into it he heard a rumble. Springing back, he squeezed himself +under an overhanging piece of rock, while a huge mass of stones and +snow dashed down the mountain, some of the fragments passing right +over him--though, thanks to his position, none actually touched him. +When tranquility was restored he dashed across to the other side, and +immediately after a fresh fall commenced, which lasted for a +considerable time. At length he approached without injury the spot he +was looking for, far down on the lower slopes, where my skirt had been +left, and here he felt that all danger was past. But the +extraordinarily dry season had thrown out most people's calculations, +and at that very moment he was really in the direst peril. As he ran +gaily down the slope of earth and stones a tremendous crash brought +him to a standstill, and looking back he saw the smoke of a mighty +avalanche of ice coming in a huge wave over the cliffs above. He +rushed for shelter, which was near at hand, and from beneath the +protection of a great rock he saw the avalanche come on and on with +the roar of artillery, and he gazed, fascinated, as it swept +majestically past his place of refuge. He could see the mound where +lay my skirt with its heap of stones. And now a striking sight met +his eyes, for before ever the seething mass could touch it the whole +heap rose from the ground and was carried far out of the path of the +avalanche, borne along by the violence of the wind which preceded it. + +The late John Addington Symonds has related in one of his charming +accounts of winter in the Alps that an old woman, sitting peaceably +before her châlet door in the sun, was transported by the wind of an +avalanche to the top of a lofty pine-tree, where, quite uninjured, she +calmly awaited assistance; but that my skirt should have such an +adventure brought very strongly home to me the dangers Roman had +passed through that afternoon and the escape we had had ourselves. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] The exact origin of the _föhn_ wind is still disputed. It is +thought to have no connection with the sirocco, a wind which in Europe +blows always from the south, bears with it sometimes particles of +sand, and is impregnated with damp from its passage over the +Mediterranean. The _föhn_ blows from any quarter (though usually from +the south), and is a dry, warm wind, which causes the snow to melt +rapidly. In German Switzerland it is called the _Schneefresser_, or +Snow Devourer, and it has been said that if no _föhn_ visited the +Alps, Switzerland would still be in the glacial period. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LOST IN THE ICE FOR FORTY YEARS + + +It was in 1786 that the summit of Mont Blanc was reached for the first +time. It had been attained on only eleven occasions, and no accidents +had happened on it when, in 1820, the catastrophe since known as the +Hamel accident, took place. + +Dr Joseph Hamel was a Russian savant, and Counsellor of State to the +Czar. He much desired to ascend Mont Blanc in order that he might make +scientific experiments on the top, and in August 1820, he came to +Chamonix for the purpose. It is of no use, and of little interest to +general readers, if I enter into particulars of the controversy which +this expedition excited. Some declared that Dr Hamel urged his guides +to proceed against their better judgment. Others say that the whole +party--which included two Englishmen and nine guides--were anxious to +continue the ascent, and, indeed, saw no reason for doing otherwise. +Certain it is, however that in those days no one was a judge of the +condition of snow, and able to tell from its consistency if an +avalanche were likely or not. + + [Illustration: MONT BLANC. + + The black line shows the probable course the bodies took during their + 40 years' descent in the ice. + + _By a local Photographer._] + + [Illustration: Nicolas Winhart, escaping on this occasion with his + life, afterwards perished on the Col des Grands Montets in 1875 (page + 99). + + _By a local Photographer._] + + [Illustration: A Banker at Geneva, who was a most active searcher for + Henry Arkwright's body. He was killed in a duel in 1869. It is + interesting to compare the old-fashioned costume with that of the + present day climber. + + _By a local Photographer._] + + [Illustration: THE RELICS. + + The rope was found round the body but worn through in two places by + the hip bones. The handkerchief, shirt front with studs, prune stones, + watch chain, pencil case, cartridge, spike of alpenstock, coins, glove + tied with spare bootlace, etc., all belonged to Henry Arkwright.] + +The party, which at first numbered fourteen, duly reached the rocks of +the Grands Mulets, where it was usual to spend the night. The sky +clouded over towards evening, and there was a heavy thunderstorm +during the night. Next morning the weather was too unsettled for the +ascent to be tried, so a couple of guides were sent down to Chamonix +for more provisions, and a second night was spent in camp. Early next +morning, in beautiful weather, a start was made, one of the members of +the party, Monsieur Selligne, who felt ill, and two guides leaving the +others and going down to Chamonix. The rest safely reached the Grand +Plateau. The snow, hardened by the night's frost, had thus far +supported the weight of the climbers and made their task easy. It was, +however, far from consolidated beneath the crust, as the warm wind of +the previous days had made it thoroughly rotten. + +All were in excellent spirits during the halt for breakfast on the +Grand Plateau, that snowy valley which is spread out below the steeper +slopes of the final mass of the mountain. Dr Hamel employed part of +his time in writing a couple of notes announcing his arrival on the +top of Mont Blanc leaving a blank on each to insert the hour. These +notes he intended to despatch by carrier pigeon, the bird being with +them, imprisoned in a large kettle. + +At 10.30 they reached the foot of what is now known as the Ancien +Passage. This is a steep snow-slope leading almost directly to the top +of Mont Blanc. When the snow is sound, and the ice above does not +overhang much, this route is as safe as any other; but a steep slope +covered with a layer of rotten snow is always most dangerous. At that +time, the Ancien Passage was the only way ever taken up Mont Blanc. + +They had ascended a considerable distance, the snow being softer and +softer as they rose, and they formed a long line one behind the other, +not mounting straight up, but making their way rather across the +slope. Six guides walked at the head of the troop, and then, after an +interval, the two Englishmen and two more guides, Dr Hamel being last. + +All seemed to be going excellently. Everyone plodded along, and +rejoiced to be so near the culminating point of the expedition. No +thought of danger disturbed them. + +Suddenly there was a dull, harsh sound. Immediately the entire surface +of the snow began to move. "My God! The avalanche! We are lost!" +shrieked the guides. The slope at Dr Hamel's end of the party was not +steep,--barely more than 30°--but up above it was more rapid. The +leading guides were carried straightway off their feet. Hamel was also +swept away by the gathering mass of snow. Using his arms as if +swimming, he managed to bring his head to the surface, and as he did +so the moving snow slowed down and stopped. In those few moments, some +1200 feet had been descended. At first Dr Hamel thought that he alone +had been carried away, but presently he saw his English friends and +their guides--no more. + +"Where are the others?" cried Dr Hamel. Balmat, who a moment before +had let his brother pass on to the head of the party, wrung his hands +and answered, "The others are in the crevasse!" + +The crevasse! Strange that all had forgotten it! The avalanche had +poured into it, filling it to the brim. + +"A terrible panic set in. The guides lost all self-control. Some +walked about aimlessly, uttering loud cries. Matthieu Balmat sat in +sullen silence, rejecting all kind offices with an irritation which +made it painful to approach him. Dornford threw himself on the snow in +despair, and Henderson, says Hamel, 'was in a condition which made one +fear for the consequences.' A few minutes later two other guides +extricated themselves, but the remaining three were seen no more. +Hamel and Henderson descended into the crevasse, and made every +possible attempt to find the lost guides, but without avail; the +surviving guides forced them to come out, and sore at heart they +returned to Chamonix. + +"The three guides who were lost were Pierre Carrier, Pierre Balmat, +and Auguste Tairraz. They were the three foremost in the line and felt +the first effects of the avalanche. Matthieu Balmat, who was fourth in +the line, saved himself by his great personal strength and by presence +of mind. Julien Dévouassoud was hurled across the crevasse, and Joseph +Marie Couttet was dragged out senseless by his companions, 'nearly +black from the weight of snow which had fallen upon him.'"[3] + +Scientific men had already begun to give attention to the movement of +glaciers. In addition to this, cases had occurred where the remains +of persons lost on glaciers had been recovered years afterwards. A +travelling seller of hats, crossing the Tschingel Glacier on his way +from the Bernese Oberland to Valais, had fallen into a crevasse. +Eventually his body and his stock of merchandise was found at the end +of the glacier. Near the Grimsel, the remains of a child were +discovered in the ice. An old man remembered that many years before a +little boy had disappeared in that locality and must doubtless have +been lost in a crevasse. These facts were probably known to Dr Hamel, +and he made the remark that perhaps in a thousand years, the bodies of +his guides might be found. Forbes, who knew more of the subject, +believed that, travelling in the ice, they would reach the end of the +glacier in forty years. + +He was right, for on 15th August 1861, his "bold prediction was +verified, and the ice give up its dead." On that day, the guide, +Ambrose Simond, who happened to be with some tourists on the lower +part of the Glacier des Bossons, discovered some pieces of clothing +and human bones. From that time until 1864 the glacier did not cease +to render up, piece by piece, the remains and the belongings of the +three victims. + +An accident, very similar to that which befell Dr Hamel's party, took +place in 1866. This has for me a very special interest, as I have met +the brother of the Englishman who perished, and have examined all the +documents, letters, newspaper cuttings, and photographs relating to +the catastrophe. The guide, Sylvain Couttet, an old friend of mine, +since dead, has given a moving account of the sad event. Sylvain knew +Mont Blanc better than any other native of Chamonix, and though when I +knew him he had given up guiding, he desired to add one more ascent of +the great white peak to his record, for at that time he had been up +ninety-nine times. I accordingly invited him to come with my party +when we climbed it from the Italian side. He did so--he had never been +up that way before--and I well remember how he slipped himself free of +the rope after the last rocks, saying, "Ah, you young people, you go +on. The old man will follow." Alone he arrived on the top, strode +about over its snowy dome as if to say good-bye, and was just as ready +for his work as any of us when, in a stiff gale, we descended the +ridge of the Bosses. + +But to return to what is known as the Arkwright accident. + +In the year 1866, Henry Arkwright, a young man of twenty-nine, +aide-de-camp to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was travelling in +Switzerland with his mother and two sisters. Writing from Geneva on +3rd September to a member of his family, he said, "We have ventured to +try our luck higher up, as the weather is so warm and settled--as +otherwise I should leave Switzerland without seeing a glacier." On +what an apparent chance--a run of fine weather--do great issues +depend! + +The party shortly afterwards moved on to Chamonix, where many +excursions were made, thanks to the beautiful weather which still +continued. It had now become quite the fashion to go up Mont Blanc, so +one is not surprised that Henry Arkwright, though no climber, decided +to make the attempt. One of his sisters went with him as far as the +hut at the Grands Mulets, and they were accompanied by the guide +Michael Simond, and the porters Joseph and François Tournier. Another +party proposed also to go up. It consisted of two persons only, +Sylvain Couttet and an _employé_ of the Hotel Royal named Nicolas +Winhart, whom Sylvain had promised to conduct to the top when he had +time and opportunity. It was the 12th October when they left Chamonix, +and all went well across the crevassed Glacier des Bossons, and they +duly reached their night quarters. + +While the climbers were absent next day, Miss Fanny Arkwright employed +herself with writing and finishing a sketch for her brother. + +Meanwhile the two parties, having set out at an early hour, advanced +quickly up the snow-slopes. The days were short, and it was desirable +to take the most direct route. For years the Ancien Passage had been +abandoned, and the more circuitous way by the Corridor used instead. +However, the snow was in good order, and as up to then no accidents +had happened through falling ice, this danger was little dreaded, +though it is sometimes a very real one in the Ancien Passage. So the +guides advised that this should be the way chosen, and both parties +directed their steps accordingly. Sylvain Couttet has left a +remarkable description of the events which followed, and portions of +this I now translate from his own words as they appeared in _The +Alpine Journal_. + +The two parties were together at the beginning of the steep +snow-slope. Sylvain's narrative here commences:--"I said to the +porter, Joseph Tournier, who had thus far been making the tracks, 'Let +us pass on ahead; you have worked long enough. To each of us his +share!' It was to this kindly thought for my comrade that, without the +slightest doubt, Winhart and I owe our salvation! We had been walking +for about ten minutes near some very threatening _séracs_ when a crack +was heard above us a little to the right. Without reasoning, I +instinctively cried, 'Walk quickly!' and I rushed forwards, while +someone behind me exclaimed, 'Not in that direction!' + +"I heard nothing more; the wind of the avalanche caught me and carried +me away in its furious descent. 'Lie down!' I called, and at the same +moment I desperately drove my stick into the harder snow beneath, and +crouched down on hands and knees, my head bent and turned towards the +hurricane. I felt the blocks of ice passing over my back, particles of +snow were swept against my face, and I was deafened by a terrible +cracking sound like thunder. + +"It was only after eight or ten minutes that the air began to clear, +and then, always clinging to my axe, I perceived Winhart 6 feet below +me, with the point of his stick firmly planted in the ice. The rope by +which we were tied to each other was intact. I saw nothing beyond +Winhart except the remains of the cloud of snow and a chaos of +ice-blocks spread over an area of about 600 feet. + +"I called out at the top of my voice--no answer--I became like a +madman, I burst out crying, I began to call out again--always the +same silence--the silence of death. + +"I pulled out my axe, I untied the rope which joined us, and both of +us, with what energy remained to us, with our brains on fire and our +hearts oppressed with grief, commenced to explore in every direction +the enormous mountain of shattered ice-blocks which lay below us. +Finally, about 150 feet further down I saw a knapsack--then a man. It +was François Tournier, his face terribly mutilated, and his skull +smashed in by a piece of ice. The cord had been broken between +Tournier and the man next to him. We continued our search in the +neighbourhood of his body, but after two hours' work could find +nothing more. It was vain to make further efforts! Nothing was visible +amongst the masses of _débris_, as big as houses, and we had no tools +except my axe and Winhart's stick. We drew the body of poor Tournier +after us as far as the Grand Plateau, and with what strength remained +to us we descended as fast as we could towards the hut at the Grands +Mulets, where a terrible ordeal awaited me--the announcement of the +catastrophe to Miss Arkwright. + +"The poor child was sitting quietly occupied with her sketching. + +"'Well, Sylvain!' she cried on seeing me, 'All has gone well?' + +"'Not altogether, Mademoiselle,' I replied, not knowing how to begin. + +"Mademoiselle looked at me, noticed my bent head and my eyes full of +tears--she rose, came towards me--'What is the matter? Tell me all!' + +"I could only answer, 'Have courage, Mademoiselle.' + +"She understood me. The brave young girl knelt down and prayed for a +few moments, and then got up pale, calm, dry-eyed. 'Now you can tell +me everything,' she said, 'I am ready.' + + * * * * * + +"She insisted on accompanying me at once to Chamonix, where she, in +her turn, would have to break the sad tidings to her mother and +sister. + +"At the foot of the mountain the sister of Mademoiselle met us, happy +and smiling. + +"Do not ask me any more details of that awful day, I have not the +strength to tell them to you." + + * * * * * + +Thirty-one years passed, when, in 1897, Colonel Arkwright, a brother +of Henry Arkwright's, received the following telegram from the Mayor +of Chamonix: + +"Restes Henry Arkwright peri Mont Blanc 1866 retrouvés." + +Once more the glacier had given up its dead, and during these +thirty-one years the body of Henry Arkwright had descended 9000 feet +in the ice and had been rendered back to his family at the foot of the +glacier. + +The remains of the Englishman were buried at Chamonix, and perhaps +never has so pathetic a service been held there as that which +consigned to the earth what was left of him who thirty-one years +before had been snatched away in the mighty grip of the avalanche. + +Many belongings of the lost one's came by degrees to light. A +pocket-handkerchief was intact, and on it as well as on his +shirt-front, Henry Arkwright's name and that of his regiment written +in marking-ink were legible. Though the shirt was torn to pieces, yet +two of the studs and the collar-stud were still in the button-holes +and uninjured. The gold pencil-case (I have handled it), opened and +shut as smoothly as it had ever done, and on the watch-chain there was +not a scratch. A pair of gloves were tied together with a boot-lace +which his sister remembered taking from her own boot so that he might +have a spare one, and coins, a used cartridge, and various other odds +and ends, were all recovered from the ice. + +The remains of the guides had been found and brought down soon after +the accident, but that of Henry Arkwright had been buried too deeply +to be discovered. + +In connection with the preservation of bodies in ice the following +extract from _The Daily Telegraph_ for 10th May 1902 is of great +interest. It is headed: + +MAMMOTH 8000 YEARS OLD + + Reuter's representative has had an interview with Mr J. + Talbot Clifton, who has lately returned from an expedition + in Northern Siberia, undertaken for the purpose of + discovering new species of animals. + + Mr Clifton gives the following account of the Herz mammoth, + which he saw on his arrival at Irkutsk. "It is," he said, + "about the size of an elephant, which it resembles somewhat + in form. It possesses a trunk, has five toes instead of + four, and is a heavy beast. It is supposed to have lived + about 8000 years ago. Its age was probably not more than + twenty-six years--very young for a mammoth. Its flesh was + quite complete, except for a few pieces which had been + bitten at by wolves or bears. Most of the hair on the body + had been scraped away by ice, but its mane and near foreleg + were in perfect preservation and covered with long hair. + The hair of the mane was from 4 in. to 5 in. long, and of a + yellowish brown colour, while its left leg was covered with + black hair. In its stomach was found a quantity of + undigested food, and on its tongue was the herbage which it + had been eating when it died. This was quite green." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] _The Annals of Mont Blanc_, by C. E. Mathews. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MOST TERRIBLE OF ALL ALPINE TRAGEDIES + + +There is no great mountain in the Alps so easy to ascend as Mont +Blanc. There is not one on which there has been such a deplorable loss +of life. The very facility with which Mont Blanc can be climbed has +tempted hundreds of persons totally unused to and unfitted for +mountaineering to go up it, while the tariff for the guides--£4 +each--has called into existence a crowd of incapable and inexperienced +men who are naturally unable, when the need for it arrives, to face +conditions that masters of craft would have avoided by timely retreat. + +The great danger of Mont Blanc is its enormous size, and to be lost on +its slopes in a snow-storm which may continue for days is an +experience few have survived. On a rocky mountain there are landmarks +which are of the utmost value in time of fog, but when all is snow and +the tracks are obliterated as soon as made, can we wonder if the +results have been disastrous when a poorly equipped party has +encountered bad weather? + +Of all the sad accidents which have happened on Mont Blanc, none +exceeds in pathos that in which Messrs Bean, M'Corkindale, Randall, +and eight guides perished. None of these gentlemen had any experience +of mountaineering. Stimulated rather than deterred by the account +given by two climbers who had just come down from the mountain, and +had had a narrow escape owing to bad weather, these three men, with +their guides, who were "probably about the worst who were then on the +Chamonix roll," set out for the Grands Mulets. The weather was +doubtful, nevertheless the next morning they started upwards, leaving +their only compass at their night quarters. + +During the whole of that 6th of September the big telescope at the +Châlet of Plan-Praz above Chamonix was fixed on their route, but they +could only be seen from time to time, as the mountain was constantly +hidden by driving clouds. At last they were observed close to the +rocks known as the Petits Mulets not far below the summit. It was then +a quarter past two o'clock. There was a terrific wind, and the snow +was whirled in clouds. The party could be seen lying down on the +ground, to avoid being swept away by the hurricane. + + [Illustration: These small figures, in a waste of Snow, may help to + give some faint idea of the extent of Alpine Snow-fields.] + +The Chamonix guide, Sylvain Couttet, had gone to the châlet of +Pierre-Pointue, where the riding path ends, to await the return of the +climbers. On the morning of the 7th, as there was still no sign of +them, Sylvain became uneasy, and mounting to an eminence not far off, +from which he could see nearly all the route to the Grands Mulets, he +carefully searched for tracks with the aid of his telescope. Snow had +fallen during the night, yet there was no trace of footsteps. +Seriously alarmed, Sylvain hurried back to Pierre-Pointue, sent a man +who was there to Chamonix in order that a search party might be held +in readiness, and accompanied by the servant of the little inn he went +up the Grands Mulets. Sylvain had arranged that if no one was there he +would put out a signal and the search party would then ascend without +delay. On reaching the hut at the Grands Mulets his worst fears were +realised--it was empty. He now quickly regained Chamonix from where +fourteen guides were just starting. He remounted with them +immediately. By the time they got a little way above Pierre-Pointue, +the snow was again falling heavily, it was impossible to go further. +Next day the weather was so bad that the party had to descend to +Chamonix, and for several days longer the rain in the valley and the +snow on the heights continued. + +On the 15th the weather cleared, and Sylvain went up to Plan-Praz to +see if from there any traces of the lost ones could be discovered with +the telescope. The first glance showed him five black specks near the +Petit Mulets, which could be nothing else but the bodies of some of +the victims. On the 16th, with twenty-three other guides, Sylvain +spent the night at the Grands Mulets. The 17th, they mounted to the +spot they had examined with the telescope, and there they found the +bodies of Mr M'Corkindale and two porters. Three hundred feet higher +was Mr Bean, with his head leaning on his hand, and by him another +porter. These were in a perfectly natural position, whereas the others +appeared to have slipped to where they were, as their clothes were +torn, and the ropes, knapsacks (still containing food), sticks, and so +on, lay by the others above. + +The five bodies were frozen hard. As complete a search as possible was +now made for the remaining six members of the party, but without +success. Probably they fell either into a crevasse or down the Italian +side of the mountain. + +It is no wonder that Mr Mathews calls this "the most lamentable +catastrophe ever known in the annals of Alpine adventure." + +But the most pathetic part of the story is to come. + +During those terrible, hopeless hours Mr Bean had made notes of what +was happening, and they tell us all we shall ever know about the +disaster: + +"_Tuesday, 6th September._--I have made the ascent of Mont Blanc with +ten persons--eight guides, Mr M'Corkindale, and Mr Randall. We arrived +at the summit at half-past two o'clock. Immediately after leaving it I +was enveloped in clouds of snow. We passed the night in a grotto +excavated out of the snow, affording very uncomfortable shelter, and I +was ill all night. _7th September, morning._--Intense cold--much snow, +which falls uninterruptedly. Guides restless. _7th September, +evening._--We have been on Mont Blanc for two days in a terrible +snowstorm; we have lost our way, and are in a hole scooped out of the +snow at a height of 15,000 feet. I have no hope of descending. Perhaps +this book may be found and forwarded. We have no food. My feet are +already frozen, and I am exhausted. I have only strength to write a +few words. I die in the faith of Jesus Christ, with affectionate +thoughts of my family--my remembrance to all. I trust we may meet in +heaven." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A WONDERFUL SLIDE DOWN A WALL OF ICE + + +Twice at least in the Alps climbers have lost their footing at the top +of a steep slope, and rolled down it for so long a distance that it +seemed impossible they could survive. The two plucky mountaineers who +have competed in an involuntary race to the bottom of a frozen +hillside are Mr Birkbeck, in his famous slide near Mont Blanc, and Mr +Whymper, when he made his startling glissade on the Matterhorn. + +It was in July 1861 that a party of friends, whose names are well +known to all climbers, set out to cross a high glacier pass in the +chain of Mont Blanc. The Revs. Leslie Stephen, Charles Hudson, and +Messrs Tuckett, Mather, and Birkbeck were the travellers, while in +addition to the three magnificent guides, Melchior Anderegg, Perren, +and Bennen, there were two local guides from the village of St +Gervais. + +Let me give the account of the accident in Mr Hudson's own words. How +sad to think that, only four years later, this capable and brave +mountaineer himself perished on the grim north slopes of the +Matterhorn! + +The Col de Miage is reached by a steep slope of ice or frozen snow, +and is just a gap in the chain of peaks which runs south-west from +Mont Blanc. Col is the word used for a pass in French-speaking +districts. + +"On the morning of the 11th, at 3.30, we left the friendly rock on or +near which we had passed the night, and at 7 o'clock we had reached +the summit of the Col de Miage. Here we sat down on a smooth, hard +plain of snow, and had our second breakfast. Shortly afterwards +Birkbeck had occasion to leave us for a few minutes, though his +departure was not remarked at the time. When we discovered his +absence, Melchior followed his footsteps, and I went after him, and, +to our dismay, we saw the tracks led to the edge of the ice-slope, and +then suddenly stopped. The conclusion was patent at a glance. I was +fastening two ropes together, and Melchior had already bound one end +round his chest, with a view to approach or even descend a portion of +the slope for a better view, when some of the party descried Birkbeck +a long way below us. He had fallen an immense distance. + +"My first impulse led me to wish that Melchior and I should go down to +Birkbeck as fast as possible, and leave the rest to follow with the +ropes; but on proposing this plan some of the party objected. For a +considerable time Birkbeck shouted to us, not knowing whether we could +see his position. His course had been arrested at a considerable +distance above the bottom of the slope, by what means we know not; and +just below him stretched a snow-covered crevasse, across which he must +pass if he went further. We shouted to him to remain where he was, but +no distinguishable sounds reached him; and to our dismay we presently +saw him gradually moving downwards--then he stopped--again he moved +forwards and again--he was on the brink of the crevasse; but we could +do nothing for him. At length he slipped down upon the slope of snow +which bridged the abyss. I looked anxiously to see if it would support +his weight, and, to my relief, a small black speck continued visible. +This removed my immediate cause of apprehension, and after a time he +moved clear of this frail support down to the point where we +afterwards joined him. Bennen was first in the line, and after we had +descended some distance he untied himself and went down to Birkbeck. +It was 9.30 when we reached him. He told us he was becoming faint and +suffering from cold. On hearing this, Melchoir and I determined to +delay no longer, and, accordingly, unroped and trotted down to the +point where we could descend from the rocks to the slope upon which he +was lying. Arrived at the place, I sat on the snow, and let Birkbeck +lean against me, while I asked him if he felt any internal injury or +if his ribs pained him. His manner of answering gave me strong grounds +for hoping that there was little to fear on that score." + +Mr Hudson gives a graphic description of poor Mr Birkbeck's appearance +when he was found on the snow. "His legs, thighs, and the lower part +of his body were quite naked, with his trousers down about his feet. +By his passage over the snow, the skin was removed from the outside of +the legs and thighs, the knees, and the whole of the lower part of the +back, and part of the ribs, together with some from the nose and +forehead. He had not lost much blood, but he presented a most ghastly +spectacle of bloody raw flesh. This, added to his great prostration, +and our consciousness of the distance and difficulties which separated +him from any bed, rendered the sight most trying. He never lost +consciousness. He afterwards described his descent as one of extreme +rapidity, too fast to allow of his realising the sentiment of fear, +but not sufficiently so to deprive him of thought. Sometimes he +descended feet first, sometimes head first, then he went sideways, and +once or twice he had the sensation of shooting through the air. + +"The slope where he first lost his footing was gentle, and he tried to +stop himself with his fingers and nails, but the snow was too hard. He +had no fear during the descent, owing to the extreme rapidity; but +when he came to a halt on the snow, and was ignorant as to whether we +saw, or could reach him, he experienced deep anguish of mind in the +prospect of a lingering death. Happily, however, the true Christian +principles in which he had been brought up, led him to cast himself +upon the protection of that merciful Being who alone could help him. +His prayers were heard, and immediately answered by the removal of his +fears." + +The account of how the injured man was brought down to the valley is +very exciting. Mr Hudson continues:--"The next thing was to get him +down as fast as possible, and the sledge suggested itself as the most +feasible plan. Only the day before, at Contamines, I had had the +boards made for it, and without them the runners (which, tied +together, served me as an alpenstock) would have been useless. Two or +three attempts were made before I could get the screws to fit the +holes in the boards and runners, and poor Melchior, who was watching +me, began to show signs of despair. At length the operation was +completed, and the sledge was ready. We spread a plaid, coats, and +flannel shirts over the boards, then laid Birkbeck at full length on +them, and covered him as well as we could. + +"Now came the 'tug-of-war,' for the snow was much softened by the sun, +the slope was steep, and there were several crevasses ahead; added to +this, there was difficulty in getting good hold of the sledge, and +every five or six steps one of the bearers plunged so deeply in the +snow that we were obliged to halt. Birkbeck was all the time shivering +so much that the sledge was sensibly shaken, and all the covering we +could give him was but of little use. + +"I was well aware of the great danger Birkbeck was in, owing to the +vast amount of skin which was destroyed, and I felt that every quarter +of an hour saved was of very great importance; still the frequent +delay could not be avoided." + +So matters continued till the party was clear of the glacier. Then Mr +Tuckett went ahead to Chamonix, a ten hours' tramp or so, in search +of an English doctor, and on the way left orders for a carriage to be +sent as far as there was a driving road, to meet the wounded man, and +more men beyond to help in carrying him. The chief part of the +transport was done by the three great guides, Melchoir, Bennen, and +Perren, and was often over "abrupt slopes of rock, which to an +ordinary walker would have appeared difficult, even without anything +to carry. We had so secured Birkbeck with ropes and straps, that he +could not slip off the sledge, otherwise he would on these occasions +at once have parted company with his stretcher, and rolled down the +rocks." + +At last, after incredible toil, they reached the pastures, and at +about three o'clock in the afternoon eight hours after the accident, +they got to the home of one of the guides, where they were able to +make poor Mr Birkbeck more comfortable before undertaking the rest of +the journey, warming his feet and wrapping him in blankets. For two +hours more the poor fellow had to be carried down, and then they met +the carriage, in which he was driven to St Gervais, accompanied by the +doctor from Chamonix. + +Thanks to the skilful treatment and excellent nursing he received, Mr +Birkbeck made a good recovery, though, of course, it was weeks before +he could leave his bed. + +Mr Hudson ends his wonderfully interesting narrative with an account +of a visit he paid later in the season to the place where the accident +happened. He says "The result of our observations is as follows: 'The +height of the Col de Miage is 11,095. The height of the point at which +Birkbeck finally came to a standstill is 9328 feet; so the distance he +fell is, in _perpendicular_ height, 1767 feet." As part of the slope +would be at a gentle angle, one may believe that the slip was over +something like a mile of surface! Mr Hudson continues:--"During the +intervening three weeks, vast changes had taken place in the glacier. +The snowy coating had left the couloir in parts, thus exposing ice in +the line of Birkbeck's course, as well as a rock mid-way in the slope, +against which our poor friend would most likely have struck, had the +accident happened later. + +"This is one of that long chain of providential arrangements, by the +combination of which we were enabled to save Birkbeck's life. + + (1) The recent snow, and favourable state of the glacier, + enabled us to take an easier and much quicker route, if not + the only one possible for a wounded man. + + (2) We had a singularly strong party of guides, without + which we could not have got him down in time to afford any + chance of his recovery. + + (3) If we had not had real efficient men as travellers in + the party we should not have got the telegram sent to + Geneva; and a few hours' delay in the arrival of Dr + Metcalfe would probably have been fatal. + + (4) The day was perfectly calm and cloudless; had there + been wind or absence of sun, the cold might have been too + much for such a shaken system to bear. + + (5) We had with us the very unusual addition of a sledge, + without which it would have been scarcely possible to have + carried him down. + +"One thing there was which greatly lessened the mental trial to those +engaged in bringing Birkbeck down to St Gervais, and afterwards in +attending upon him, and that was, his perfect calmness and +patience--and of these I cannot speak too highly. No doubt it +contributed greatly to his recovery." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AN ADVENTURE ON THE TRIFT PASS + + +Few passes leading out of the Valley of Zermatt are oftener crossed +than the Trift. It is not considered a difficult pass, but the rocks +on the Zinal side are loose and broken and the risk of falling stones +is great at certain hours in the day. The Zinal side of the Trift is +in shadow in the early morning, and therefore most climbers will +either make so early a start from the Zermatt side that they can be +sure of descending the dangerous part before the sun has thawed the +icy fetters which hold the stones together during the night, or else +they will set out from the Zinal side, and sleep at a little inn on a +patch of rocks which jut out from the glacier at the foot of the pass, +from which the top of the Trift can be reached long before there is +any risk from a cannonade. + +One of the earliest explorers of this pass, however, Mr Thomas W. +Hinchliff, neglected the precaution of a sufficiently early start, +and his party very nearly came to grief in consequence. + +He has given us an excellent description in _Peaks, Passes, and +Glaciers_ of what befell after they had got over the great +difficulties, as they seemed in those days, of descending the steep +wall of rock on the Zinal side. I will now begin to quote from his +article: + +"Being thoroughly tired of the rocks, we resolved as soon as possible +to get upon the ice where it swept the base of the precipices. The +surface, however, was furrowed by parallel channels of various +magnitudes; some several feet in depth, formed originally by the +descent of stones and avalanches from the heights; and we found one of +these troughlike furrows skirting the base of the rocks we stood upon. +One by one we entered, flattering ourselves that the covering of snow +would afford us pretty good footing, but this soon failed; the hard +blue ice showed on the surface, and we found ourselves rather in a +difficulty, for the sides of our furrow were higher here than at the +point where we entered it, and so overhanging that it was impossible +to get out. + +"Delay was dangerous, for the _débris_ far below warned us that at any +moment a shower of stones might come flying down our channel; a +glissade was equally dangerous; for, though we might have shot down +safely at an immense speed for some hundreds of feet, we should +finally have been dashed into a sea of crevasses. Cachat in front +solved the puzzle, and showed us how, by straddling with the feet as +far apart as possible, the heel of each foot could find pretty firm +hold in a mixture of half snow and half ice, his broad back, like a +solid rock, being ready to check any slip of those behind him. + +"We were soon safe upon a fine open plateau of the _névé_, where we +threaded our way among a few snow crevasses requiring caution, and +then prepared for a comfortable halt in an apparently safe place. + +"The provision knapsacks were emptied and used as seats; bottles of +red wine were stuck upright in the snow; a goodly leg of cold mutton +on its sheet of paper formed the centre, garnished with hard eggs and +bread and cheese, round which we ranged ourselves in a circle. High +festival was held under the deep blue heavens, and now and then, as we +looked up at the wonderful wall of rocks which we had descended, we +congratulated ourselves on the victory. M. Seiler's oranges supplied +the rare luxury of a dessert, and we were just in the full enjoyment +of the delicacy when a booming sound, like the discharge of a gun far +over our heads, made us all at once glance upwards to the top of the +Trifthorn. Close to its craggy summit hung a cloud of dust, like dirty +smoke, and in few seconds another and a larger one burst forth several +hundred feet lower. A glance through the telescope showed that a fall +of rocks had commenced, and the fragments were leaping down from ledge +to ledge in a series of cascades. The uproar became tremendous; +thousands of fragments making every variety of noise according to +their size, and producing the effect of a fire of musketry and +artillery combined, thundered downwards from so great a height that we +waited anxiously for some considerable time to see them reach the +snow-field below. As nearly as we could estimate the distance, we were +500 yards from the base of the rocks, so we thought that, come what +might, we were in a tolerably secure position. At last we saw many of +the blocks plunge into the snow after taking their last fearful leap; +presently much larger fragments followed; the noise grew fiercer and +fiercer, and huge blocks began to fall so near to us that we jumped to +our feet, preparing to dodge them to the best of our ability. 'Look +out!' cried someone, and we opened out right and left at the approach +of a monster, evidently weighing many hundredweights, which was +coming right at us like a huge shell fired from a mortar. It fell with +a heavy thud not more than 20 feet from us, scattering lumps of snow +into the circle." + +Years afterwards a very sad accident occurred at this spot, a lady +being struck and killed by a falling stone. In this case the fatality +was unquestionably due to the start having been made at too late an +hour. An inn in the Trift Valley makes it easy to reach the pass soon +after dawn. + + +THE PERILS OF THE MOMING PASS. + +In 1864 many peaks remained unsealed, and passes untraversed in the +Zermatt district, though now almost every inch of every mountain has +felt the foot of man. Yet even now few passes have been made there so +difficult and dangerous (if Mr Whymper's route be exactly followed) as +that of the Moming, from Zinal to Zermatt. Mr Whymper gives a most +graphic and exciting description of what befell his party, which +included Mr Moore and the two famous guides Almer and Croz. Having +slept at some filthy châlets, the climbers, first passing over easy +mountain slopes, gained a level glacier. Beyond this a way towards the +unexplored gap in the ridge, which they called the Moming Pass, had +to be decided on. The choice lay between difficult and perhaps +impassable rocks, and an ice-slope so steep and broken that it +appeared likely to turn out impracticable. In fact it was the sort of +position that whichever route was chosen the climbers were sure, when +once on it, to wish it had been the other. Finally, the ice-slope, +over which a line of ice-cliffs hung threateningly, lurching right +above the track to be taken, was decided on, and the whole party +advanced for the attack. Mr Whymper writes: + +"Across this ice-slope Croz now proceeded to cut. It was executing a +flank movement in the face of an enemy by whom we might be attacked at +any moment. The peril was obvious. It was a monstrous folly. It was +foolhardiness. A retreat should have been sounded.[4] + +"'I am not ashamed to confess,' wrote Moore in his Journal, 'that +during the whole time we were crossing this slope my heart was in my +mouth, and I never felt relieved from such a load of care as when, +after, I suppose, a passage of about twenty minutes, we got on to the +rocks and were in safety.... I have never heard a positive oath come +from Almer's mouth, but the language in which he kept up a running +commentary, more to himself than to me, as we went along, was stronger +than I should have given him credit for using. His prominent feeling +seemed to be one of _indignation_ that we should be in such a +position, and self-reproach at being a party to the proceeding; while +the emphatic way in which, at intervals, he exclaimed, 'Quick; be +quick,' sufficiently betokened his alarm. + +"It was not necessary to admonish Croz to be quick. He was fully as +alive to the risk as any of the others. He told me afterwards that +this place was the most dangerous he had ever crossed, and that no +consideration whatever would tempt him to cross it again. Manfully did +he exert himself to escape from the impending destruction. His head, +bent down to his work, never turned to the right or to the left. One, +two, three, went his axe, and then he stepped on to the spot he had +been cutting. How painfully insecure should we have considered those +steps at any other time! But now, we thought only of the rocks in +front, and of the hideous _séracs_, lurching over above us, apparently +in the act of falling. + +"We got to the rocks in safety, and if they had been doubly as +difficult as they were, we should still have been well content. We sat +down and refreshed the inner man, keeping our eyes on the towering +pinnacles of ice under which we had passed, but which, now, were +almost beneath us. Without a preliminary warning sound, one of the +largest--as high as the Monument at London Bridge--fell upon the slope +below. The stately mass heeled over as if upon a hinge (holding +together until it bent thirty degrees forwards), then it crushed out +its base, and, rent into a thousand fragments, plunged vertically down +upon the slope that we had crossed! Every atom of our track that was +in its course was obliterated; all the new snow was swept away, and a +broad sheet of smooth, glassy ice, showed the resistless force with +which it had fallen. + +"It was inexcusable to follow such a perilous path, but it is easy to +understand why it was taken. To have retreated from the place where +Croz suggested a change of plan, to have descended below the reach of +danger, and to have mounted again by the route which Almer suggested, +would have been equivalent to abandoning the excursion; for no one +would have passed another night in the châlet on the Arpitetta Alp. +'Many' says Thucydides, 'though seeing well the perils ahead, are +forced along by fear of dishonour--as the world calls it--so that, +vanquished by a mere word, they fall into irremediable calamities.' +Such was nearly the case here. No one could say a word in +justification of the course which was adopted; all were alive to the +danger that was being encountered; yet a grave risk was +deliberately--although unwillingly--incurred, in preference to +admitting, by withdrawal from an untenable position, that an error of +judgment had been committed. + +"After a laborious trudge over many species of snow, and through many +varieties of vapour--from the quality of a Scotch mist to that of a +London fog--we at length stood on the depression between the Rothhorn +and the Schallhorn.[5] A steep wall of snow was upon the Zinal side of +the summit; but what the descent was like on the other side we could +not tell, for a billow of snow tossed over its crest by the western +winds, suspended o'er Zermatt with motion arrested, resembling an +ocean-wave frozen in the act of breaking, cut off the view.[6] + +"Croz--held hard in by the others, who kept down the Zinal +side--opened his shoulders, flogged down the foam, and cut away the +cornice to its junction with the summit; then boldly leaped down and +called on us to follow him. + +"It was well for us now that we had such a man as leader. An inferior +or less daring guide would have hesitated to enter upon the descent in +a dense mist; and Croz himself would have done right to pause had he +been less magnificent in _physique_. He acted, rather than said, +'Where snow lies fast, there man can go; where ice exists, a way may +be cut; it is a question of power; I have the power--all you have to +do is to follow me.' Truly, he did not spare himself, and could he +have performed the feats upon the boards of a theatre that he did upon +this occasion, he would have brought down the house with thunders of +applause. Here is what Moore wrote in _his_ Journal "('The descent +bore a strong resemblance to the Col de Pilatte, but was very much +steeper and altogether more difficult, which is saying a good deal. +Croz was in his element, and selected his way with marvellous +sagacity, while Almer had an equally honourable and, perhaps, more +responsible post in the rear, which he kept with his usual +steadiness.... One particular passage has impressed itself on my mind +as one of the most nervous I have ever made. We had to pass along a +crest of ice, a mere knife-edge,--on our left a broad crevasse, whose +bottom was lost in blue haze, and on our right, at an angle of 70°, or +more, a slope falling to a similar gulf below. Croz, as he went along +the edge, chipped small notches in the ice, in which we placed our +feet, with the toes well turned out, doing all we knew to preserve our +balance. While stepping from one of these precarious footholds to +another, I staggered for a moment. I had not really lost my footing; +but the agonised tone in which Almer, who was behind me, on seeing me +waver, exclaimed, "Slip not, sir!" gave us an even livelier impression +than we already had of the insecurity of the position.... One huge +chasm, whose upper edge was far above the lower one, could neither be +leaped nor turned, and threatened to prove an insuperable barrier. But +Croz showed himself equal to the emergency. Held up by the rest of the +party, he cut a series of holes for the hands and feet down and along +the almost perpendicular wall of ice forming the upper side of the +_schrund_. Down this slippery staircase we crept, with our faces to +the wall, until a point was reached where the width of the chasm was +not too great for us to drop across. Before we had done, we got quite +accustomed to taking flying leaps over the _schrunds_.... To make a +long story short; after a most desperate and exciting struggle, and as +bad a piece of ice-work as it is possible to imagine, we emerged on to +the upper plateau of the Hohlicht Glacier.')" + +From here, in spite of many further difficulties necessitating a long +_detour_, the party safely descended to Zermatt by the familiar Trift +path. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] The responsibility did not rest with Croz. His part was to advise, +but not to direct. + +[5] The summit of the pass has been marked on Dufour's map, 3793 +mètres, or 12,444 feet. + +[6] These snow-cornices are common on the crests of high mountain +ridges, and it is always prudent (just before arriving upon the summit +of a mountain or ridge), to _sound_ with the alpenstock, that is to +say, drive it in, to discover whether there is one or not. Men have +often narrowly escaped losing their lives from neglecting this +precaution. + +These cornices are frequently rolled round in a volute, and sometimes +take extravagant forms. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AN EXCITING PASSAGE OF THE COL DE PILATTE + + +Even now the valleys and mountains of Dauphiné are neglected in +comparison with the ranges of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, and other famous +mountain chains of the Alps. In 1864, when Mr Whymper with his friends +Messrs Moore and Walker undertook a summer campaign there, it was +practically unexplored from the climbers' point of view. The party was +a skilful and experienced one, the guides, Almer and Croz, of the +highest class, and the _esprit de corps_ in the little army of +invasion most admirable. Thus it is no wonder that peak after peak +fell before them, passes were accomplished at the first assault, and +no accident or annoyance spoilt the splendid series of expeditions +which were so successfully accomplished. Of these I have taken the +account of the crossing of the Col de Pilatte, a high glacier pass, +for, though it was excelled in difficulty by other climbs, yet it is +so wittily described by Mr Whymper in his _Scrambles in the Alps_, +and gives so excellent an idea of the sort of work met with on +glaciers, and the ease with which a thoroughly competent party tackles +it, that it cannot fail to be read with interest. + +The three Englishmen had been joined by a French friend of theirs, +Monsieur Reynaud, and had left their night quarters at Entraigues at +3.30 A.M. on the morning of 27th June. Their course was prodigiously +steep. _In less than two miles difference of latitude they rose one +mile of absolute height._ The route, however, was not really +difficult, and they made good progress. They had reached the foot of +the steep part when I take up the narrative in Mr Whymper's own words: + +"At 9.30 A.M. we commenced the ascent of the couloir leading from the +nameless glacier to a point in the ridge, just to the east of Mont +Bans.[7] So far the route had been nothing more than a steep grind in +an angle where little could be seen, but now views opened out in +several directions, and the way began to be interesting. It was more +so, perhaps, to us than to our companion M. Reynaud, who had no rest +in the last night. He was, moreover, heavily laden. Science was to be +regarded--his pockets were stuffed with books; heights and angles were +to be observed--his knapsack was filled with instruments; hunger was +to be guarded against--his shoulders were ornamented with a huge +nimbus of bread, and a leg of mutton swung behind from his knapsack, +looking like an overgrown tail. Like a good-hearted fellow he had +brought this food thinking we might be in need of it. As it happened, +we were well provided for, and, having our own packs to carry, could +not relieve him of his superfluous burdens, which, naturally, he did +not like to throw away. As the angles steepened, the strain on his +strength became more and more apparent. At last he began to groan. At +first a most gentle and mellow groan; and as we rose so did his +groans, till at last the cliffs were groaning in echo, and we were +moved to laughter. + + [Illustration: START OF A CLIMBING PARTY BY MOONLIGHT.] + + [Illustration: SHADOWS AT SUNRISE.] + + [Illustration: A STANDING GLISSADE.] + + [Illustration: AN EASY DESCENT.] + +"Croz cut the way with unflagging energy throughout the whole of the +ascent, and at 10.45 we stood on the summit of our pass, intending to +refresh ourselves with a good halt; but just at that moment a mist, +which had been playing about the ridge, swooped down and blotted out +the whole of the view on the northern side. Croz was the only one who +caught a glimpse of the descent, and it was deemed advisable to +push on immediately, while its recollection was fresh in his memory. +We are consequently unable to tell anything about the summit of the +pass, except that it lies immediately to the east of Mont Bans, and is +elevated about 11,300 feet above the level of the sea. It is one of +the highest passes in Dauphiné. We called it the Col de Pilatte. + +"We commenced to descend towards the Glacier de Pilatte by a slope of +smooth ice, the face of which, according to the measurement of Mr +Moore, had an inclination of 54°! Croz still led, and the others +followed at intervals of about 15 feet, all being tied together, and +Almer occupying the responsible position of last man: the two guides +were therefore about 70 feet apart. They were quite invisible to each +other from the mist, and looked spectral even to us. But the strong +man could be heard by all hewing out the steps below, while every now +and then the voice of the steady man pierced the cloud: 'Slip not, +dear sirs; place well your feet; stir not until you are certain.' + +"For three-quarters of an hour we progressed in this fashion. The axe +of Croz all at once stopped. 'What is the matter, Croz?' 'Bergschrund, +gentlemen.' 'Can we get over?' 'Upon my word, I don't know; I think we +must jump.' The clouds rolled away right and left as he spoke. The +effect was dramatic! It was a _coup de théâtre_, preparatory to the +'great sensation leap' which was about to be executed by the entire +company. + +"Some unseen cause, some cliff or obstruction in the rocks underneath, +had caused our wall of ice to split into two portions, and the huge +fissure which had thus been formed extended, on each hand, as far as +could be seen. We, on the slope above, were separated from the slope +below by a mighty crevasse. No running up and down to look for an +easier place to cross could be done on an ice-slope of 54°; the chasm +had to be passed then and there. + +"A downward jump of 15 or 16 feet, and a forward leap of 7 or 8 feet +had to be made at the same time. That is not much, you will say. It +was not much. It was not the quantity, but it was the quality of the +jump which gave to it its particular flavour. You had to hit a narrow +ridge of ice. If that was passed, it seemed as if you might roll down +for ever and ever. If it was not attained, you dropped into the +crevasse below, which, although partly choked by icicles and snow that +had fallen from above, was still gaping in many places, ready to +receive an erratic body. + +"Croz untied Walker in order to get rope enough, and warning us to +hold fast, sprang over the chasm. He alighted cleverly on his feet; +untied himself and sent up the rope to Walker, who followed his +example. It was then my turn, and I advanced to the edge of the ice. +The second which followed was what is called a supreme moment. That is +to say, I felt supremely ridiculous. The world seemed to revolve at a +frightful pace, and my stomach to fly away. The next moment I found +myself sprawling in the snow, and then, of course, vowed that it was +nothing, and prepared to encourage my friend Reynaud. + +"He came to the edge and made declarations. I do not believe that he +was a whit more reluctant to pass the place than we others, but he was +infinitely more demonstrative--in a word, he was French. He wrung his +hands, 'Oh! what a _diable_ of a place!' 'It is nothing, Reynaud,' I +said, 'it is nothing.' 'Jump,' cried the others, 'jump.' But he turned +round, as far as one can do such a thing in an ice-step, and covered +his face with his hands, ejaculating, 'Upon my word, it is not +possible. No! no! no! it is not possible.' + +"How he came over I scarcely know. We saw a toe--it seemed to belong +to Moore; we saw Reynaud a flying body, coming down as if taking a +header into water; with arms and legs all abroad, his leg of mutton +flying in the air, his bâton escaped from his grasp; and then we heard +a thud as if a bundle of carpets had been pitched out of a window. +When set upon his feet he was a sorry spectacle; his head was a great +snowball; brandy was trickling out of one side of the knapsack, +chartreuse out of the other--we bemoaned its loss, but we roared with +laughter. + +"I cannot close this chapter without paying tribute to the ability +with which Croz led us, through a dense mist, down the remainder of +the Glacier de Pilatte. As an exhibition of strength and skill, it has +seldom been surpassed in the Alps or elsewhere. On this almost unknown +and very steep glacier, he was perfectly at home, even in the mists. +Never able to see 50 feet ahead, he still went on with the utmost +certainty, and without having to retrace a single step; and displayed +from first to last consummate knowledge of the materials with which he +was dealing. Now he cut steps down one side of a _sérac_, went with a +dash at the other side, and hauled us up after him; then cut away +along a ridge until a point was gained from which we could jump on to +another ridge; then, doubling back, found a snow-bridge, over which he +crawled on hands and knees, towed us across by the legs, ridiculing +our apprehensions, mimicking our awkwardness, declining all help, +bidding us only to follow him. + +"About 1 P.M. we emerged from the mist and found ourselves just +arrived upon the level portion of the glacier, having, as Reynaud +properly remarked, come down as quickly as if there had not been any +mist at all. Then we attacked the leg of mutton which my friend had so +thoughtfully brought with him, and afterwards raced down, with renewed +energy, to La Bérarde." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[7] The upper part of the southern side of the Col de Pilatte, and the +small glaciers spoken of on p. 211, can be seen from the high road +leading from Briançon to Mont Dauphin, between the 12th and 13th +kilomètre stones (from Briançon). + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN ADVENTURE ON THE ALETSCH GLACIER + + +Mr William Longman, a former Vice-President of the Alpine Club, has +given us an interesting account in _The Alpine Journal_ of an exciting +adventure which happened to his son in August 1862. + +The party, consisting of Mr Longman, his son, aged fifteen, two +friends, two guides, and a porter, set out one lovely morning from the +Eggischhorn Hotel for an excursion on the Great Aletsch Glacier. The +names of the guides were Fedier and Andreas Weissenflüh. + +Mr Longman writes:--"We started in high spirits; the glacier was in +perfect order; no fresh snow covered the ice; the crevasses were all +unhidden; and no one thought it necessary to use the rope. I felt it +to be a wise precaution, however, to place my son, a boy of fifteen +years of age, under the care of the Eggischhorn porter. It was his +second visit to Switzerland, and he could, I am sure, have taken good +care of himself, but I felt it was my duty to place him under the care +of a guide. I have no wish to throw undeserved blame on the guide; but +his carelessness was unquestionably the cause of the accident. He +began wrong, and I ought to have interfered. He tied his handkerchief +in a knot, and, holding it himself, gave it to my son to hold also in +his hand. This was worse than useless, and, in fact, was the cause of +danger, for it partly deprived him of that free and active use of his +limbs which is essential to safety. It threw him off his guard. Except +at a crevasse, it was unnecessary for the boy to have anything to hold +by; and, at a crevasse, the handkerchief would have been insufficient. +The impression that there was no real danger, and that all that was +required was caution in crossing the crevasses, prevented my +interfering. So the guide went on, his hand holding the handkerchief +behind him, and my son following, his hand also holding the +handkerchief. Many a time I complained to the guide that he took my +boy over wide parts of the crevasses because he would not trouble +himself to diverge from his path, and many a time did I compel him to +turn aside to a narrower chasm. At last, I was walking a few yards to +his left, and had stepped over a narrow crevasse, when I was startled +by an exclamation. I turned round suddenly, and my son was out of +sight! I will not harrow up my own feelings, or those of my readers, +by attempting to describe the frightful anguish that struck me to the +heart; but will only relate, plainly and calmly, all that took place. +When my son fell, the crevasse, which I had crossed so easily, became +wider, and its two sides were joined by a narrow ridge of ice. It was +obviously impossible to ascertain exactly what had taken place; but I +am convinced that the guide went on in his usual thoughtless way, with +his hand behind him, drawing my son after him, and that, as soon as he +placed his foot on the narrow ridge, he slipped and fell. I rushed to +the edge of the crevasse and called out to my poor boy. To my +inexpressible delight he at once answered me calmly and plainly. As I +afterwards ascertained, he was 50 feet from me, and neither could he +see us nor we see him. But he was evidently unhurt; he was not +frightened, and he was not beyond reach. In an instant Weissenflüh was +ready to descend into the crevasse. He buckled on one of my belts,[8] +fixed it to the rope, and told us to lower him down. My two friends +and I, and the other two guides, held on to the rope, and slowly and +gradually, according to Weissenflüh's directions, we paid it out. It +was a slow business, but we kept on encouraging my son, and receiving +cheery answers from him in return. At last Weissenflüh told us, to our +intense joy, that he had reached my son, that he had hold of him, and +that we might haul up. Strongly and steadily we held on, drawing both +the boy and the guide, as we believed, nearer and nearer, till at +length, to our inexpressible horror, we drew up Weissenflüh alone. He +had held my son by the collar of his coat. The cloth was wet, his hand +was cold, and the coat slipped from his grasp. I was told that when my +boy thus again fell he uttered a cry, but either I heard it not or +forgot it. The anguish of the moment prevented my noticing it, and, +fortunately, we none of us lost our presence of mind, but steadily +held on to the rope. Poor Weissenflüh reached the surface exhausted, +dispirited, overwhelmed with grief. He threw himself on the glacier in +terrible agony. In an instant Fedier was ready to descend, and we +began to lower him; but the crevasse was narrow, and Fedier could not +squeeze himself through the ice. We had to pull him up again before he +had descended many feet. By this time the brave young Weissenflüh had +recovered, and was ready again to go down. But we thought it desirable +to take the additional precaution of lowering the other rope, with one +of the belts securely fixed to it. My son quickly got hold of it, and +placed the belt round his body, but he told us his hands were too cold +to buckle it. Weissenflüh now again descended, and soon he told us he +had fixed the belt. With joyful heart some hauled away at one rope and +some at the other, till at length, after my son had been buried in the +ice for nearly half an hour, both he and the guide were brought to the +surface.... Let a veil rest over the happiness of meeting. My boy's +own account of what befell him is, that he first fell sideways on to a +ledge in the crevasse, and then vertically, but providentially with +his feet downwards, till his progress was arrested by the narrowness +of the crevasse. He says he is sure he was stopped by being wedged in, +because his feet were hanging loose. His arms were free. He believes +the distance he fell, when Weissenflüh dropped him, was about three or +four yards, and that he fell to nearly, but not quite, the same place +as that to which he fell at first, and that, in his first position, he +could not have put the belt on. His fall was evidently a slide for the +greater part of the distance; had it been a sheer fall it would have +been impossible to escape severe injury." + + +A LOYAL COMPANION + +The following is taken from _The Times_ of 23rd July 1886. + +"On Tuesday, 13th July, Herr F. Burckhardt, member of the Basel +section of the Swiss Alpine Club, accompanied by the guides Fritz +Teutschmann and Johann Jossi, both from Grindelwald, made an attempt +to ascend the Jungfrau from the side of the Little Scheideck. After +leaving the Guggi cabin the party mounted the glacier of the same +name. The usual precautions were of course taken--that is to say, the +three men were roped together, Herr Burckhardt in the middle, one of +the guides before, the other behind him. When the climbers reached the +_séracs_, at a point marked on the Siegfried Karte as being at an +elevation of 2700 mètres, an enormous piece of ice broke off from the +upper part of the glacier, and came thundering down. Although by good +fortune the mass of the avalanche did not sweep across the path of the +three men, they were struck by several large blocks of ice, and sent +flying. Jossi, who was leading, went head first into a crevasse of +unfathomable depth, dragging after him Herr Burckhardt, who, however, +contrived to hold on to the edge of the crevasse, but in such a +position that he could not budge, and was unable to help either +himself or Jossi. Their lives at that moment depended absolutely on +the staunchness of Teutschmann, who alone had succeeded in keeping his +feet. It was beyond his power to do more; impossible by his own +unaided strength to haul up the two men who hung by the rope. If he +had given way a single step all three would have been precipitated to +the bottom of the crevasse. So there he stood, with feet and ice-axe +firmly planted, holding on for dear life, conscious that the end was a +mere question of time, and a very short time; his strength was rapidly +waning, and then? It would have been easy for the two to escape by +sacrificing the third. One slash of Burckhardt's knife would have +freed both Teutschmann and himself. But no such dastardly idea +occurred to either of them. They were resolved to live or die +together. Half an hour passed; they had almost abandoned hope, and +Teutschmann's forces were well-nigh spent, when help came just in time +to save them. The same morning another party, consisting of two German +tourists, and the two guides Peter Schlegel and Rudolph Kaufmann, had +started from the Little Scheideck for the Jungfrau, and coming on +traces of Burckhardt's party had followed them up, and arrived +before it was too late on the scene of the accident. Without wasting a +moment Schlegel went down into the crevasse and fastened Jossi to +another rope, so that those above were enabled to draw him up and +release Burckhardt and Teutschmann. Jossi, although bruised and +exhausted, was able to walk to the Scheideck, and all reached +Grindelwald in safety." + + [Illustration: ON A SNOW-COVERED GLACIER. + + The party is crossing a Snow Bridge, and the rope between the centre + and last man is too slack for safety.] + +When it is remembered how few people make this expedition, the escape +of Mr Burckhardt's party is the more wonderful, and would not have +been possible unless other climbers had taken the same route that day. +This way up the Jungfrau is always somewhat exposed to falling ice, +though sometimes it is less dangerous than at other times. As the +editor of _The Alpine Journal_ has written, "no amount of experience +can avail against falling missiles, and the best skill of the +mountaineer is shown in keeping out of their way." + + +A BRAVE GUIDE + +The brave actions of guides are so many in number that it would be +impossible to tell of them all, and many noble deeds have never found +their way into print. The following, however, is related of a guide +with whom I have made many ascents, and is furthermore referred to in +_The Alpine Journal_ as "an act of bravery for which it would be hard +to find a parallel in the annals of mountaineering." + +On 1st September 1898, a party of two German gentlemen with a couple +of guides went up Piz Palü, a glacier-clad peak frequently ascended +from Pontresina. One of the guides was a Tyrolese, Klimmer by name, +the other a native of the Engadine, Schnitzler. + +They had completed the ascent of the actual peak, and were on their +way down, some distance below the Bellavista Saddle. Here there are +several large crevasses, and the slope is very steep at this point. I +remember passing down it with Schnitzler the previous January, and +finding much care needed to cross a big chasm. Schnitzler was leading, +then came the two travellers, finally the Tyrolese, who came down last +man. Suddenly Schnitzler, who must have stepped on a snow-bridge, and +Herr Nasse dropped without a sound into the chasm. Dr Borchardt was +dragged some steps after them, but managed to check himself on the +very brink of the abyss. Behind was Klimmer, but on so steep a surface +that he could give no help beyond standing firm. At last, after some +anxious moments, came a call from below, "Pull!" They did their best +but in vain. "My God!" cried Schnitzler from below, "I can't get +out!" A period of terrible apprehension followed. Herr Nasse was +entreated to try and help a little, or to cut himself free from the +rope, as he appeared to be suffering greatly. But he was helpless, +hanging with the rope pressing his chest till he could hardly breathe, +and cried out that he could stand it no longer. Dr Borchardt made a +plucky attempt to render assistance, and the desperate endeavour +nearly caused him to fall also into the crevasse. + + [Illustration: Martin Schocher standing, Schnitzler sitting. On the + Summit of Crast' Agüzza in Mid-Winter.] + + [Illustration: A projecting Cornice of Snow, which might fall at any + moment. The accident on the Lyskamm, described on page 35, was due to + the breaking of a Cornice.] + + [Illustration: Between Earth and Sky (page 163).] + + [Illustration: An extremely narrow Snow Ridge, but a much easier one + to pass than that described by Mr Moore (page 160)] + +The position was terrible, and Herr Nasse was at the end of his +forces. He called out in a dying voice that he could bear no more--it +was the last time he spoke. + +Of Schnitzler nothing was heard, and the others could not tell if he +were still alive. + +But while this terrible scene was passing, Schnitzler had performed an +act of the highest bravery. First he had tried, by using his axe, to +climb out of the icy prison where he hung. This he could not do, so +steadying himself against the glassy wall, he deliberately cut himself +loose from the rope. He dropped to the floor of the crevasse, which, +luckily, was not of extraordinary depth, and being uninjured, he set +himself to find a way out. He followed the crevasse along its entire +length, and discovered a little ledge of ice, with the aid of which, +panting and exhausted, he reached the surface. + +But even with Schnitzler's help it was impossible to raise Herr Nasse +out of the chasm. The rope had cut deeply into the snow. He hung +underneath an eave of the soft surface and could not be moved. Another +willing helper, an Englishman, now came up, and after a time the +body--for Herr Nasse had not survived--was lowered to the floor of the +crevasse. Every effort was made to restore animation, but with no +result, and there was nothing left to do but leave that icy grave and +descend to the valley. Herr Nasse had suffered from a weak heart and +an attack of pleurisy, and these gave him but a poor chance of +withstanding the terrible pressure of the rope. Dr Scriven, from whose +spirited translation from the German I have taken my facts, remarks +that, "The death of Professor Nasse seems to emphasize a warning, +already painfully impressed on us by the loss of Mr Norman Neruda, +that there are special dangers awaiting those whose vital organs are +not perfectly sound, and who undertake the exertion and fatigue of +long and difficult climbs." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] In the early days of mountaineering it was the custom to pass the +rope through a ring or spring-hook attached to a strong leather belt, +instead of, as now, attaching it in a loop round the body of each +climber. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A WONDERFUL FEAT BY TWO LADIES + + +One of the highest and hardest passes in the Alps is the Sesia-Joch, +13,858 feet high, near Monte Rosa. The well-known mountaineer, Mr +Ball, writing in 1863, referred to its first passage by Messrs George +and Moore, as "amongst the most daring of Alpine exploits," and +expressed a doubt whether it would ever be repeated. The party went +_up_ the steep Italian side (on the other, or Swiss side, it is quite +easy). We can, therefore, judge of the astonishment of the members of +the Alpine Club when they learnt that in 1869 "two ladies had not only +crossed this most redoubtable of glacier passes, but crossed it from +Zermatt to Alagna, thus descending the wall of rock, the ascent of +which had until then been looked on as an extraordinary feat for +first-rate climbers." The following extract from an Italian paper, +aided by the notes communicated by the Misses Pigeon to _The Alpine +Journal_, fully explains how this accidental but brilliant feat of +mountaineering was happily brought to a successful termination. + +"On 11th August 1869, Miss Anna and Miss Ellen Pigeon, of London, were +at the Riffel Hotel, above Zermatt, with the intention of making the +passage of the Lys-Joch on the next day, in order to reach Gressonay. +Starting at 3 A.M. on the 12th, accompanied by Jean Martin, guide of +Sierre, and by a porter, they arrived at 4 A.M. at the Gorner Glacier, +which they crossed rapidly to the great plateau, enclosed between the +Zumstein-Spitz, Signal-Kuppe, Parrot-Spitze, and Lyskamm, where they +arrived at 10 A.M. At this point, instead of bearing to the right, +which is the way to the Lys-Joch, they turned too much towards the +left, so that they found themselves on a spot at the extremity of the +plateau, from which they saw beneath their feet a vast and profound +precipice, terminating at a great depth upon a glacier. The guide had +only once, about four years before, crossed the Lys-Joch, and in these +desert and extraordinary places, where no permanent vestiges remain of +previous passages, he had not remembered the right direction, nor +preserved a very clear idea of the localities. At the sight of the +tremendous precipice he began to doubt whether he might not have +mistaken the way, and, to form a better judgment, he left the ladies +on the Col, half-stiffened with cold from the violence of the north +wind, ascended to the Parrot-Spitze, and advanced towards the +Ludwigshöhe, in order to examine whether along this precipice, which +lay inexorably in front, there might be a place where a passage could +be effected. But wherever he turned his eyes he saw nothing but broken +rocks and couloirs yet more precipitous. + +"In returning to the Col after his fruitless exploration, almost +certain that he had lost his way, he saw among some _débris_ of rock, +an empty bottle (which had been placed there by Messrs George and +Moore in 1862). This discovery persuaded him that here must be the +pass, since some one in passing by the place had there deposited this +bottle. He then applied himself to examining with greater attention +the rocks below, and thought he saw a possibility of descending by +them. He proposed this to the ladies, and they immediately commenced +operations. All being tied together, at proper intervals, with a +strong rope, they began the perilous descent, sometimes over the naked +rock, sometimes over more or less extensive slopes of ice, covered +with a light stratum of snow, in which steps had to be cut. It was +often necessary to stop, in order to descend one after the other by +means of the rope to a point where it might be possible to rest +without being held up. The tremendous precipice was all this time +under their eyes, seeming only to increase as they descended. This +arduous and perilous exertion had continued for more than seven hours +when, towards 6 P.M., the party arrived at a point beyond which all +egress seemed closed. Slippery and almost perpendicular rocks beneath, +right and left, and everywhere; near and around not a space sufficient +to stretch one's self upon, the sun about to set, night at hand! What +a position for the courageous travellers, and for the poor guide on +whom devolved the responsibility of the fatal consequences which +appeared inevitable! + +"Nevertheless, Jean Martin did not lose his courage. Having caused the +ladies to rest on the rocks, he ran right and left, climbing as well +as he could, in search of a passage. For about half an hour he looked +and felt for a way, but in vain. At length it appeared to him that it +would be possible to risk a long descent by some rough projections +which occurred here and there in the rocks. With indescribable labour, +and at imminent peril of rolling as shapeless corpses into the +crevasses of the glacier below, the travellers at length set foot upon +the ice. It was 8 P.M.; they had commenced the descent at 11 A.M.; +they crossed the Sesia Glacier at a running pace, on account of the +increasing darkness of the night, which scarcely allowed them to +distinguish the crevasses. After half an hour they set foot on _terra +firma_ at the moraine above the Alp of Vigne, where they perceived at +no great distance a light, towards which they quickly directed their +steps. The shepherd, named Dazza Dionigi, received them kindly, and +lodged them for the night. Until they arrived at the Alp, both the +ladies and the guide believed that they had made the pass of the +Lys-Joch, and that they were now upon an Alp of Gressonay. It was, +therefore, not without astonishment that they learned from the +shepherd that, instead of this, they were at the head of the Val +Sesia, and that they had accomplished the descent of the formidable +Sesia-Joch." + + [Illustration: EXTERIOR OF A CLIMBER'S HUT.] + + [Illustration: INTERIOR OF A CLIMBER'S HUT.] + +As an accompaniment to the foregoing highly-coloured narrative, the +following modest notes, sent to _The Alpine Journal_ by the Misses +Pigeon, will be read with interest: + +"All mountaineers are aware how much the difficulty of a pass is +lessened or increased by the state of the weather. In this we were +greatly favoured. For some days it had been very cold and wet at the +Riffel; and when we crossed the Sesia-Joch we found sufficient snow in +descending the ice-slope to give foothold, which decreased the labour +of cutting steps--the axe was only brought into requisition whenever +we traversed to right or left. Had the weather been very hot we should +have been troubled with rolling stones. It was one of those clear, +bright mornings so favourable for mountain excursions. Our guide had +only once before crossed the Lys-Joch, four years previously, and on a +very misty day. We were, therefore, careful to engage a porter who +professed to know the way. The latter proved of no use whatever except +to carry a knapsack. + +"We take the blame to ourselves of missing the Lys-Joch; for, on +making the discovery of the porter's ignorance, we turned to _Ball's +Guide Book_, and repeatedly translated to Martin a passage we found +there, warning travellers to avoid keeping too much to the right near +the Lyskamm. The result of our interference was that Martin kept too +much to the left, and missed the Lys-Joch altogether. + +"When we perceived the abrupt termination of the actual Col, we all +ascended, with the aid of step-cutting, along the slope of the +Parrot-Spitze, until we came to a place where a descent seemed +feasible. Martin searched for a better passage, but, after all, we +took to the ice-slope, at first, for a little way, keeping on the +rocks. Finding the slope so very rapid, we doubted whether we could +be right in descending it; for we remembered that the descent of the +Lys-Joch is described by Mr Ball as _easy_. We therefore retraced our +steps up the slope to our former halting-place, thus losing +considerable time, for it was now twelve o'clock. Then it was that +Martin explored the Parrot-Spitze still further, and returned in +three-quarters of an hour fully persuaded that there was no other way. +We re-descended the ice-slope, and lower down crossed a couloir, and +then more snow-slopes and rocks brought us to a lower series of rocks, +where our passage seemed stopped at five o'clock. Here the mists, +which had risen since the morning, much impeded our progress, and we +halted, hoping they would disperse. Martin again went off on an +exploring expedition, whilst the porter was sent in another direction. +As both returned from a fruitless search, and sunset was approaching, +the uncomfortable suggestion was made that the next search would be +for the best sleeping quarters. However, Martin himself investigated +the rocks pronounced impracticable by the porter, and by these we +descended to the Sesia Glacier without unusual difficulty. When once +fairly on the glacier, we crossed it at a running pace, for it was +getting dark, and we feared to be benighted on the glacier. It was +dark as we scrambled along the moraine on the other side, and over +rocks and grassy knolls till the shepherd's light at Vigne gave us a +happy indication that a shelter was not far off. The shouts of our +guide brought the shepherd with his oil-lamp to meet us, and it was a +quarter to nine o'clock P.M. when we entered his hut. After partaking +of a frugal meal of bread and milk, we were glad to accept his offer +of a hay bed, together with the unexpected luxury of sheets. When +relating the story of our arrival to the Abbé Farinetti on the +following Sunday at Alagna, the shepherd said that so great was his +astonishment at the sudden apparition of travellers from that +direction, that he thought it must be a visit of angels. + +"We consider the Italian account incorrect as to the time we occupied +in the descent. We could not have left our halting-place near the +summit for the second time before a quarter to one o'clock, and in +eight hours we were in this shepherd's hut. + +"The Italian account exaggerates the difficulty we experienced. The +rope was never used 'to hold up the travellers and let them down one +by one.' On the contrary, one lady went _last_, preferring to see the +awkward porter in front of her rather than behind. At one spot we +came to an abrupt wall of rock and there we gladly availed ourselves +of our guide's hand. The sensational sentence about 'rolling as +shapeless corpses into the crevasses' is absurd, as we were at that +juncture rejoicing in the prospect of a happy termination of our +dilemma, and of crossing the glacier in full enjoyment of our senses." + +The editor of _The Alpine Journal_ concludes with the following +comments: + +"It is impossible to pass over without some further remark the +behaviour of the guide and porter who shared this adventure. Jean +Martin, if he led his party into a scrape, certainly showed no small +skill and perseverance in carrying them safely out of it. Porters have +as a class, and with some honourable exceptions, long afforded a proof +that Swiss peasants are not necessarily born climbers. Their +difficulties and blunders have, indeed, served as one of the standing +jokes of Alpine literature. But we doubt if any porter has ever +exhibited himself in so ignoble a position as the man who, having +begun by obtaining an engagement under false pretences, ended by +allowing one of his employers, a lady, to descend the Italian side of +the Sesia-Joch last on the rope." + + +A PERILOUS CLIMB + +In the year 1865 but few different routes were known up Mont Blanc. It +has now been ascended from every direction and by every conceivable +combination of routes, yet I doubt if any at all rivalling the one I +intend quoting the account of has ever been accomplished. The route in +question is by the Brenva Glacier on the Italian side of the great +mountain, and the travellers who undertook to attempt what the guides +hardly thought a possible piece of work, consisted of Mr Walker, his +son Horace, Mr Mathews, and Mr Moore, the account which I take from +_The Alpine Journal_ having been written by the latter. For guides +they had two very first-rate men, Melchior Anderegg and his cousin, +Jacob Anderegg. + +I shall omit the first part of the narrative, interesting though it +is, and go at once to the point where, not long after sunrise, the +mountaineers found themselves. + +"We had risen very rapidly, and must have been at an elevation of more +than 12,000 feet. Our position, therefore, commanded an extensive view +in all directions. The guides were in a hurry, so cutting our halt +shorter than would have been agreeable, we resumed our way at 7.55, +and after a few steps up a slope at an angle of 50°, found ourselves +on the crest of the buttress, and looking down upon, and across, the +lower part of a glacier tributary to the Brenva, beyond which towered +the grand wall of the Mont Maudit. We turned sharp to the left along +the ridge, Jacob leading, followed by Mr Walker, Horace, Mathews, +Melchior, and myself last. We had anticipated that, assuming the +possibility of gaining the ridge on which we were, there would be no +serious difficulty in traversing it, and so much as we could see ahead +led us to hope that our anticipations would turn out correct. Before +us lay a narrow but not steep arête of rock and snow combined, which +appeared to terminate some distance in front in a sharp peak. We +advanced cautiously, keeping rather below the top of the ridge, +speculating with some curiosity on what lay beyond this peak. On +reaching it, the apparent peak proved not to be a peak at all, but the +extremity of the narrowest and most formidable ice arête I ever saw, +which extended almost on a level for an uncomfortably long distance. +Looking back by the light of our subsequent success, I have always +considered it a providential circumstance that, at this moment, Jacob, +and not Melchior was leading the party. In saying this, I shall not +for an instant be suspected of any imputation upon Melchior's courage. +But in him that virtue is combined to perfection with the equally +necessary one of prudence, while he shares the objection which nearly +all guides have to taking upon themselves, without discussion, +responsibility in positions of doubt. Had he been in front, I believe +that, on seeing the nature of the work before us, we should have +halted and discussed the propriety of proceeding; and I believe +further that, as the result of that discussion, our expedition would +have then and there come to an end. Now in Jacob, with courage as +faultless as Melchior's, and physical powers even superior, the virtue +of prudence is conspicuous chiefly from its absence; and, on coming to +this ugly place, it never for an instant occurred to him that we might +object to go on, or consider the object in view not worth the risk +which must be inevitably run. He therefore went calmly on without so +much as turning to see what we thought of it, while I do not suppose +that it entered into the head of any one of us spontaneously to +suggest a retreat. + +"On most arêtes, however narrow the actual crest may be, it is +generally possible to get a certain amount of support by driving the +pole into the slope on either side. But this was not the case here. +We were on the top of a wall, the ice on the right falling vertically +(I use the word advisedly), and on the left nearly so. On neither side +was it possible to obtain the slightest hold with the alpenstock. I +believe also that an arête of pure ice is more often encountered in +description than in reality, that term being generally applied to hard +snow. But here, for once, we had the genuine article, blue ice without +a speck of snow on it. The space for walking was, at first, about the +breadth of an ordinary wall, in which Jacob cut holes for the feet. +Being last in the line I could see little of what was coming until I +was close upon it, and was therefore considerably startled on seeing +the men in front suddenly abandon the upright position, which in spite +of the insecurity of the steps and difficulty of preserving the +balance, had been hitherto maintained, and sit down _à cheval_. The +ridge had narrowed to a knife edge, and for a few yards it was utterly +impossible to advance in any other way. The foremost men soon stood up +again, but when I was about to follow their example Melchior insisted +emphatically upon my not doing so, but remaining seated. Regular steps +could no longer be cut, but Jacob, as he went along, simply sliced off +the top of the ridge, making thus a slippery pathway, along which +those behind crept, moving one foot carefully after the other. As for +me, I worked myself along with my hands in an attitude safer, perhaps, +but considerably more uncomfortable, and, as I went, could not keep +occasionally speculating, with an odd feeling of amusement, as to what +would be the result if any of the party should chance to slip over on +either side--what the rest would do--whether throw themselves over on +the other side or not--and if so, what would happen then. Fortunately +the occasion for the solution of this curious problem did not arise, +and at 9.30 we reached the end of the arête, where it emerged in the +long slopes of broken _névé_, over which our way was next to lie. As +we looked back along our perilous path, it was hard to repress a +shudder, and I think the dominant feeling of every man was one of +wonder how the passage had been effected without accident. One good +result, however, was to banish from Melchior's mind the last traces of +doubt as to our ultimate success, his reply to our anxious enquiry +whether he thought we should get up, being, 'We must, for we cannot go +back.' In thus speaking, he probably said rather more than he meant, +but the fact will serve to show that I have not exaggerated the +difficulty we had overcome." + +Mr Moore goes on to describe the considerable trouble the party had +in mounting the extremely steep snow-slope on which they were now +embarked. The continual step-cutting was heavy work for the guides. At +last they were much annoyed to find between them and their goal "a +great wall of ice running right across and completely barring the way +upwards. Our position was, in fact, rather critical. Immediately over +our heads the slope on which we were, terminated in a great mass of +broken _séracs_, which might come down with a run at any moment. It +seemed improbable that any way out of our difficulties would be found +in that quarter. But, where else to look? There was no use in going to +the left--to the right we _could_ not go--and back we _would_ not go. +After careful scrutiny, Melchior thought it just possible that we +might find a passage through those séracs on the higher and more level +portion of the glacier to the right of them, and there being obviously +no chance of success in any other direction, we turned towards them. +The ice here was steeper and harder than it had yet been. In spite of +all Melchior's care, the steps were painfully insecure, and we were +glad to get a grip with one hand of the rocks alongside of which we +passed. The risk, too, of an avalanche was considerable, and it was a +relief when we were so close under the séracs that a fall from above +could not well hurt us. Melchior had steered with his usual +discrimination, and was now attacking the séracs at the only point +where they appeared at all practical. Standing over the mouth of a +crevasse choked with _débris_, he endeavoured to lift himself on to +its upper edge, which was about 15 feet above. But to accomplish this +seemed at first a task too great even for his agility, aided as it was +by vigorous pushes. At last, by a marvellous exercise of skill and +activity, he succeeded, pulled up Mr Walker and Horace, and then cast +off the rope to reconnoitre, leaving them to assist Mathews, Jacob and +myself in the performance of a similar manoeuvre. We were all three +still below, when a yell from Melchior sent a thrill through our +veins. 'What is it?' said we to Mr Walker. A shouting communication +took place between him and Melchior, and then came the answer, 'He +says it is all right.' That moment was worth living for." + +Mr Moore tells how, over now easy ground, the party rapidly ascended +higher and higher. "We reached the summit at 3.10, and found ourselves +safe at Chamouni at 10.30. Our day's work had thus extended to nearly +20 hours, of which 17½ hours were actual walking." + +It is interesting to note that in after years a route was discovered +on the opposite, or French side of Mont Blanc, of which the chief +difficulty was an extremely narrow--but in this case also steep--ice +ridge. This ascent, _via_ the Aiguille de Bionnassay, enjoys, I +believe, an even greater reputation than that by the Brenva. It has +been accomplished twice by ladies, the first time by Miss Katherine +Richardson, whose skill and extraordinary rapidity of pace have given +her a record on more than one great peak. Miss Richardson, having done +all the hard part of the climb, descended from the Dome de Gouter. The +second ascent by a lady was undertaken successfully in 1899, by +Mademoiselle Eugénie de Rochat, who has a brilliant list of climbs in +the Mont Blanc district to her credit. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A FINE PERFORMANCE WITHOUT GUIDES + + +The precipitous peak of the Meije, in Dauphiné, had long, like the +Matterhorn, been believed inaccessible, and it was only after repeated +attempts that at last the summit was reached. The direct route from La +Bérarde will always be an extremely difficult climb to anyone who +desires to do his fair share of the work; the descent of the great +wall of rock is one of the few places I have been down, which took +longer on the descent than on the ascent. + +When the members of the Alpine Club heard that a party of Englishmen +had succeeded, _without guides_, in making the expedition, they were +much impressed by the feat, and on 17th December 1879, one of the +climbers, Mr Charles Pilkington, read a paper before the Club +describing his ascent. From it I quote the following. The party +included the brothers Pilkington and Mr Gardiner. + + [Illustration: The Meije is to the left, the Glacier Carré is the + snow-patch on it, beneath this is the Great Wall.] + + [Illustration: ASCENDING A SNOWY WALL (page 216).] + +"On the 19th July 1878, we reached La Bérarde, where we found Mr +Coolidge with the two Almers. Coolidge knew that we had come to try +the Meije, and he had very kindly given us all the information he +could, not only about it, but about several other peaks and passes in +the district. Almer also, after finding out our plans, was good enough +not to laugh at us, and gave us one or two useful hints. He told us as +well that the difficulty did not so much consist in finding the way as +in getting up it. + +"At two o'clock in the afternoon of 20th July, we left for our bivouac +in the Vallon des Etançons, taking another man with us besides our two +porters, and at four reached the large square rock called the Hôtel +Châteleret, after the ancient name of the valley. We determined to +sleep here instead of at Coolidge's refuge a little higher up. The +Meije was in full view, and we had our first good look at it since we +had read the account of its ascent. + +"We went hopefully to bed, telling our porters to call us at eleven +the same evening, so as to start at midnight; but long before that it +was raining hard, and it required all the engineering skill of the +party and the india-rubber bag to keep the water out. It cleared up at +daybreak. Of course it was far too late to start then; besides that, +we had agreed not to make the attempt unless we had every sign of fine +weather. + +"As we had nothing else to do, we started at 8 A.M. on an exploring +expedition, taking our spare ropes and some extra provisions, to +leave, if possible, at M. Duhamel's cairn, some distance up the +mountain, whilst our porters were to improve the refuge and lay in a +stock of firewood. The snow was very soft, and we were rather lazy, so +it was not until eleven that we reached the upper part of the Brêche +Glacier, and were opposite our work. The way lies up the great +southern buttress, which forms the eastern boundary of the Brêche +Glacier, merging into the general face of the mountain about one-third +of the total height from the Glacier des Etançons, and 700 feet below, +and a little to the west of the Glacier Carré, from whence the final +peak is climbed. The chief difficulty is the ascent from M. Duhamel's +cairn, on the top of the buttress to the Glacier Carré. + +"After a few steps up the snow, we gained the crest of the buttress by +a short scramble. The crest is narrow, but very easy, and we went +rapidly along, until we came to where a great break in the arête +divides the buttress into an upper and a lower part; being no longer +able to keep along the crest, we were forced to cross the rocks to our +left to the couloir. Not quite liking the look of the snow, Gardiner +asked us to hold tight whilst he tried it. Finding it all right he +kicked steps up, and at five minutes past one we reached the cairn, +having taken one hour and thirty-five minutes from the glacier. The +great wall rose straight above us, but the way up, which we had had no +difficulty in making out with the telescope from below, was no longer +to be seen. Our spirits which had been rising during our ascent from +the glacier, sunk once more, and our former uncertainty came back upon +us; for it is difficult to imagine anything more hopeless-looking than +this face of the Meije. It has been said that, after finding all the +most promising ways impossible, this seeming impossibility was tried +as a last chance. We looked at it a long time, but at last gave up +trying to make out the way as a bad job, determined to climb where we +could, if we had luck enough to get so far another day; so, leaving +our spare ropes, a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, and a tin of +curried fowl carefully covered with stones, we made the best of our +way back, reaching the glacier in one hour and twenty minutes, and our +bivouac in an hour and a half more. There we spent the next night and +following day, but at last we had to give in to the bad weather, and +go sorrowfully down to La Bérarde. It was very disappointing. We had +been looking forward to the attempt for more than six months. I had +to leave in a few days for England. It was not a mountain for two men +to be on alone; what if we had spent all our time and trouble for +nothing, and only carried our bed and provisions to the cairn for +someone else to use? + +"On the evening of the 24th we were again at our bivouac; this time +there was a cold north wind blowing, and the weather looked more +settled than it had yet done since we came into the district. We +watched the last glow of the setting sun fade on the crags of the +Meije, and then crawled into our now well-known holes. At midnight +exactly we were off, and, as we had much to carry, we took our porters +with us as far as the bottom of the buttress, where we waited for +daylight. At last the Tête du Replat opposite to us caught the +reflection of the light, so, leaving a bottle of champagne for our +return, as a reward of victory or consolation for defeat, we started +at 3.15, unfortunately with an omen, for in bidding good-bye to our +porters, we said 'adieu,' instead of 'au revoir, and though we altered +the word at once, they left us with grave faces, old Lagier mournfully +shaking his head. Gardiner took the lead again, and at 4.45 we once +more stood beside the stone-man, finding our _câche_ of provisions all +safe. Here we rearranged our luggage. Both the others took heavy +loads; Gardiner the knapsack, Lawrence the 200 feet of spare rope and +our wine tin, holding three quarts; the sleeping bag only was given to +me, as I was told off to lead. + +"We got under weigh at 5.15, and soon clambered up the remaining part +of the buttress, and reached the bottom of the great wall, the Glacier +Carré being about 700 feet above us, and some distance to our right. +We knew that from here a level traverse had to be made until nearly +under the glacier before it was possible to turn upwards. We had seen +a ledge running in the right direction; crossing some steep rocks and +climbing over a projecting knob (which served us a nasty trick on our +descent), we let ourselves gently down on to the ledge, leaving a +small piece of red rag to guide us in coming back. The ledge, although +4 or 5 feet broad, was not all that could be wished, for it was more +than half-covered with snow, which, as the ledge sloped outwards, was +not to be trusted; the melting and refreezing of this had formed ice +below, nearly covering the available space, forcing us to walk on the +edge. We cut a step here and there. It improved as we went on, and +when half-way across the face we were able to turn slightly upwards, +and at 6.30 were near the spot where later in the day the icicles +from the extreme western end of the Glacier Carré fall. It is not +necessary to go right into the line of fire, and in coming back we +kept even farther away than on the ascent. + +"So far the way had been fairly easy to find, but now came the great +question of the climb; how to get up the 600 feet of rock wall above +us. To our right it rose in one sheer face, the icicles from the +Glacier Carré, fringing the top; to our left the rocks, though not so +steep, were very smooth, and at the top, especially to the right, near +the glacier, they became precipitous. A little above us a bridge ledge +led away to the left, slanting upwards towards the lowest and most +practicable part of the wall, obviously the way up. Climbing to this +ledge, we followed it nearly half-way back across the face, then the +holding-places got fewer and more filled with ice, the outward slope +more and more until at last its insecure and slippery look warned us +off it, and we turned up the steeper but rougher rocks on our right. +In doing so I believe we forsook the route followed by all our +predecessors, but we were obliged to do so by the glazed state of the +rocks. + +"As the direction in which we were now going was taking us towards the +glacier and the steep upper rocks, we soon turned again to our left +to avoid them, the only way being up some smooth slabs, with very +little hold, the sort of rocks where one's waistcoat gives a great +deal of holding power; worming oneself up these we reached a small +shelf where we were again in doubt. It was impossible to go straight +up; to the left the rocks, though easier, only led to the higher part +of the ledge we had forsaken; we spent some minutes examining this +way, but again did not like the look of the glazed rocks; so we took +the only alternative and went to the right. Keeping slightly upwards, +we gained about 50 feet in actual height by difficult climbing. We +were now getting on to the steep upper rocks near the glacier, which +we had wanted to avoid. + +"This last piece of the wall will always remain in our minds as the +most desperate piece of work we have ever done; the rocks so far had +been firm, but now, although far too steep for loose stones to lodge +on, were so shattered that we dared not trust them; at the same time +we had to be very careful, lest in removing any we should bring others +down upon us. + +"One place I shall never forget. Gardiner was below, on a small ledge, +with no hand-hold to speak of, trying to look as if he could stand any +pull; my brother on a knob a little higher up, to help me if +necessary. I was able to pull myself about 8 feet higher, but the next +rock was insecure, and the whole nearly perpendicular. A good many +loose stones had been already pulled out; this one would not come. It +is hard work tugging at a loose stone with one hand, the other in a +crack, and only one foot finding anything to rest on. I looked down, +told them how it was, and came down to rest. + +"For about a minute nothing was said; all our faces turned towards the +Glacier Carré, now only about 60 feet above us. We all felt it would +have been hard indeed to turn back, yet it was not a pleasant place, +and we could not see what was again above. We were on what may be +fairly called a precipice. In removing the loose stones, the slightest +backhanded jerk, just enough to miss the heads of the men behind, sent +them clear into the air; they never touched anything for a long time +after leaving the hand, and disappeared with a disagreeable hum on to +the Glacier des Etançons, 1800 feet below. We looked and tried on both +sides, but it was useless, so we went at it again. After the fourth or +fifth attempt I managed to get up about 10 feet, to where there was +some sort of hold; then my brother followed, giving me rope enough to +get to a firm rock, where I remained till joined by the others. It +was almost as bad above, but we crawled carefully up; one place +actually overhung--fortunately there was plenty of hold, and we slung +ourselves up it! From this point the rocks became rather easier, and +at 9.30 we reached a small sloping shelf of rock, about 20 yards to +the west of the Glacier Carré and on the top of the great rock wall. +Stopping here for a short time to get cool, and to let one of the +party down to get the axes, which had been tied to a rope and had +caught in a crevice in the rock, we changed leaders, and crossing some +shelving rocks, climbed up a gully, or cleft, filled with icicles, and +reached the platform of rock at the south-west end of the Glacier +Carré at 10.15 A.M. + +"The platform we had reached can only be called one by comparison; it +is rather smooth, and slopes too much to form a safe sleeping-place, +but we left our extra luggage there. + +"At 11.10 we started up the glacier, Gardiner going ahead, kicking +steps into the soft, steep snow. + +"We were much more cheerful now than we had been two hours before. My +companions had got rid of their heavy loads, the day was still very +fine, and Almer had told us that, could we but reach the glacier, we +should have a good chance of success. + +"Shortly before 1 P.M. we were underneath the well-known overhanging +top, the rocks of which, cutting across the face, form a triangular +corner. It is the spot where Gaspard lost so much time looking for the +way on the first ascent. We knew that the arête had here to be +crossed, and the northern face on the other side taken to. + +"Almost before I got my head over the crest came the anxious question +from below, 'Will it go on the other side?' I could not see, however; +so when the others came up, Gardiner fixed himself and let us down to +the full extent of the rope. The whole northern face, as far as we +could see, looked terribly icy; but as there was no other way of +regaining the arête higher up without going on to it, we told him to +come down after us. + +"Turning to the right as soon as possible, we had to traverse the +steep, smooth face for a short distance. It took a long time, for the +rocks were even worse than they had appeared; we often had to clear +them of ice for a yard before we could find any hold at all and +sometimes only the left hand could be spared for cutting. After about +50 yards of this work we were able to turn upwards, and with great +difficulty wriggled up the slippery rocks leading to the arête; rather +disgusted to find the north face so difficult--owing, perhaps, to the +lateness of the season. + +"It was our last difficulty, for the arête, though narrow, gives good +hand and foot-hold, and we pressed eagerly onwards. In a few minutes +it became more level, and there, sure enough, were the three +stone-men, only separated from us by some easy rocks and snow, which +we went at with a rush, and at 2.25 we stood on the highest point of +the Meije. + +"Knowing that it would be useless for us to try and descend further +than the Glacier Carré that day, and as it was pleasanter on the top +than there, we went in for a long halt. Untying the rope--for the top +is broad enough to be safe--we examined the central cairn, where the +tokens are kept. We found a tin box, containing the names of our +predecessors; a bottle, hanging by a string, the property of Mr +Coolidge; a tri-coloured flag; and a scented pocket-handkerchief +belonging to M. Guillemin, still retaining its former fragrance, which +it had not 'wasted on the desert air.' We tore a corner off each, +leaving a red-and-yellow rag in exchange; put our names in the tin, +and an English penny with a hole bored through it. + +"Then, after repairing the rather dilapidated southern cairn, we sat +down to smoke and enjoy the view, which the fact of the mountain +standing on the outside of the group, the tremendous depth to which +the eye plunges on each side, the expansive panorama of the Dauphiné +and neighbouring Alps, and the beautiful distant view of the Pennine +chain from Mont Blanc to Monte Rosa, combine to make one of the finest +in the Alps. + +"At four o'clock, after an hour and a half on the top, we started +downwards, soon arriving at the spot where it was necessary to leave +the arête; however, before doing so, we went along it to where it was +cut off, to see if we could let ourselves straight down into the gap, +and so avoid the detour by the northern face, but it was +impracticable; so, putting the middle of the spare rope round a +projecting rock on the arête, we let ourselves down to where we had +gone along on the level, pulling the rope down after us; then +regaining the gap by the morning's route, we crossed it, and leisurely +descended the south-western face to the Glacier Carré, filling our now +empty wine tin with water on the way down. We reached the glacier at +6.30. In skirting the base of the Pic du Glacier we found a nice +hollow in the snow, which looked a good place to sleep in. Gardiner +wanted one of us to stop and build a stone-wall, whilst the others +fetched the bag and provisions from the bottom of the glacier. +Lawrence was neutral; I was rather against it, having slept on snow +before. At last we all went down to the rocky platform where our +luggage had been left. We cleared a place for the bag, but it all +sloped so much, and the edge of the precipice was so near, that we +dared not lie down. We looked for a good rock to tie ourselves to; +even that could not be found. Then some one thought we might scrape a +hole in the steep snow above us, and get into it. That, of course, was +quite out of the question. Nothing therefore remained for us but +Gardiner's hollow above--the only level place we had seen above M. +Duhamel's cairn large enough for us to lay our bag on. There was no +time to be lost; it was getting dark; a sharp frost had already set +in: so we at once shouldered our traps and trudged wearily up the +glacier once more, wishing now that we had left somebody to build a +wall. + +"On reaching the hollow we put the ropes, axes, hats, and knapsack on +the snow as a sort of carpet, placed the bag on the top, then, +pulling off our boots for pillows, and putting on the comfortable +woollen helmets given to us by Mrs Hartley, got into the bag to have +our supper. Fortunately there was not much wind; but it was rather +difficult to open the meat tin. We did as well as we could, however, +and after supper tried to smoke; but the cold air got into the bag and +made that a failure; so we looked at the scene instead. + +"The moon was half full, and shone upon us as we lay, making +everything look very beautiful. We could see the snow just in front of +us, and then, far away through the frosty air all the mountains on the +other side of the Vallon des Etançons, with the silver-grey peak of +the Ecrins behind, its icy ridges standing out sharply against the +clear sky; and deep down in the dark valley below was the signal fire +of our porters. As this could only be seen by sitting bolt upright, we +got tired of looking at it, and the last link connecting us with the +lower world being broken, we felt our utter loneliness. + +"The moon soon going behind a rocky spur of the Pic du Glacier, we lay +down and tried to get warm by pulling the string round the neck of the +bag as tight as possible and breathing inside; but somehow the outside +air got in also. So closing it as well as we could, with only our +heads out, we went to sleep, but not for long. The side on which we +lay soon got chilled. Now, as the bag was narrow, we all had to face +one way on account of our knees; so the one who happened to be the +soonest chilled through would give the word, and we all turned +together. I suppose we must have changed sides every half-hour through +the long night. We got some sleep, however, and felt all right when +the first glimmering of dawn came over the mountains on our left. As +soon as we could see we had breakfast; but the curried fowl was +frozen, and the bread could only be cut with difficulty, as a +shivering seized one every minute. We had the greatest trouble in +getting our boots on. They were pressed out of shape, and, in spite of +having been under our heads, were hard frozen. At last, by burning +paper inside, and using them as lantern for our candle, we thawed them +enough to get them on, and then spent a quarter of an hour stamping +about to thaw ourselves. We rolled the bag up and tied it fast to a +projecting rock, hanging the meat tin near as a guide to anyone +looking for it. + +"At 4.30 we set off, very thankful that we had a fine day before us. +We soon went down the glacier, and down and across to the shelf of +rock where the real descent of the wall was to begin. A few feet +below was a jagged tooth of rock which we could not move; so to it we +tied one end of the 100 feet of rope, taking care to protect the rope +where it pressed on the sharp edges, with pieces of an old +handkerchief; the other end we threw over the edge, and by leaning +over we could just see the tail of it on some rocks below the bad +part,[9] so we knew it was long enough. + +"After a short discussion we arranged to go down one at a time, as +there were places where we expected to throw all our weight on the +rope. Gardiner was to go first as he was the heaviest; my brother +next, carrying all the traps and the three axes, as he had the +strongest pair of hands and arms in the party; whilst I as the +lightest, was to bring down the rear. So tying the climbing rope round +his waist as an extra help, Gardiner started, whilst we paid it out. +He soon disappeared, but we knew how he was getting on, and when he +was in the worst places, by the 'Lower,' 'A little lower,' 'Hold,' +'Hold hard,' which came up from below, getting fainter as he got +lower. Fifty feet of the rope passed through our hands before he +stopped going. 'Can you hold there?' we asked. 'No. Hold me while I +rest a little, and then give me 10 feet more if you can.' So after a +while we got notice to lower, and down he went again until nearly all +our rope was gone; then it slackened. He told us he was fast, and that +we could pull up the rope. + +"Then Lawrence shouldered his burdens, the three axes being tied below +him with a short piece of rope. The same thing happened again, only it +was more exciting, for every now and then the axes caught and loosened +with a jerk, which I felt on the rope I was paying out, although it +was tied to him. At first I thought it was a slip, but soon got used +to it. Lawrence did not go so far as Gardiner, but stopped to help me +at the bottom of the worst piece. + +"It was now my turn. Tying the other end of the loose rope round me, I +crawled cautiously down to where the tight rope was fixed. The others +told me afterwards they did not like it. I certainly did not. The +upper part was all right; but lower down the rocks were so steep that +if I put much weight on the rope it pulled me off them, and gave a +tendency to swing over towards the Glacier Carré, which, as only one +hand was left for climbing with, was rather difficult to resist. I +remember very well sitting on a projecting rock, with nothing below +it but air for at least 100 feet. Leaving this, Lawrence half pulled +me towards him with the loose rope. A few steps more and I was beside +him, and we descended together to Gardiner, cutting off the fixed rope +high up, so as to leave as little as possible, and in a few minutes +more we all three reached the small shelf of rocks above the smooth +slabs by which we had descended the day before. It was the place where +we had spent some time trying to avoid the steep bit we had just +descended, and which had taken us nearly two hours. + +"This ledge is about 3 feet broad. We had got down the only place on +the mountain that had given us any anxiety. It was warm and pleasant; +all the day was before us; so we took more than an hour to lunch and +rest. + +"On starting again we ought to have stuck to our old route and +descended by the slabs, as we could easily have done; but after a +brief discussion we arranged to take a short cut, by fixing a second +rope and letting ourselves straight down the drop on to the lower +slanting ledge, at a point a few feet higher than where we had left it +on the ascent. + +"We descended one at a time, as before, and, what with tying and +untying, took much longer than we should have done had we gone the +other way. On gaining the ledge we turned to our left and soon came +across one of our marks; then striking down sooner than our old route +would have taken us, we gave a wider berth to the falling ice, and got +into the traverse leading to the top of the buttress. Along it we +went; but it looked different, had less snow, and when we came near +the end a steep rock, with a nasty drop below, blocked the way. It +appeared so bad that I said we were wrong. As the others were not +sure, we retraced our steps, and by a very difficult descent gained a +lower ledge. There was no snow on this, but the melting of the snow +above made the rocks we had to take hold of so wet that we often got a +stream of water down our arms and necks. + +"At last, after nearly crossing, it became quite impossible, and we +turned back, having gained nothing but a wetting. + +"Below it was far too steep. Immediately above was the place we had +tried just before. We could not make it out; we had been so positive +about the place above. + +"We were just thinking of trying it again more carefully, when +Lawrence pointed up at something, and there, sure enough, was the bit +of red rag left the day before to show the commencement of the +traverse. + +"We marked where it was, and then crawled back along the ledge on +which we were. Scrambling up the steep drop, we made quickly upwards, +and, turning towards our flag, found that the only way to it was along +the very ledge where we had first tried, and which proved to be the +traverse after all. + +"We were very glad to get into it once more, as for the last three +hours we had been on the look-out for falling ice. Some had already +shot over our heads, sending showers of splinters on to us, and one +piece as big as one's fist had come rather closer than was pleasant. +On our left, the Glacier Carré kept up a regular fire of it, the ice +following with tremendous noise on to the rocks below. Every time it +gave us a start, as we could not always see at once where the fall had +taken place; and although the danger was more imaginary than real, it +is not pleasant to be constantly on the look-out, and flattening one's +self against the rocks to avoid being hit. + +"We soon crossed the snowy part of the traverse, and were again in +front of the rock which had turned us back before. It looked no +better; but on going close up we found a small crack near the top, +just large enough to get our fingers into, giving excellent hold. By +this we swung ourselves up and across the worst part. + +"We thought we had only two hours more easy descent, and our work +would be done. But we made a mistake. + +"At first we went rapidly down, and were soon cheered by the sight of +M. Duhamel's cairn, looking about five minutes off. I was in front at +the time, and was just getting on to a short snow-slope by which we +had ascended the day before, when, doubting its safety, I asked the +others to hold fast whilst I tried it. The moment I put my foot on the +snow, all the top went away, slowly at first, then, taking to the +left, went down the couloir with a rush. We tried again where the +upper layer had gone away, but it was all unsafe; so we had to spend +half an hour getting down the rocks, where we had ascended in ten +minutes, and it was not until 2.30 that we reached the cairn. + +"It was 3.30 before we continued the descent. The couloir was not in +good order and required care. Gardiner, who was in front, did not get +on as well as usual. At last, thinking we might get impatient, he +showed us his fingers, which were bleeding in several places, and +awfully raw and sore. He had pluckily kept it all to himself until +the real difficulties were over; but the snow of the couloir had +softened his hands, and these last rocks were weathered granite, and +very sharp and cutting; so he had to go very gingerly. + +"At the bottom of the buttress a surprise awaited us, for as we +descended the last 20 feet, the weather-beaten face of old Lagier, our +porter, appeared above the rocks. The faithful old fellow said he had +traced our descent by the occasional flashing of the wine tin in the +sun, and had come alone to meet us, bringing us provisions as he +thought we might have run short. He had waited six hours for us, and +had iced the bottle of champagne which had been left on the ascent. We +opened it and then hurried down to the glacier, taking off the rope at +the moraine, and ran all the rest of the way on the snow to our +bivouac, like a lot of colts turned loose in a field, feeling it a +great relief to get on to something on which we could tumble about as +we liked without falling over a precipice." + +That the Meije is a really difficult mountain may be assumed from the +fact that for some years after its first ascent, no party succeeded in +getting up and down it on the same day. When every step of the way +became well known, of course much quicker times were possible, and +when, on 16th September 1892, I went up it with the famous Dauphiné +guide, Maximin Gaspard, and Roman Imboden (the latter aged +twenty-three, and perhaps the finest rock climber in Switzerland), we +had all in our favour. There was neither ice nor snow on the rocks, +and no icicles hung from the Glacier Carré, while the weather was +still and cloudless. We slept at the bottom of the buttress--just at +the spot where Mr Pilkington met his porter--and from here were +exactly four hours (including a halt of one hour) reaching the top of +the Meije. + +It is now the fashion to cross the Meije from La Bérarde to La Grave, +the descent on the other side being also extremely hard. For a couple +of hours after leaving the summit a narrow ridge is traversed with +several formidable gaps in it. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] The remains of this rope hung for years where Mr Pilkington had +placed it, and when I ascended the Meije I saw the bleached end of it +hanging over as sickening looking a place as I have ever desired to +avoid. The ordinary route passes more to the west. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PIZ SCERSCEN TWICE IN FOUR DAYS--THE FIRST ASCENT OF MONT BLANC BY +A WOMAN. + + +It was a mad thing to do. I realised that when thinking of it +afterwards; but this is how it happened. + +I had arranged with a friend, Mr Edmund Garwood, to try a hitherto +unattempted route on a mountain not far from Maloja. He was to bring +his guide, young Roman Imboden; I was to furnish a second man, +Wieland, of St Moritz. + + [Illustration: WIELAND ON THE HIGHEST POINT OF PIZ SCERSCEN (page + 200).] + + [Illustration: A PARTY ON A MOUNTAIN TOP.] + + [Illustration: THE OTHER PARTY DESCENDING PIZ BERNINA (page 202).] + + [Illustration: A PARTY COMMENCING THE DESCENT OF A SNOW RIDGE.] + +The hour had come to start, the carriage was at the door and the +provisions were in it, and Wieland and I were in readiness when, to +our surprise, Roman turned up without Mr Garwood. A note which he +brought explained that the latter was not well, but hoped I would make +the expedition all the same, and take Roman with me. I was unwilling +to monopolise a new ascent, though probably only an easy one, so I +refused to go till my friend was better, and asked the guides to +suggest something else. The weather was lovely and our food ready, and +it seemed a pity to waste either. + +Wieland could not think of a suitable climb, so I turned to Roman, who +had only arrived at Pontresina two days before, and asked him his +ideas. + +He very sensibly inquired: "What peaks have you not done yet here, +ma'am?" + +"All but the Scerscen." + +"Then we go for the--whatever you call it." + +"Oh, but Roman," I exclaimed, "the Scerscen is very difficult, and +there is 3 feet of fresh snow on the mountains, and it is out of the +question!" + +"I don't believe any of these mountains are difficult," said Roman +doggedly, with that contempt for all Engadine climbing shown by guides +from the other side of Switzerland. + +"Ask Wieland," I suggested. + +Wieland smiled at the question, and said he did not at all mind going +to look at the Scerscen, but, as to ascending it under the present +conditions, of course it was absurd. + +"Besides," he added, "we are much too late to go to the Marinelli Hut +to-day." + +"Why not do it from the Mortel Hut?" I remarked, on the "in for a +penny in for a pound" principle. + +He smiled again; indeed, I think he laughed, and agreed that, as +anyhow we could not go up the Scerscen, we might as well sleep at the +Mortel Hut as anywhere else. + +"Have you ever been up it?" Roman inquired. + +Wieland answered that he had not. Roman turned to me: "Can you find +the mountain? Should you know it if you saw it? Don't let us go up the +wrong one, ma'am!" + +I promised to lead them to the foot of the peak, and Roman repeated +his conviction that all Engadine mountains were perfectly easy, and +that we should find ourselves on the top of the Scerscen next morning. +However, he made no objection to taking an extra rope of 100 feet, +and, telling one friend our plan in strictest confidence, we climbed +into the carriage. + +We duly arrived at the Mortel Hut and were early in bed, as Roman +wished us to set out at an early hour, or a late one, if I may thus +allude to 11 P.M. He was still firmly convinced that to the top of the +Scerscen we should go, and wanted every moment in hand, in spite of +his recent criticisms of Engadine mountains. There was a very useful +moon, and by its light we promised Roman to take him to the foot of +the peak, where its rocky sides rise abruptly from the Scerscen +Glacier. + +I must here explain that there are several ways up the Scerscen. I +wished to ascend by the rocks on the south side, which, though harder, +were safer than the other routes. As for the descent (if we got up!) +we intended coming down the way we had ascended, little knowing not +only that no one had been down by this route, but also that a party +had attempted to get down it and had been driven back. As for finding +our way up, some notes in the _Alpine Journal_ were our only guide. +The mountain had been previously ascended but a few times altogether, +and only, I think, once or twice by the south face. No lady had up +till then tried it. + +We were off punctually at 11 P.M., and by the brilliant light of the +moon made good time over the glacier and up the snow slopes leading to +the Sella Pass. This we reached in three hours, without a pause, from +the hut, and, making no halt there, immediately plunged into the +softer snow on the Italian side, and began to skirt the precipices on +our left. Even in midsummer, it was still dark at this early hour, +and the moon had already set. A great rocky peak rose near us, and +Wieland gave it as his opinion that it was the Scerscen. I differed +from him, believing our mountain to be some distance farther, so it +was mutually agreed that we should halt for food, after which we +should have more light to enable us to determine our position. + +Gradually the warmth of dawn crept over the sky, and soon the +beautiful spectacle of an Alpine sunrise was before us, with the +wonderful "flush of adoration" on the mountain heads. There was no +doubt now where we were; our peak was some way beyond, and the only +question was, how to go up it? I repeated to Roman the information I +had gleaned from the Journal, and he thanked me, doubtless having his +own ideas, which he intended alone to be guided by. Luckily, as we +advanced the mountain became visible from base to summit, so that +Roman could trace out his way up it as upon a map. We walked up the +glacier to the foot of the mighty wall, and soon began to go up it, +advancing for some time with fair rapidity, in spite of the fresh +snow. After, perhaps, a couple of hours or so, we came to our first +real difficulty. This was a tall, red cliff, with a cleft up part of +it, and, as there was an evil-looking and nearly perpendicular gully +of ice to the right and overhanging rocks to the left, we had either +to go straight up or abandon the expedition. The cleft was large and +was garnished with a sturdy icicle, or column of ice, some 5 feet or +more in diameter. Bidding me wedge myself into a firm place, Roman +began to cut footholds up the icicle, and then, when after a few steps +the cleft or chimney ended, he turned to his right and wormed himself +along the very face of the cliff, holding on by the merest +irregularities, which can hardly be termed ledges. After a couple of +yards he struck straight up, and wriggling somehow on the surface, +rendered horribly slippery by the snow, he at last, after what seemed +an age, called on Wieland to follow. What was a _tour de force_ for +the first man was comparatively easy for the second, and soon my turn +came to try my hand--or rather my feet and knees and any other +adhesive portion of my person--on the business. The first part was the +worst, for, as the rope came from the side and not above till the +traverse was made, I had no help. Eventually I, too, emerged on to the +wall, and saw right over me the rope passing through a gap, behind +which, excellently placed, were the guides. I helped myself to the +utmost of my capacity, but a pull was not unwelcome towards the end, +when, exhausted and breathless, I could struggle no more. As I joined +the guides they moved to give me space on the ledge, and we spent a +well-earned quarter of an hour in rest and refreshment. The worst was +now over, but owing to the snow, which covered much of the rock to a +depth of about 2 or 3 feet, the remainder of the way was distinctly +difficult, and as the mountain was totally unknown to us we never +could tell what troubles might be in store. However, having left the +foot of the actual peak at 5.40 A.M., we arrived on the top at 10.40 +A.M., and as we lifted our heads above the final rocks, hardly daring +to believe that we really were on the summit, a distant cheer was +borne to our ears from Piz Bernina, and we knew that our arrival had +been observed by another party. + +So formidable did we consider the descent that we only allowed +ourselves ten minutes on the top, and then we prepared to go. Could we +cross the ridge to Piz Bernina and so avoid the chimney? It had a +great reputation, and we feared to embark on the unknown. So at 10.50 +A.M. we began the descent, moving one at a time with the utmost +caution. Before long the difficulties increased as we reached the +steeper part of the mountain. The rocks now streamed with water from +the rapidly melting snow, under the rays of an August sun. As I held +on, streams ran in at my wristbands, and soon I was soaked through. +But the work demanded such close attention that a mere matter of +discomfort was nothing. Presently we had to uncoil our spare 100 feet +of rope, and now our progress grew slower and slower. After some hours +we came to the chimney. No suitable rock could be found to attach the +rope to, so Roman sat down and thought the matter out. The difficulty +was to get the last man down; for the two first, held from above, the +descent was easy. Roman soon hit upon an ingenious idea. Wieland and I +were to go down to the bottom of the cleft. Wieland was to unrope me +and, leaving me, was to cut steps _across_ the ice-slope to our left +till leverage was obtainable for the rope across the boss of rock +where Roman stood, and where it would remain in position so long as it +was kept taut, with Roman at one end and Wieland slowly paying out +from below. The manoeuvre succeeded, and after about two hours' work +Wieland had hewn a large platform in the ice and prepared to gradually +let out the rope as Roman came down. He descended in grand form, +puffing at his pipe and declared the difficulty grossly over-rated, +though he did not despise the precaution. At 2.30 A.M. we re-entered +the Mortel Hut, somewhat tired, but much pleased with the success of +our expedition. + +Our second ascent of Piz Scerscen is soon told. + +Four days later Roman casually remarked to me: "It is a pity, ma'am, +we have not crossed the Scerscen to the Bernina." + +"It is," I replied. "Let us start at once and do it." + +Wieland was consulted, and was only too delighted to go anywhere under +Roman's leadership. Our times will give an idea of the changed state +of the mountain, for, leaving the Mortel Hut at 12.30 midnight, we +were on the top of the Scerscen at 8 A.M. At nine we set off, and +taking things leisurely, with halts for food, we passed along the +famous arête, and, thanks to Roman's choice of route, met with not one +really hard step. At 2.30 P.M. we found ourselves on the top of Piz +Bernina, and had a chat with another party, who had arrived not long +before. I waited to see them start, and rejoiced that I had kept two +plates. Then we, too, set forth, and were in the valley by 7 P.M. + + +THE FIRST ASCENT OF MONT BLANC BY A WOMAN, AND SOME SUBSEQUENT ASCENTS + +The first woman who reached the summit of Mont Blanc was a native of +Chamonix, Maria Paradis by name. Her account of her expedition is so +admirably graphic and picturesque that I shall give a translation of +it as like the original as I can. Though it was so far back as the +year 1809, Maria writes quite in the spirit of modern journalism. + +She begins:--"I was only a poor servant. One day the guides said to +me, 'We are going up there, come with us. Travellers will come and see +you afterwards and give you presents.' That decided me, and I set out +with them. When I reached the Grand Plateau I could not walk any +longer. I felt very ill, and I lay down on the snow. I panted like a +chicken in the heat. They held me up by my arms on each side and +dragged me along. But at the Rochers-Rouge I could get no further, and +I said to them 'Chuck me into a crevasse and go on yourselves.' + +"'You must go to the top,' answered the guides. They seized hold of +me, they dragged me, they pushed me, they carried me, and at last we +arrived. Once at the summit, I could see nothing clearly, I could not +breathe, I could not speak." + +Maria was thirty years of age, and made quite a fortune out of her +achievement. From that time, tourists returning from Mont Blanc +noticed with surprise, as they passed through the pine woods, a feast +spread out under the shade of a huge tree. Cream, fruit, etc., were +tastefully displayed on the white cloth. A neat-looking peasant woman +urged them to partake. "It is Maria of Mont Blanc!" the guides would +cry, and the travellers halted to hear the story of her ascent and to +refresh themselves. + +The second woman, and the first lady to climb Mont Blanc, was a +Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle d'Angeville. For years she had determined to +make the attempt, but it was only in 1838, when she was 44 years of +age, that she came to Chamonix with the intention of immediately +setting out for the great mountain. She had many difficulties to +surmount. The guides feared the responsibility of taking up a woman, +many of the Chamonix people thought her mad, and while one was ready +to offer a thousand francs to five that she would not reach the top, +another was prepared to accept heavy odds that there would be a +catastrophe. At last, however, all was ready, and she started. Two +other parties offered to join her. She declined with thanks. After +half an hour on the glacier she detached herself from the rope and +would accept no help. This was far from being out of sheer bravado, it +was simply that she desired to inspire confidence in her powers. +During the night on the rocks of the Grands Mulets she suffered +terribly from cold and could not snatch a moment's sleep. When the +party stopped for breakfast at the Grand Plateau, she could eat +nothing. At the Corridor, feverishness, and fearful thirst overcame +her; she fell to the ground from weakness and drowsiness. After a +little rest, however, she was able to go on, but at the Mur de la Cote +she felt desperately ill. Violent palpitation seized on her and her +limbs felt like lead. With a tremendous effort she moved on. The +beatings of her heart became more suffocating, her pulse was too rapid +to count, she could not take more than ten steps without stopping. One +thing only remained strong in her--the _will_. During these frequent +halts she heard the murmuring of talk between the guides, as in a +dream. "We shall fail! Look at her, she has fallen asleep! Shall we +try and carry her?" while Couttet cried, "If ever I find myself again +with a lady on Mont Blanc!" At these words Mademoiselle d'Angeville, +with a desperate effort, shook off her torpor and stood up. She clung +with desperate energy to the one idea: "If I die," she said to the +guides, "promise to carry me up there and bury me on the top!" And the +men, stupified with such persistence, answered gravely, "Make your +mind easy, mademoiselle, you shall go there, dead or alive!" + + [Illustration: HARD WORK.] + + [Illustration: MRS AUBREY LE BLOND SETS OUT IN A LONG SKIRT (page + 87).] + +As she approached the top she felt better, and was able to advance +without support, and when she stepped on to the summit, and knew that +her great wish was at last accomplished, all sensation of illness +vanished as if by enchantment. + +"And now, mademoiselle, you shall go higher than Mont Blanc!" +exclaimed the guides, and joining hands they lifted her above their +shoulders. + +One more ascent by a lady deserves mention here, that of Miss +Stratton, on 31st January 1876. She was the first person to reach the +summit of Mont Blanc in mid-winter. + +It is difficult to understand why these early climbers of Mont Blanc, +men as well as women, suffered so terribly from mountain sickness, a +disease one rarely hears of nowadays in the Alps. The question is too +vexed a one for me to discuss it here, but I may say that want of +training and unsuitable food bring it on in most cases. "The +stagnation of the air in valleys above the snow-line," was believed to +produce it, and I cannot help thinking that this does have some +effect. The first time I went up Mont Blanc I did not feel well on the +Grand Plateau, but was all right when I reached the breezy ridge of +the Bosses. The second time, ascending by the route on the Italian +side of the peak, where there are no snowy valleys, I did not suffer +at all. The third time I felt uncomfortable on the slope leading to +the Corridor, but quite myself again above. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE ASCENT OF A WALL OF ICE + + +Of all the writers on Alpine matters none has a more charming style, +or has described his adventures in a more modest manner, than Sir +Leslie Stephen. Perhaps the most delightful passages in his +_Playground of Europe_ are those in which he tells how, in company +with the Messrs Mathews, he managed to get up the great wall of ice +between the Mönch and the Eiger, known as the Eigerjoch. The Messrs +Mathews had with them two Chamonix guides, while Mr Leslie Stephen had +engaged the gigantic Oberlander Ulrich Lauener. In those days there +was often keen rivalry--and something more--between French and +German-speaking guides, and Lauener was apt to be rather an autocrat +on the mountains. "As, however, he could not speak a word of French, +nor they of German, he was obliged to convey his 'sentiments' in +pantomime, which, perhaps, did not soften 'their vigour.' I was +accordingly prepared for a few disputes next day. + +"About four on the morning of 7th August we got off from the inn on +the Wengern Alp, notwithstanding a few delays, and steered straight +for the foot of the Eiger. In the early morning the rocks around the +glacier and the lateral moraines were hard and slippery. Before long, +however, we found ourselves well on the ice, near the central axis of +the Eiger Glacier, and looking up at the great terrace-shaped +ice-masses, separated by deep crevasses, which rose threateningly over +our heads, one above another, like the defences of some vast +fortification. And here began the first little dispute between +Oberland and Chamouni. The Chamouni men proposed a direct assault on +the network of crevasses above us. Lauener said that we ought to turn +them by crossing to the south-west side, immediately below the Mönch. +My friends and their guides forming a majority, and seeming to have +little respect for the arguments urged by the minority, we gave in and +followed them, with many muttered remarks from Lauener. We soon found +ourselves performing a series of manoeuvres like those required for +the ascent of the Col du Géant. At times we were lying flat in little +gutters on the faces of the _séracs_, worming ourselves along like +boa-constrictors. At the next moment we were balancing ourselves on a +knife-edge of ice between two crevasses, or plunging into the very +bowels of the glacier, with a natural arch of ice meeting above our +heads. I need not attempt to describe difficulties and dangers +familiar to all ice-travellers. Like other such difficulties, they +were exciting, and even rather amusing for a time, but, unfortunately, +they seemed inclined to last rather too long. Some of the deep +crevasses apparently stretched almost from side to side of the +glacier, rending its whole mass into distorted fragments. In +attempting to find a way through them, we seemed to be going nearly as +far backwards as forwards, and the labyrinth in which we were involved +was as hopelessly intricate after a long struggle as it had been at +first. Moreover, the sun had long touched the higher snow-fields, and +was creeping down to us step by step. As soon as it reached the huge +masses amongst which we were painfully toiling, some of them would +begin to jump about like hailstones in a shower, and our position +would become really dangerous. The Chamouni guides, in fact, declared +it to be dangerous already, and warned us not to speak, for fear of +bringing some of the nicely-poised ice-masses down on our heads. On my +translating this well-meant piece of advice to Lauener, he +immediately selected the most dangerous looking pinnacle in sight, and +mounting to the top of it sent forth a series of screams, loud enough, +I should have thought, to bring down the top of the Mönch. They +failed, however, to dislodge any _séracs_, and Lauener, going to the +front, called to us to follow him. By this time we were all glad to +follow any one who was confident enough to lead. Turning to our right, +we crossed the glacier in a direction parallel to the deep crevasses, +and therefore unobstructed by any serious obstacles, till we found +ourselves immediately beneath the great cliffs of the Mönch. Our +prospects changed at once. A great fold in the glacier produces a kind +of diagonal pathway, stretching upwards from the point where we stood +towards the rocks of the Eiger--not that it was exactly a +carriage-road--but along the line which divides two different systems +of crevasse, the glacier seemed to have been crushed into smaller +fragments, producing, as it were, a kind of incipient macadamisation. +The masses, instead of being divided by long regular trenches, were +crumbled and jammed together so as to form a road, easy and pleasant +enough by comparison with our former difficulties. Pressing rapidly up +this rough path, we soon found ourselves in the very heart of the +glacier, with a broken wilderness of ice on every side. We were in +one of the grandest positions I have ever seen for observing the +wonders of the ice-world; but those wonders were not all of an +encouraging nature. For, looking up to the snow-fields now close above +us, an obstacle appeared which made us think that all our previous +labours had been in vain. From side to side of the glacier a vast +_chevaux de frise_ of blue ice-pinnacles struck up through the white +layers of _névé_ formed by the first plunge of the glacier down its +waterfall of ice. Some of them rose in fantastic shapes--huge blocks +balanced on narrow footstalks, and only waiting for the first touch of +the sun to fall in ruins down the slope below. Others rose like church +spires, or like square towers, defended by trenches of unfathomable +depths. Once beyond this barrier we should be safe upon the highest +plateau of the glacier at the foot of the last snow-slope. But it was +obviously necessary to turn them by some judicious strategical +movement. One plan was to climb the lower rocks of the Eiger; but, +after a moment's hesitation, we fortunately followed Lauener towards +the other side of the glacier, where a small gap between the _séracs_ +and the lower slopes of the Mönch seemed to be the entrance to a +ravine that might lead us upwards. Such it turned out to be. Instead +of the rough footing in which we had hitherto been unwillingly +restricted, we found ourselves ascending a narrow gorge, with the +giant cliffs of the Mönch on our right, and the toppling ice-pinnacles +on our left. A beautifully even surface of snow, scarcely marked by a +single crevasse, lay beneath our feet. We pressed rapidly up this +strange little pathway, as it wound steeply upwards between the rocks +and the ice, expecting at every moment to see it thin out, or break +off at some impassable crevasse. It was, I presume, formed by the +sliding of avalanches from the slopes of the Mönch. At any rate, to +our delight, it led us gradually round the barrier of _séracs_, till +in a few minutes we found ourselves on the highest plateau of the +glacier, the crevasses fairly beaten, and a level plain of snow +stretching from our feet to the last snow-slope. + +"We were now standing on the edge of a small level plateau. One, and +only one, gigantic crevasse of really surpassing beauty stretched +right across it. This was, we guessed, some 300 feet deep, and its +sides passed gradually into the lovely blues and greens of +semi-transparent ice, whilst long rows and clusters of huge icicles +imitated (as Lauener remarked) the carvings and ecclesiastical +furniture of some great cathedral. + +"To reach our pass, we had the choice either of at once attacking the +long steep slopes which led directly to the shoulder of the Mönch, or +of first climbing the gentle slope near the Eiger, and then forcing +our way along the backbone of the ridge. We resolved to try the last +plan first. + +"Accordingly, after a hasty breakfast at 9.30, we started across our +little snow-plain and commenced the ascent. After a short climb of no +great difficulty, merely pausing to chip a few steps out of the hard +crust of snow, we successively stepped safely on to the top of the +ridge. As each of my predecessors did so, I observed that he first +looked along the arête, then down the cliffs before him, and then +turned with a very blank expression of face to his neighbour. From our +feet the bare cliffs sank down, covered with loose rocks, but too +steep to hold more than patches of snow, and presenting right +dangerous climbing for many hundred feet towards the Grindelwald +glaciers. The arête offered a prospect not much better: a long ridge +of snow, sharp as the blade of a knife, was playfully alternated with +great rocky teeth, striking up through their icy covering, like the +edge of a saw. We held a council standing, and considered the +following propositions:--First, Lauener coolly proposed, and nobody +seconded, a descent of the precipices towards Grindelwald. This +proposition produced a subdued shudder from the travellers and a +volley of unreportable language from the Chamouni guides. It was +liable, amongst other things, to the trifling objection that it would +take us just the way we did not want to go. The Chamouni men now +proposed that we should follow the arête. This was disposed of by +Lauener's objection that it would take at least six hours. We should +have had to cut steps down the slope and up again round each of the +rocky teeth I have mentioned; and I believe that this calculation of +time was very probably correct. Finally, we unanimously resolved upon +the only course open to us--to descend once more into our little +valley, and thence to cut our way straight up the long slopes to the +shoulder of the Mönch. + +"Considerably disappointed at this unexpected check, we retired to the +foot of the slopes, feeling that we had no time to lose, but still +hoping that a couple of hours more might see us at the top of the +pass. It was just eleven as we crossed a small bergschrund and began +the ascent. Lauener led the way to cut the steps, followed by the two +other guides, who deepened and polished them up. Just as we started, I +remarked a kind of bright tract drawn down the ice in front of us, +apparently by the frozen remains of some small rivulet which had been +trickling down it. I guessed it would take some fifty steps and +half-an-hour's work to reach it. We cut about fifty steps, however, in +the first half-hour, and were not a quarter of the way to my mark; and +as even when there we should not be half-way to the top, matters began +to look serious. The ice was very hard, and it was necessary, as +Lauener observed, to cut steps in it as big as soup-tureens, for the +result of a slip would in all probability have been that the rest of +our lives would have been spent in sliding down a snow-slope, and that +that employment would not have lasted long enough to become at all +monotonous. Time slipped by, and I gradually became weary of a sound +to which at first I always listened with pleasure--the chipping of the +axe, and the hiss of the fragments as they skip down the long incline +below us. Moreover, the sun was very hot, and reflected with +oppressive power from the bright and polished surface of the ice. I +could see that a certain flask was circulating with great steadiness +amongst the guides, and the work of cutting the steps seemed to be +extremely severe. I was counting the 250th step, when we at last +reached the little line I had been so long watching, and it even then +required a glance back at the long line of steps behind to convince +me that we had in fact made any progress. The action of resting one's +whole weight on one leg for about a minute, and then slowly +transferring it to the other, becomes wearisome when protracted for +hours. Still the excitement and interest made the time pass quickly. I +was in constant suspense lest Lauener should pronounce for a retreat, +which would have been not merely humiliating, but not improbably +dangerous, amidst the crumbling _séracs_ in the afternoon sun. I +listened with some amusement to the low moanings of little Charlet, +who was apparently bewailing his position to Croz, and being heartless +chaffed in return. One or two measurements with a clinometer of +Mathews' gave inclinations of 51° or 52°, and the slope was perhaps +occasionally a little more. + + [Illustration: A VERY STEEP ICE SLOPE.] + + [Illustration: HARD SNOW IN THE EARLY MORNING ON THE TOP OF A GLACIER + PASS NEARLY 12,000 FEET ABOVE SEA.] + +"At last, as I was counting the 580th step, we reached a little patch +of rock, and felt ourselves once more on solid ground, with no small +satisfaction. Not that the ground was specially solid. It was a small +crumbling patch of rock, and every stone we dislodged went bounding +rapidly down the side of the slope, diminishing in apparent size till +it disappeared in the bergschrund, hundreds of feet below. However, +each of us managed to find some nook in which he could stow himself +away, whilst the Chamouni men took their turn in front, and cut steps +straight upwards to the top of the slope. By this means they kept +along a kind of rocky rib, of which our patch was the lowest point, +and we thus could occasionally get a footstep on rock instead of ice. +Once on the top of the slope, we could see no obstacle intervening +between us and the point over which our pass must lie. + +"Meanwhile we meditated on our position. It was already four o'clock. +After twelve hours' unceasing labour, we were still a long way on the +wrong side of the pass. We were clinging to a ledge in the mighty +snow-wall which sank sheer down below us and rose steeply above our +heads. Beneath our feet the whole plain of Switzerland lay with a +faint purple haze drawn over it like a veil, a few green sparkles just +pointing out the Lake of Thun. Nearer, and apparently almost +immediately below us, lay the Wengern Alp, and the little inn we had +left twelve hours before, whilst we could just see the back of the +labyrinth of crevasses where we had wandered so long. Through a +telescope I could even distinguish people standing about the inn, who +no doubt were contemplating our motions. As we rested, the Chamouni +guides had cut a staircase up the slope, and we prepared to follow. It +was harder work than before, for the whole slope was now covered with +a kind of granular snow, and resembled a huge pile of hailstones. The +hailstones poured into every footstep as it was cut, and had to be +cleared out with hands and feet before we could get even a slippery +foothold. As we crept cautiously up this treacherous staircase, I +could not help reflecting on the lively bounds with which the stones +and fragments of ice had gone spinning from our last halting place +down to the yawning bergschrund below. We succeeded, however, in +avoiding their example, and a staircase of about one hundred steps +brought us to the top of the ridge, but at a point still at some +distance from the pass. It was necessary to turn along the arête +towards the Mönch. We were preparing to do this by keeping on the +snow-ridge, when Lauener, jumping down about 6 feet on the side +opposite to that by which we had ascended, lighted upon a little ledge +of rock, and called to us to follow. He assured us that it was +granite, and that therefore there was no danger of slipping. It was +caused by the sun having melted the snow on the southern side of the +ridge, so that it no longer quite covered the inclined plane of rock +upon which it rested. It was narrow and treacherous enough in +appearance at first; soon, however, it grew broader, and, compared +with our ice-climb, afforded capital footing. The precipice beneath us +thinned out as the Viescher Glacier rose towards our pass, and at last +we found ourselves at the edge of a little mound of snow, through +which a few plunging steps brought us, just at six o'clock, to the +long-desired shoulder of the Mönch. + +"I cannot describe the pleasure with which we stepped at last on to +the little saddle of snow, and felt that we had won the victory." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE AIGUILLE DU DRU + + +Few mountains have been the object of such repeated attempts by +experienced climbers to reach their summits, as was the rocky pinnacle +of the Aiguille du Dru, at Chamonix. While the name of Whymper will +always be associated with the Matterhorn, so will that of Clinton Dent +be with the Aiguille du Dru, and the accounts given by him in his +delightful little work, _Above the Snow Line_, of his sixteen +unavailing scrambles on the peak, followed by the stirring description +of how at last he got up it, are amongst the romances of +mountaineering. + +I have space for only a few extracts describing Mr Dent's early +attempts, which even the non-climber would find very entertaining to +read about in the work from which I quote. The Chamonix people, +annoyed that foreign guides should monopolise the peak, threw cold +water on the idea of ascending it, and were ready, if they got a +chance, to deny that it had been ascended. An honourable exception to +the attitude adopted by these gentry, was, however, furnished by that +splendid guide, Edouard Cupelin, who always asserted that the peak was +climbable, and into whose big mind no trace of jealousy was ever known +to enter. + +Very witty are some of the accounts of Mr Dent's earlier starts for +the Aiguille du Dru. On one occasion, starting in the small hours of +the morning from Chamonix, he reached the Montanvert at 3.30 A.M. "The +landlord at once appeared in full costume," he writes; "indeed I +observed that during the summer it was impossible to tell from his +attire whether he had risen immediately from bed or no. Our friend had +cultivated to great perfection the art of half sleeping during his +waking hours--that is, during such time as he might be called upon to +provide entertainment for man and beast. Now, at the Montanvert, +during the tourists' season, this period extended over the whole +twenty-four hours. It was necessary, therefore, in order that he might +enjoy a proper physiological period of rest, for him to remain in a +dozing state--a sort of æstival hybernation--for the whole time, which +in fact he did; or else he was by nature a very dull person, and had +actually a very restricted stock of ideas. + +"The sight of a tourist with an ice-axe led by a kind of reflex +process to the landlord's unburdening his mind with his usual remarks. +Like other natives of the valley he had but two ideas of +'extraordinary' expeditions. 'Monsieur is going to the Jardin?' he +remarked. 'No, monsieur isn't.' 'Then, beyond a doubt, monsieur will +cross the Col du Géant?' he said, playing his trump card. 'No, +monsieur will not.' 'Pardon--where does monsieur expect to go?' 'On +the present occasion we go to try the Aiguille du Dru.' The landlord +smiled in an aggravating manner. 'Does monsieur think he will get up?' +'Time will show.' 'Ah!' The landlord, who had a chronic cold in the +head, searched for his pocket-handkerchief, but not finding it, +modified the necessary sniff into one of derision." On this day the +party did not get up, nor did they gain the summit a little later when +they made another attempt. They then had with them a porter who gave +occasion for an excellent bit of character-sketching. "He was," says +Mr Dent, "as silent as an oyster, though a strong and skilful climber, +and like an oyster when its youth is passed, he was continually on the +gape." They mounted higher and higher, and began at last to think that +success awaited them. "Old Franz chattered away to himself, as was his +wont when matters went well, and on looking back on one occasion I +perceived the strange phenomenon of a smile illuminating the porter's +features. However, this worthy spoke no words of satisfaction, but +pulled ever at his empty pipe. + +"By dint of wriggling over a smooth sloping stone slab, we had got +into a steep rock gully which promised to lead us to a good height. +Burgener, assisted by much pushing and prodding from below, and aided +on his own part by much snorting and some strong language, had managed +to climb on to a great overhanging boulder that cut off the view from +the rest of the party below. As he disappeared from sight we watched +the paying out of the rope with as much anxiety as a fisherman eyes +his vanishing line when the salmon runs. Presently the rope ceased to +move, and we waited for a few moments in suspense. We felt that the +critical moment of the expedition had arrived, and the fact that our +own view was exceedingly limited, made us all the more anxious to hear +the verdict. 'How does it look?' we called out. The answer came back +in _patois_, a bad sign in such emergencies. For a minute or two an +animated conversation was kept up; then we decided to take another +opinion, and accordingly hoisted up our second guides. The chatter was +redoubled. 'What does it look like?' we shouted again. 'Not +possible from where we are,' was the melancholy answer, and in a tone +that crushed at once all our previous elation. I could not find words +at the moment to express my disappointment; but the porter could, and +gallantly he came to the rescue. He opened his mouth for the first +time and spoke, and he said very loud indeed that it was 'verdammt.' +Precisely: that is just what it was." + + [Illustration: ON A VERY STEEP, SMOOTH SLAB OF ROCK.] + + [Illustration: NEGOTIATING STEEP PASSAGES OF ROCK.] + +It was not till 1878 that Mr Dent was able to return to Chamonix. He +had now one fixed determination with regard to the Dru:--either he +would get to the top or prove that the ascent was impossible. + +His first few attempts that season were frustrated by bad weather, and +so persistently did the rain continue to fall that for a couple of +weeks no high ascents could be thought of. During this time, Mr Maund, +who had been with Mr Dent on many of his attempts, was obliged to +return to England. + +"On a mountain such as we knew the Aiguille du Dru to be, it would not +have been wise to make any attempt with a party of more than four. No +doubt three--that is, an amateur with two guides--would have been +better still, but I had, during the enforced inaction through which we +had been passing, become so convinced of ultimate success, that I was +anxious to find a companion to share it. Fortunately, J. Walker +Hartley, a highly skilful and practised mountaineer, was at Chamouni, +and it required but little persuasion to induce him to join our party. +Seizing an opportunity one August day, when the rain had stopped for a +short while, we decided to try once more, or, at any rate, to see what +effects the climatic phases through which we had been passing had +produced on the Aiguille. With Alexander Burgener and Andreas Maurer +still as guides, we ascended once again the slopes by the side of the +Charpoua Glacier, and succeeded in discovering a still more eligible +site for a bivouac than on our previous attempts. A little before four +the next morning we extracted each other from our respective sleeping +bags, and made our way rapidly up the glacier. The snow still lay +thick everywhere on the rocks, which were fearfully cold, and glazed +with thin layers of slippery ice; but our purpose was very serious +that day, and we were not to be deterred by anything short of +unwarrantable risk. We intended the climb to be merely one of +exploration, but were resolved to make it as thorough as possible, and +with the best results. From the middle of the slope leading up to the +ridge the guides went on alone, while we stayed to inspect and work +out bit by bit the best routes over such parts of the mountain as lay +within view. In an hour or two Burgener and Maurer came back to us, +and the former invited me to go on with him back to the point from +which he had just descended. His invitation was couched in gloomy +terms, but there was a twinkle at the same time in his eye which it +was easy to interpret--_ce n'est que l'oeil qui rit_. We started +off, and climbed without the rope up the way which was now so +familiar, but which on this occasion, in consequence of the glazed +condition of the rocks, was as difficult as it could well be; but for +a growing conviction that the upper crags were not so bad as they +looked, we should scarcely have persevered. 'Wait a little,' said +Burgener, 'I will show you something presently.' We reached at last a +great knob of rock close below the ridge, and for a long time sat a +little distance apart silently staring at the precipices of the upper +peak. I asked Burgener what it might be that he had to show me. He +pointed to a little crack some way off, and begged that I would study +it, and then fell again to gazing at it very hard himself. Though we +scarcely knew it at the time this was the turning point of our year's +climbing. Up to that moment I had only felt doubts as to the +inaccessibility of the mountain. Now a certain feeling of confident +elation began to creep over me. The fact is, that we gradually worked +ourselves up into the right mental condition, and the aspect of a +mountain varies marvellously according to the beholder's frame of +mind. These same crags had been by each of us independently, at one +time or another, deliberately pronounced impossible. They were in no +better condition that day than usual, in fact, in much worse order +than we had often seen them before. Yet, notwithstanding that good +judges had ridiculed the idea of finding a way up the precipitous +wall, the prospect looked different that day as turn by turn we +screwed our determination up to the sticking point. Here and there we +could clearly trace short bits of practicable rock ledges along which +a man might walk, or over which at any rate he might transport +himself, while cracks and irregularities seemed to develop as we +looked. Gradually, uniting and communicating passages appeared to +form. Faster and faster did our thoughts travel, and at last we rose +and turned to each other. The same train of ideas had independently +been passing through our minds. Burgener's face flushed, his eyes +brightened, and he struck a great blow with his axe as we exclaimed +almost together, 'It must, and it shall be done!' + +"The rest of the day was devoted to bringing down the long ladder, +which had previously been deposited close below the summit of the +ridge, to a point much lower and nearer to the main peak. This ladder +had not hitherto been of the slightest assistance on the rocks, and +had, indeed, proved a source of constant anxiety and worry, for it was +ever prone to precipitate its lumbering form headlong down the slope. +We had, it is true, used it occasionally on the glacier to bridge over +the crevasses, and had saved some time thereby. Still, we were loth to +discard its aid altogether, and accordingly devoted much time and no +little exertion to hauling it about and fixing it in a place of +security. It was late in the evening before we had made all our +preparations for the next assault and turned to the descent, which +proved to be exceedingly difficult on this occasion. The snow had +become very soft during the day; the late hour and the melting above +caused the stones to fall so freely down the gully that we gave up +that line of descent and made our way over the face. Often, in +travelling down, we were buried up to the waist in soft snow overlying +rock slabs, of which we knew no more than that they were very smooth +and inclined at a highly inconvenient angle. It was imperative for one +only to move at a time, and the perpetual roping and unroping was +most wearisome. In one place it was necessary to pay out 150 feet of +rope between one position of comparative security and the one next +below it, till the individual who was thus lowered looked like a bait +at the end of a deep sea-line. One step and the snow would crunch up +in a wholesome manner and yield firm support. The next, and the leg +plunged in as far as it could reach, while the submerged climber +would, literally, struggle in vain to collect himself. Of course those +above, to whom the duty of paying out the rope was entrusted, would +seize the occasion to jerk as violently at the cord as a cabman does +at his horse's mouth when he has misguided the animal round a corner. +Now another step, and a layer of snow not more than a foot deep would +slide off with a gentle hiss, exposing bare, black ice beneath, or +treacherous loose stones. Nor were our difficulties at an end when we +reached the foot of the rocks, for the head of the glacier had fallen +away from the main mass of the mountain, even as an ill-constructed +bow-window occasionally dissociates itself from the façade of a +jerry-built villa, and some very complicated manoeuvring was +necessary in order to reach the snow slopes. It was not till late in +the evening that we reached Chamouni; but it would have mattered +nothing to us even had we been benighted, for we had seen all that we +had wanted to see, and I would have staked my existence now on the +possibility of ascending the peak. But the moment was not yet at hand, +and our fortress held out against surrender to the very last by +calling in its old allies, sou'-westerly winds and rainy weather. The +whirligig of time had not yet revolved so as to bring us in our +revenge. + + * * * * * + +"Perhaps the monotonous repetition of failures on the peak influences +my recollection of what took place subsequently to the expedition last +mentioned. Perhaps (as I sometimes think even now) an intense desire +to accomplish our ambition ripened into a realisation of actual +occurrences which really were only efforts of imagination. This much I +know, that when on 7th September we sat once more round a blazing wood +fire at the familiar bivouac gazing pensively at the crackling fuel, +it seemed hard to persuade one's self that so much had taken place +since our last attempt. Leaning back against the rock and closing the +eyes for a moment it seemed but a dream, whose reality could be +disproved by an effort of the will, that we had gone to Zermatt in a +storm and hurried back again in a drizzle on hearing that some other +climbers were intent on our peak; that we had left Chamouni in rain +and tried, for the seventeenth time, in a tempest; that matters had +seemed so utterly hopeless, seeing that the season was far advanced +and the days but short, as to induce me to return to England, leaving +minute directions that if the snow should chance to melt and the +weather to mend I might be summoned back at once; that after +eight-and-forty hours of sojourn in the fogs of my native land an +intimation had come by telegraph of glad tidings; that I had posted +off straightway by _grande vitesse_ back to Chamouni; that I had +arrived there at four in the morning." + +Once more the party mounted the now familiar slopes above their +bivouac, and somehow on this occasion they all felt that something +definite would come of the expedition, even if they did not on that +occasion actually reach the top. + +I give the remainder of the account in Mr Dent's own words: + +"Now, personal considerations had to a great extent to be lost sight +of in the desire to make the most of the day, and the result was that +Hartley must have had a very bad time of it. Unfortunately, perhaps +for him, he was by far the lightest member of the party; accordingly +we argued that he was far less likely to break the rickety old ladder +than we were. Again, as the lightest weight, he was most conveniently +lowered down first over awkward places when they occurred. + +"In the times which are spoken of as old, and which have also, for +some not very definable reason, the prefix good, if you wanted your +chimneys swept you did not employ an individual now dignified by the +title of a Ramoneur, but you adopted the simpler plan of calling in a +master sweep. This person would come attended by a satellite, who wore +the outward form of a boy and was gifted with certain special physical +attributes. Especially was it necessary that the boy should be of such +a size and shape as to fit nicely to the chimney, not so loosely on +the one hand as to have any difficulty in ascending by means of his +knees and elbows, nor so tightly on the other as to run any peril of +being wedged in. The boy was then inserted into the chimney and did +all the work, while the master remained below or sat expectant on the +roof to encourage, to preside over, and subsequently to profit by, his +apprentice's exertions. We adopted much the same principle. Hartley, +as the lightest, was cast for the _rôle_ of the _jeune premier_, or +boy, while Burgener and I on physical grounds alone filled the part, +however unworthily, of the master sweep. As a play not infrequently +owes its success to one actor so did our _jeune premier_, sometimes +very literally, pull us through on the present occasion. Gallantly +indeed did he fulfil his duty. Whether climbing up a ladder slightly +out of the perpendicular, leaning against nothing in particular and +with overhanging rocks above; whether let down by a rope tied round +his waist, so that he dangled like the sign of the 'Golden Fleece' +outside a haberdasher's shop, or hauled up smooth slabs of rock with +his raiment in an untidy heap around his neck; in each and all of +these exercises he was equally at home, and would be let down or would +come up smiling. One place gave us great difficulty. An excessively +steep wall of rock presented itself and seemed to bar the way to a +higher level. A narrow crack ran some little way up the face, but +above the rock was slightly overhanging, and the water trickling from +some higher point had led to the formation of a huge bunch of gigantic +icicles, which hung down from above. It was necessary to get past +these, but impossible to cut them away, as they would have fallen on +us below. Burgener climbed a little way up the face, planted his back +against it, and held on to the ladder in front of him, while I did the +same just below: by this means we kept the ladder almost +perpendicular, but feared to press the highest rung heavily against +the icicles above lest we should break them off. We now invited +Hartley to mount up. For the first few steps it was easy enough; but +the leverage was more and more against us as he climbed higher, seeing +that he could not touch the rock, and the strain on our arms below was +very severe. However, he got safely to the top and disappeared from +view. The performance was a brilliant one, but, fortunately, had not +to be repeated; as on a subsequent occasion, by a deviation of about +15 or 20 feet, we climbed to the same spot in a few minutes with +perfect ease and without using any ladder at all. On this occasion, +however, we must have spent fully an hour while Hartley performed his +feats, which were not unworthy of a Japanese acrobat. Every few feet +of the mountain at this part gave us difficulty, and it was curious to +notice how, on this the first occasion of travelling over the rock +face, we often selected the wrong route in points of detail. We +ascended from 20 to 25 feet, then surveyed right and left, up and +down, before going any further. The minutes slipped by fast, but I +have no doubt now that if we had had time we might have ascended to +the final arête on this occasion. We had often to retrace our steps, +and whenever we did so found some slightly different line by which +time could have been saved. Though the way was always difficult +nothing was impossible, and when the word at last was given, owing to +the failing light, to descend, we had every reason to be satisfied +with the result of the day's exploration. There seemed to be little +doubt that we had traversed the most difficult part of the mountain, +and, indeed, we found on a later occasion, with one or two notable +exceptions, that such was the case. + +"However, at the time we did not think that, even if it were possible, +it would be at all advisable to make our next attempt without a second +guide. A telegram had been sent to Kaspar Maurer, instructing him to +join us at the bivouac with all possible expedition. The excitement +was thus kept up to the very last, for we knew not whether the message +might have reached him, and the days of fine weather were precious. + +"It was late in the evening when we reached again the head of the +glacier, and the point where we had left the feeble creature who had +started with us as a second guide. On beholding us once more he wept +copiously, but whether his tears were those of gratitude for release +from the cramped position in which he had spent his entire day, or of +joy at seeing us safe again, or whether they were the natural overflow +of an imbecile intellect stirred by any emotion whatever, it were hard +to say; at any rate he wept, and then fell to a description of some +interesting details concerning the proper mode of bringing up infants, +and the duties of parents towards their children; the most important +of which, in his estimation, was that the father of a family should +run no risk whatever on a mountain. Reaching our bivouac, we looked +anxiously down over the glacier for any signs of Kaspar Maurer. Two or +three parties were seen crawling homewards towards the Montanvert over +the ice-fields, but no signs of our guide were visible. As the shades +of night, however, were falling, we were able indistinctly to see in +the far-off distance a little black dot skipping over the Mer de Glace +with great activity. Most eagerly did we watch the apparition, and +when finally it headed in our direction, and all doubt was removed as +to the personality, we felt that our constant ill-luck was at last on +the eve of changing. However, it was not till two days later that we +left Chamouni once more for the nineteenth, and, as it proved, for the +last time to try the peak. + +"On 11th September we sat on the rocks a few feet above the +camping-place. Never before had we been so confident of success. The +next day's climb was no longer to be one of exploration. We were to +start as early as the light would permit, and we were to go up and +always up, if necessary till the light should fail. Possibly we might +have succeeded long before if we had had the same amount of +determination to do so that we were possessed with on this occasion. +We had made up our minds to succeed, and felt as if all our previous +attempts had been but a sort of training for this special occasion. We +had gone so far as to instruct our friends below to look out for us on +the summit between twelve and two the next day. We had even gone to +the length of bringing a stick wherewith to make a flagstaff on the +top. Still one, and that a very familiar source of disquietude, +harassed us as our eyes turned anxiously to the west. A single huge +band of cloud hung heavily right across the sky, and looked like a +harbinger of evil, for it was of a livid colour above, and tinged +with a deep crimson red below. My companion was despondent at the +prospect it suggested, and the guides tapped their teeth with their +forefingers when they looked in that direction; but it was suggested +by a more sanguine person that its form and very watery look suggested +a Band of Hope. An insinuating smell of savoury soup was wafted up +gently from below-- + + 'Stealing and giving odour.' + +We took courage; then descended to the tent, and took sustenance. + +"There was no difficulty experienced in making an early start the next +day, and the moment the grey light allowed us to see our way we set +off. On such occasions, when the mind is strung up to a high pitch of +excitement, odd and trivial little details and incidents fix +themselves indelibly on the memory. I can recall as distinctly now, as +if it had only happened a moment ago, the exact tone of voice in which +Burgener, on looking out of the tent, announced that the weather would +do. Burgener and Kaspar Maurer were now our guides, for our old enemy +with the family ties had been paid off and sent away with a flea in +his ear--an almost unnecessary adjunct, as anyone who had slept in the +same tent with him could testify. Notwithstanding that Maurer was far +from well, and, rather weak, we mounted rapidly at first, for the way +was by this time familiar enough, and we all meant business. + +"Our position now was this. By our exploration on the last occasion we +had ascertained that it was possible to ascend to a great height on +the main mass of the mountain. From the slope of the rocks, and from +the shape of the mountain, we felt sure that the final crest would be +easy enough. We had then to find a way still up the face, from the +point where we had turned back on our last attempt, to some point on +the final ridge of the mountain. The rocks on this part we had never +been able to examine very closely, for it is necessary to cross well +over to the south-eastern face while ascending from the ridge between +the Aiguille du Dru and the Aiguille Verte. A great projecting +buttress of rock, some two or three hundred feet in height, cuts off +the view of that part of the mountain over which we now hoped to make +our way. By turning up straight behind this buttress, we hoped to hit +off and reach the final crest just above the point where it merges +into the precipitous north-eastern wall visible from the Chapeau. This +part of the mountain can only be seen from the very head of the +Glacier de la Charpoua just under the mass of the Aiguille Verte. But +this point of view is too far off for accurate observations, and the +strip of mountain was practically, therefore, a _terra incognita_ to +us. + +"We followed the gully running up from the head of the glacier towards +the ridge above mentioned, keeping well to the left. Before long it +was necessary to cross the gully on to the main peak. To make the +topography clearer a somewhat prosaic and domestic simile may be +employed. The Aiguille du Dru and the Aiguille Verte are connected by +a long sharp ridge, towards which we were now climbing; and this ridge +is let in, as it were, into the south-eastern side of the Aiguille du +Dru, much as a comb may be stuck into the middle of a hairbrush, the +latter article representing the main peak. Here we employed the ladder +which had been placed in the right position the day previously. Right +glad were we to see the rickety old structure, which had now spent +four years on the mountain, and was much the worse for it. It creaked +and groaned dismally under our weight, and ran sharp splinters into us +at all points of contact, but yet there was a certain companionship +about the old ladder, and we seemed almost to regret that it was not +destined to share more in our prospective success. A few steps on and +we came to a rough cleft some five-and-twenty feet in depth, which +had to be descended. A double rope was fastened to a projecting crag, +and we swung ourselves down as if we were barrels of split peas going +into a ship's hold; then to the ascent again, and the excitement waxed +stronger as we drew nearer to the doubtful part of the mountain. +Still, we did not anticipate insuperable obstacles; for I think we +were possessed with a determination to succeed, which is a sensation +often spoken of as a presentiment of success. A short climb up an easy +broken gully, and of a sudden we seemed to be brought to a stand +still. A little ledge at our feet curled round a projecting crag on +the left. 'What are we to do now?' said Burgener, but with a smile on +his face that left no doubt as to the answer. He lay flat down on the +ledge and wriggled round the projection, disappearing suddenly from +view, as if the rock had swallowed him up. A shout proclaimed that his +expectations had not been deceived, and we were bidden to follow; and +follow we did, sticking to the flat face of the rock with all our +power, and progressing like the skates down the glass sides of an +aquarium tank. When the last man joined us we found ourselves all +huddled together on a very little ledge indeed, while an overhanging +rock above compelled us to assume the anomalous attitude enforced on +the occupant of a little-ease dungeon. What next? An eager look up +solved part of the doubt. 'There is the way,' said Burgener, leaning +back to get a view. 'Oh, indeed,' we answered. No doubt there was a +way, and we were glad to hear that it was possible to get up it. The +attractions of the route consisted of a narrow flat gully plastered up +with ice, exceeding straight and steep, and crowned at the top with a +pendulous mass of enormous icicles. The gully resembled a half-open +book standing up on end. Enthusiasts in rock-climbing who have +ascended the Riffelhorn from the Gorner Glacier side will have met +with a similar gully, but, as a rule, free from ice, which, in the +present instance, constituted the chief difficulty. The ice, filling +up the receding angle from top to bottom, rendered it impossible to +find handhold on the rocks, and it was exceedingly difficult to cut +steps in such a place, for the slabs of ice were prone to break away +entire. However, the guides said they could get up, and asked us to +keep out of the way of chance fragments of ice which might fall down +as they ascended. So we tucked ourselves away on one side, and they +fell to as difficult a business as could well be imagined. The rope +was discarded, and slowly they worked up, their backs and elbows +against one sloping wall, their feet against the other. But the angle +was too wide to give security to this position, the more especially +that with shortened axes they were compelled to hack out enough of the +ice to reveal the rock below. In such places the ice is but loosely +adherent, being raised up from the face much as pie-crust dissociates +itself from the fruit beneath under the influence of the oven. Strike +lightly with the axe, and a hollow sound is yielded without much +impression on the ice; strike hard, and the whole mass breaks away. +But the latter method is the right one to adopt, though it +necessitates very hard work. No steps are really reliable when cut in +ice of this description. + +"The masses of ice, coming down harder and harder as they ascended +without intermission, showed how they were working, and the only +consolation we had during a time that we felt to be critical, was that +the guides were not likely to expend so much labour unless they +thought that some good result would come of it. Suddenly there came a +sharp shout and cry; then a crash as a great slab of ice, falling from +above, was dashed into pieces at our feet and leaped into the air; +then a brief pause, and we knew not what would happen next. Either the +gully had been ascended or the guides had been pounded, and failure +here might be failure altogether. It is true that Hartley and I had +urged the guides to find a way some little distance to the right of +the line on which they were now working; but they had reported that, +though easy below, the route we had pointed out was impossible +above.[10] A faint scratching noise close above us, as of a mouse +perambulating behind a wainscot. We look up. It is the end of a rope. +We seize it, and our pull from below is answered by a triumphant yell +from above as the line is drawn taut. Fastening the end around my +waist, I started forth. The gully was a scene of ruin, and I could +hardly have believed that two axes in so short a time could have dealt +so much destruction. Nowhere were the guides visible, and in another +moment there was a curious sense of solitariness as I battled with the +obstacles, aided in no small degree by the rope. The top of the gully +was blocked up by a great cube of rock, dripping still where the +icicles had just been broken off. The situation appeared to me to +demand deliberation, though it was not accorded. 'Come on,' said +voices from above. 'Up you go,' said a voice from below. I leaned as +far back as I could, and felt about for a handhold. There was none. +Everything seemed smooth. Then right, then left; still none. So I +smiled feebly to myself, and called out, 'Wait a minute.' This was, of +course, taken as an invitation to pull vigorously, and, struggling and +kicking like a spider irritated by tobacco smoke, I topped the rock, +and lent a hand on the rope for Hartley to follow. Then we learnt that +a great mass of ice had broken away under Maurer's feet while they +were in the gully, and that he must have fallen had not Burgener +pinned him to the rock with one hand. From the number of times that +this escape was described to us during that day and the next, I am +inclined to think that it was rather a near thing. At the time, and +often since, I have questioned myself as to whether we could have got +up this passage without the rope let down from above. I think either +of us could have done it in time with a companion. It was necessary +for two to be in the gully at the same time, to assist each other. It +was necessary, also, to discard the rope, which in such a place could +only be a source of danger. But no amateur should have tried the +passage on that occasion without confidence in his own powers, and +without absolute knowledge of the limit of his own powers. If the +gully had been free from ice it would have been much easier. + +"'The worst is over now,' said Burgener. I was glad to hear it, but +looking upwards, had my doubts. The higher we went the bigger the +rocks seemed to be. Still there was a way, and it was not so very +unlike what I had, times out of mind, pictured to myself in +imagination. Another tough scramble, and we stood on a comparatively +extensive ledge. With elation we observed that we had now climbed more +than half of the only part of the mountain of the nature of which we +were uncertain. A few steps on and Burgener grasped me suddenly by the +arm. 'Do you see the great red rock up yonder?' he whispered, hoarse +with excitement-- 'in ten minutes we shall be there and on the arête, +and then----' Nothing could stop us now; but a feverish anxiety to see +what lay beyond, to look on the final slope which we knew must be +easy, impelled us on, and we worked harder than ever to overcome the +last few obstacles. The ten minutes expanded into something like +thirty before we really reached the rock. Of a sudden the mountain +seemed to change its form. For hours we had been climbing the hard, +dry rocks. Now these appeared suddenly to vanish from under our feet, +and once again our eyes fell on snow which lay thick, half hiding, +half revealing, the final slope of the ridge. A glance along it showed +that we had not misjudged. Even the cautious Maurer admitted that, as +far as we could see, all appeared promising. And now, with the prize +almost within our grasp, a strange desire to halt and hang back came +on. Burgener tapped the rock with his axe, and we seemed somehow to +regret that the way in front of us must prove comparatively easy. Our +foe had almost yielded, and it appeared something like cruelty to +administer the final _coup de grâce_. We could already anticipate the +half-sad feeling with which we should reach the top itself. It needed +but little to make the feeling give way. Some one cried 'Forward,' and +instantly we were all in our places again, and the leader's axe +crashed through the layers of snow into the hard blue ice beneath. A +dozen steps, and then a short bit of rock scramble; then more steps +along the south side of the ridge, followed by more rock, and the +ridge beyond, which had been hidden for a minute or two, stretched out +before us again as we topped the first eminence. Better and better it +looked as we went on. 'See there,' cried Burgener suddenly, 'the +actual top!' + +"There was no possibility of mistaking the two huge stones we had so +often looked at from below. They seemed, in the excitement of the +moment, misty and blurred for a brief space, but grew clear again as +I passed my hand over my eyes, and seemed to swallow something. A few +feet below the pinnacles and on the left was one of those strange +arches formed by a great transverse boulder, so common near the +summits of these aiguilles, and through the hole we could see blue +sky. Nothing could lay beyond, and, still better, nothing could be +above. On again, while we could scarcely stand still in the great +steps the leader set his teeth to hack out. Then there came a short +troublesome bit of snow scramble, where the heaped-up cornice had +fallen back from the final rock. There we paused for a moment, for the +summit was but a few feet from us, and Hartley, who was ahead, +courteously allowed me to unrope and go on first. In a few seconds I +clutched at the last broken rocks, and hauled myself up on to the +sloping summit. There for a moment I stood alone gazing down on +Chamouni. The holiday dream of five years was accomplished; the +Aiguille du Dru was climbed. Where in the wide world will you find a +sport able to yield pleasure like this?" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[10] It has transpired since that our judgment happened to be right in +this matter, and we might probably have saved an hour or more at this +part of the ascent. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MOST FAMOUS MOUNTAIN IN THE ALPS--THE CONQUEST OF THE MATTERHORN + + +The story of the Matterhorn must always be one of unique attraction. +Like a good play, it resumes and concentrates in itself the incidents +of a prolonged struggle--the conquest of the Alps. The strange +mountain stood forth as a Goliath in front of the Alpine host, and +when it found its conqueror there was a general feeling that the +subjugation of the High Alps by human effort was decided, a feeling +which has been amply justified by events. The contest itself was an +eventful one. It was marked by a race between eager rivals, and the +final victory was marred by the most terrible of Alpine accidents. + + [Illustration: MR AND MRS SEILER AND THREE OF THEIR DAUGHTERS. + ZERMATT, 1890.] + + [Illustration: GOING LEISURELY TO ZERMATT WITH A MULE FOR THE LUGGAGE + IN THE OLDEN DAYS.] + +"As a writer, Mr Whymper has proved himself equal to his subject. His +serious, emphatic style, his concentration on his object, take hold of +his readers and make them follow his campaigns with as much +interest as if some great stake depended on the result. No one can +fail to remark the contrast between the many unsuccessful attacks +which preceded the fall of the Matterhorn, and the frequency with +which it is now climbed by amateurs, some of whom it would be courtesy +to call indifferent climbers. The moral element has, of course, much +to do with this. But allowance must also be made for the fact that the +Breil ridge, which looks the easiest, is still the most difficult, and +in its unbechained state was far the most difficult. The terrible +appearance of the Zermatt and Zmutt ridges long deterred climbers, yet +both have now yielded to the first serious attack." + +These words, taken from a review of Mr Whymper's _Ascent of the +Matterhorn_, occur in vol. ix. on page 441 of _The Alpine Journal_. +They are as true now as on the day when they appeared, but could the +writer have known the future history of the great peak, and the +appalling vengeance it called down over and over again on "amateurs" +and the guides who, themselves unfit, tempted their ignorant charges +to go blindly to their deaths, one feels he would have stood aghast at +the contemplation of the tragedies to be enacted on the blood-stained +precipices of that hoary peak. + + +THE CONQUEST OF THE MATTERHORN + +When one remembers all the facilities for climbing which are found at +present in every Alpine centre, the experienced guides who may be had, +the comfortable huts which obviate the need for a bivouac out of +doors, the knowledge of the art of mountaineering which is available +if any desire to acquire it, one marvels more and more at the +undaunted persistence displayed by the pioneers of present-day +mountaineering in their struggle with the immense difficulties which +beset them on every side. + +When, in 1861, Mr Whymper made his first attempt on the Matterhorn, +the first problem he had to solve was that of obtaining a skilful +guide. Michael Croz of Chamonix believed the ascent to be impossible. +Bennen thought the same. Jean Antoine Carrel was dictatorial and +unreasonable in his demands, though convinced that the summit could be +gained. Peter Taugwalder asked 200 francs whether the top was reached +or not. "Almer asked, with more point than politeness, 'Why don't you +try to go up a mountain which _can_ be ascended?'" + +In 1862 Mr Whymper, who had three times during the previous summer +tried to get up the mountain, returned to Breuil on the Italian side, +and thence made five plucky attempts, sometimes with Carrel, and once +alone, to go to the highest point it was possible to reach. On the +occasion of his solitary climb, Mr Whymper had set out from Breuil to +see if his tent, left on a ledge of the mountain, was still, in spite +of recent storms, safely in its place. He found all in good order, and +tempted to linger by the lovely weather, time slipped away, and he at +last decided to sleep that night in the tent, which contained ample +provisions for several days. The next morning Mr Whymper could not +resist an attempt to explore the route towards the summit, and +eventually he managed to reach a considerable height, much above that +attained by any of his predecessors. Exulting in the hope of entire +success in the near future, he returned to the tent. "My exultation +was a little premature," he writes, and goes on to describe what +befell him on the way down. I give the thrilling account of his +adventure in his own words:-- + +"About 5 P.M. I left the tent again, and thought myself as good as at +Breuil. The friendly rope and claw had done good service, and had +smoothened all the difficulties. I lowered myself through the chimney, +however, by making a fixture of the rope, which I then cut off, and +left behind, as there was enough and to spare. My axe had proved a +great nuisance in coming down, and I left it in the tent. It was not +attached to the bâton, but was a separate affair--an old navy +boarding-axe. While cutting up the different snow-beds on the ascent, +the bâton trailed behind fastened to the rope; and, when climbing, the +axe was carried behind, run through the rope tied round my waist, and +was sufficiently out of the way; but in descending when coming down +face outwards (as is always best where it is possible), the head or +the handle of the weapon caught frequently against the rocks, and +several times nearly upset me. So, out of laziness if you will, it was +left in the tent. I paid dearly for the imprudence. + +"The Col du Lion was passed, and fifty yards more would have placed me +on the 'Great Staircase,' down which one can run. But, on arriving at +an angle of the cliffs of the Tête du Lion, while skirting the upper +edge of the snow which abuts against them, I found that the heat of +the two past days had nearly obliterated the steps which had been cut +when coming up. The rocks happened to be impracticable just at this +corner, and it was necessary to make the steps afresh. The snow was +too hard to beat or tread down, and at the angle it was all but ice; +half a dozen steps only were required, and then the ledges could be +followed again. So I held to the rock with my right hand, and prodded +at the snow with the point of my stick until a good step was made, and +then, leaning round the angle, did the same for the other side. So far +well, but in attempting to pass the corner (to the present moment I +cannot tell how it happened), I slipped and fell. + +"The slope was steep on which this took place, and was at the top of a +gully that led down through two subordinate buttresses towards the +Glacier du Lion--which was just seen a thousand feet below. The gully +narrowed and narrowed, until there was a mere thread of snow lying +between two walls of rock, which came to an abrupt termination at the +top of a precipice that intervened between it and the glacier. Imagine +a funnel cut in half through its length, placed at an angle of 45° +with its point below, and its concave side uppermost, and you will +have a fair idea of the place. + +"The knapsack brought my head down first, and I pitched into some +rocks about a dozen feet below; they caught something and tumbled me +off the edge, head over heels, into the gully; the bâton was dashed +from my hands, and I whirled downwards in a series of bounds, each +longer than the last; now over ice, now into rocks; striking my head +four or five times, each time with increased force. The last bound +sent me spinning through the air, in a leap of 50 or 60 feet, from one +side of the gully to the other, and I struck the rocks, luckily, with +the whole of my left side. They caught my clothes for a moment, and I +fell back on to the snow with motion arrested. My head, fortunately, +came the right side up, and a few frantic catches brought me to a halt +in the neck of the gully, and on the verge of the precipice. Bâton, +hat, and veil skimmed by and disappeared, and the crash of the +rocks--which I had started--as they fell on to the glacier, told how +narrow had been the escape from utter destruction. As it was, I fell +nearly 200 feet in seven or eight bounds. Ten feet more would have +taken me in one gigantic leap of 800 feet on to the glacier below. + +"The situation was sufficiently serious. The rocks could not be let go +for a moment, and the blood was spirting out of more than twenty cuts. +The most serious ones were in the head, and I vainly tried to close +them with one hand, whilst holding on with the other. It was useless; +the blood jerked out in blinding jets at each pulsation. At last, in a +moment of inspiration, I kicked out a big lump of snow, and stuck it +as a plaster on my head. The idea was a happy one, and the flow of +blood diminished. Then, scrambling up, I got, not a moment too soon, +to a place of safety, and fainted away. The sun was setting when +consciousness returned, and it was pitch dark before the Great +Staircase was descended; but, by a combination of luck and care, the +whole 4900 feet of descent to Breuil was accomplished without a slip, +or once missing the way. I slunk past the cabin of the cowherds, who +were talking and laughing inside, utterly ashamed of the state to +which I had been brought by my imbecility, and entered the inn +stealthily, wishing to escape to my room unnoticed. But Favre met me +in the passage, demanded 'Who is it?' screamed with fright when he got +a light, and aroused the household. Two dozen heads then held solemn +council over mine, with more talk than action. The natives were +unanimous in recommending that hot wine mixed with salt should be +rubbed into the cuts; I protested, but they insisted. It was all the +doctoring they received. Whether their rapid healing was to be +attributed to that simple remedy or to a good state of health is a +question. They closed up remarkably quickly, and in a few days I was +able to move again." + +In 1863 Mr Whymper once more returned to the attack, but still without +success. In 1864 he was unable to visit the neighbourhood of the +Matterhorn, but in 1865 he made his eighth and last attempt on the +Breuil, or Italian side. + +The time had now come when Mr Whymper became convinced that it was an +error to think the Italian side the easier. It certainly looked far +less steep than the north, or Zermatt side, but on mountains quality +counts for far more than quantity; and though the ledges above Breuil +might sometimes be broader than those on the Swiss side, and the +general slope of the mountain appear at a distance to be gentler, yet +the rock had an unpleasant outward dip, giving sloping, precarious +hold for hand or foot, and every now and then there were abrupt walls +of rock which it was hardly possible to ascend, and out of the +question to descend without fixing ropes or chains. + + [Illustration: THE GUIDES' WALL, ZERMATT.] + +Now the Swiss side of the great peak differs greatly from its Italian +face. The slope is really less steep, and the ledges, if narrow, slope +inward, and are good to step on or grasp. Mr Whymper had noticed that +large patches of snow lay on the mountain all the summer, which they +could not do if the north face was a precipice. He determined, +therefore, to make his next attempt on that side. He had, in 1865, +intended to climb with Michel Croz, but some misunderstanding had +arisen, and Croz, believing that he was free, had engaged himself +to another traveller. His letter, "the last one he wrote to me," says +Mr Whymper, is "an interesting souvenir of a brave and upright man." +The following is an extract from it: + + "enfin, Monsieur, je regrette beaucoup d'être engagè avec + votre compatriote et de ne pouvoir vous accompagner dans + vos conquetes mais dès qu'on a donnè sa parole on doit la + tenir et être homme. + + "Ainsi, prenez patience pour cette campagne et esperons que + plus tard nous nous retrouverons. + + "En attendant recevez les humbles salutations de votre tout + devoué. + + "CROZ MICHEL-AUGUSTE." + +By an extraordinary series of chances, however, when Mr Whymper +reached Zermatt, whom should he see sitting on the guides' wall but +Croz! His employer had been taken ill, and had returned home, and the +great guide was immediately engaged by the Rev. Charles Hudson for an +attempt on the Matterhorn! Mr Whymper had been joined by Lord Francis +Douglas and the Taugwalders, father and son, and thus two parties were +about to start for the Matterhorn at the same hour next day. This was +thought inadvisable, and eventually they joined forces and decided to +set out the following morning together. Mr Hudson had a young man +travelling with him, by name Mr Hadow, and when Mr Whymper enquired if +he were sufficiently experienced to take part in the expedition, Mr +Hudson replied in the affirmative, though the fact that Mr Hadow had +recently made a very rapid ascent of Mont Blanc really proved nothing. +Here was the weakest spot in the whole business, the presence of a +youth, untried on difficult peaks, on a climb which might involve work +of a most unusual kind. Further, we should now-a-days consider the +party both far too large and wrongly constituted, consisting as it did +of four amateurs, two good guides, and a porter. + +On 13th July, 1865, at 5.30 A.M., they started from Zermatt in +cloudless weather. They took things leisurely that day, for they only +intended going a short distance above the base of the peak, and by 12 +o'clock they had found a good position for the tent at about 11,000 +feet above sea. The guides went on some way to explore, and on their +return about 3 P.M. declared that they had not found a single +difficulty, and that success was assured. + + [Illustration: THE ZERMATT SIDE OF THE MATTERHORN. + + The route now usually followed has been kindly marked by Sir W. Martin + Conway. The first party, on reaching the snow patch near the top, bore + somewhat to their right to avoid a nearly vertical wall of rock, where + now hangs a chain. + + _From a Photograph by the late W. F. Donkin._] + + [Illustration: RISING MISTS.] + +The following morning, as soon as it was light enough to start, they +set out, and without trouble they mounted the formidable-looking +north face, and approached the steep bit of rock which it is now +customary to ascend straight up by means of a fixed chain. But they +were obliged to avoid it by diverging to their right on to the slope +overhanging the Zermatt side of the mountain. This involved somewhat +difficult climbing, made especially awkward by the thin film of ice +which at places overlay the rocks. "It was a place over which any fair +mountaineer might pass in safety," writes Mr Whymper, and neither here +nor anywhere else on the peak did Mr Hudson require the slightest +help. With Mr Hadow, however, the case was different, his inexperience +necessitating continual assistance. + +Before long this solitary difficulty was passed, and, turning a rather +awkward corner, the party saw with delight that only 200 feet or so of +easy snow separated them from the top! + +Yet even then it was not certain that they had not been beaten, for a +few days before another party, led by Jean Antoine Carrel, had started +from Breuil, and might have reached the much-desired summit before +them. + +The slope eased off more and more, and at last Mr Whymper and Croz, +casting off the rope, ran a neck and neck race to the top. Hurrah! not +a footstep could be seen, and the snow at both ends of the ridge was +absolutely untrampled. + +"Where were the men?" Mr Whymper wondered, and peering over the cliffs +of the Italian side he saw them as dots far down. They were 1250 feet +below, yet they heard the cries of the successful party on the top, +and knew that victory was not for them. Still a measure of success +awaited them too, for the next day the bold Carrel, with J. B. Bich, +in his turn reached the summit by the far more difficult route on the +side of his native valley. Carrel was the one man who had always +believed that the Matterhorn could be climbed, and one can well +understand Mr Whymper's generous wish that he could have shared in the +first ascent. + +One short hour was spent on the summit. Then began the ever-eventful +descent. + +The climbers commenced to go down the difficult piece in the following +order: Croz first, Hadow next, then Mr Hudson, after him Lord Francis +Douglas, then old Taugwalder, and lastly Mr Whymper, who gives an +account of what happened almost immediately after in the following +words: + +"A few minutes later a sharp-eyed lad ran into the Monte Rosa Hotel to +Seiler, saying that he had seen an avalanche falling from the summit +of the Matterhorn on to the Matterhorngletscher. The boy was reproved +for telling idle stories; he was right, nevertheless, and this was +what he saw: + +"Michel Croz had laid aside his axe, and in order to give Mr Hadow +greater security, was absolutely taking hold of his legs, and putting +his feet, one by one, into their proper positions.[11] So far as I +know, no one was actually descending. I cannot speak with certainty, +because the two leading men were partially hidden from my sight by an +intervening mass of rock, but it is my belief, from the movements of +their shoulders, that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act +of turning round, to go down a step or two himself; at this moment Mr +Hadow slipped, fell against him, and knocked him over. I heard one +startled exclamation from Croz, then saw him and Mr Hadow flying +downwards. In another moment Hudson was dragged from his steps, and +Lord Francis Douglas immediately after him.[12] All this was the work +of a moment. Immediately we heard Croz's exclamation old Peter and I +planted ourselves as firmly as the rocks would permit;[13] the rope +was taut between us, and the jerk came on us both as on one man. We +held, but the rope broke midway between Taugwalder and Lord Francis +Douglas. For a few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding +downwards on their backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavouring +to save themselves. They passed from our sight uninjured, disappeared +one by one, and fell from precipice to precipice on to the +Matterhorngletscher below, a distance of nearly 4000 feet in height. +From the moment the rope broke it was impossible to help them. So +perished our comrades!" + + [Illustration: A BITTERLY COLD DAY, 13,000 FEET ABOVE SEA.] + + [Illustration: The Matterhorn from the Zmutt side. + + The dotted line shows the course which the unfortunate party probably + took in their fatal fall.] + +A more terrible position than that of Mr Whymper and the Taugwalders +it is difficult to imagine. The Englishman kept his head, however, +though the two guides, absolutely paralysed with terror, lost all +control over themselves, and for a long time could not be induced to +move. At last old Peter changed his position, and soon the three stood +close together. Mr Whymper then examined the broken rope, and found to +his horror that it was the weakest of the three ropes, and had only +been intended as a reserve to fix to rocks and leave behind. How it +came to have been used will always remain a mystery, but that it broke +and was not cut there is no doubt. Taugwalder's neighbours at Zermatt +persisted in asserting that he severed the rope. "In regard to this +infamous charge," writes Mr Whymper, "I say that he _could_ not do so +at the moment of the slip, and that the end of the rope in my +possession shows that he did not do so beforehand." + +At 6 P.M., after a terribly trying descent, during any moment of which +the Taugwalders, still completely unnerved, might have slipped and +carried the whole party to destruction, they arrived on "the ridge +descending towards Zermatt, and all peril was over." But it was still +a long way to the valley, and an hour after nightfall the climbers +were obliged to seek a resting-place, and upon a slab barely large +enough to hold the three they spent six miserable hours. At daybreak +they started again, and descended rapidly to Zermatt. + +"Seiler met me at the door. 'What is the matter?' 'The Taugwalders and +I have returned.' He did not need more, and burst into tears." + +At 2 A.M. on Sunday the 16th, Mr Whymper and two other Englishmen, +with a number of Chamonix and Oberland guides, set out to discover the +bodies. The Zermatt men, threatened with excommunication by their +priests if they failed to attend early Mass were unable to accompany +them, and to some of them this was a severe trial. By 8.30 they +reached the plateau at the top of the glacier, and came within sight +of the spot where their companions must be. "As we saw one +weather-beaten man after another raise the telescope, turn deadly +pale, and pass it on without a word to the next, we knew that all hope +was gone." + +They drew near, and found the bodies of Croz, Hadow and Hudson close +together, but of Lord Francis Douglas they could see nothing, though a +pair of gloves, a belt and a boot belonging to him were found. The +boots of all the victims were off, and lying on the snow close by. +This frequently happens when persons have fallen a long distance down +rocks. + +Eventually the remains were brought down to Zermatt, a sad and +dangerous task. + +So ends the story of the conquest of the Matterhorn. Its future +history is marred by many a tragedy, of which perhaps none are more +pathetic, or were more wholly unnecessary, than what is known as the +Borckhardt accident. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] Not at all an unusual proceeding, even between born mountaineers. +I wish to convey the impression that Croz was using all pains, rather +than to indicate inability on the part of Mr Hadow. The insertion of +the word "absolutely" makes the passage, perhaps, rather ambiguous. I +retain it now in order to offer the above explanation. + +[12] At the moment of the accident Croz, Hadow, and Hudson were close +together. Between Hudson and Lord Francis Douglas the rope was all but +taut, and the same between all the others who were above. Croz was +standing by the side of a rock which afforded good hold, and if he had +been aware, or had suspected that anything was about to occur, he +might and would have gripped it, and would have prevented any +mischief. He was taken totally by surprise. Mr Hadow slipped off his +feet on to his back, his feet struck Croz in the small of the back, +and knocked him right over, head first. Croz's axe was out of his +reach, and without it he managed to get his head uppermost before he +disappeared from our sight. If it had been in his hand I have no doubt +that he would have stopped himself and Mr Hadow. Mr Hadow, at the +moment of the slip, was not occupying a bad position. He could have +moved either up or down, and could touch with his hand the rock of +which I have spoken. Hudson was not so well placed, but he had liberty +of motion. The rope was not taut from him to Hadow, and the two men +fell 10 or 12 feet before the jerk came upon him. Lord Francis Douglas +was not favourably placed, and could neither move up nor down. Old +Peter was firmly planted, and stood just beneath a large rock, which +he hugged with both arms. I enter into these details to make it more +apparent that the position occupied by the party at the moment of the +accident was not by any means excessively trying. We were compelled to +pass over the exact spot where the slip occurred, and we found--even +with shaken nerves--that _it_ was not a difficult place to pass. I +have described the _slope generally_ as difficult, and it is so +undoubtedly to most persons, but it must be distinctly understood that +Mr Hadow slipped at a comparatively easy part. + +[13] Or, more correctly, we held on as tightly as possible. There was +no time to change our position. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +SOME TRAGEDIES ON THE MATTERHORN + + +By the summer of 1886 it had become common for totally inexperienced +persons with incompetent guides (for no first-rate guide would +undertake such a task) to make the ascent of the Matterhorn. In fine +settled weather they contrived to get safely up and down the mountain. +But like all high peaks the Matterhorn is subject to sudden +atmospheric changes, and a high wind or falling snow will in an hour +or less change the whole character of the work and make the descent +one of extreme difficulty even for experienced mountaineers. +Practically unused to Alpine climbing, thinly clothed, and accompanied +by young guides of third-rate ability, what wonder is it that when +caught in a storm, a member of the party, whose expedition is +described below, perished? + + [Illustration: JOST, FOR MANY YEARS PORTER OF THE MONTE ROSA HOTEL, + ZERMATT. ] + +The editor of _The Alpine Journal_ writes: "On the morning of 17th +August last four parties of travellers left the lower hut on the +mountain and attained the summit. One of them, that of Mr Mercer, +reached Zermatt the same night. The three others were much delayed by +a sudden storm which came on during the descent. Two Dutch gentlemen, +led by Moser and Peter Taugwald, regained the lower hut at an advanced +hour of the night; but Monsieur A. de Falkner and his son (with J. P. +and Daniel Maquignaz, and Angelo Ferrari, of Pinzolo), and Messrs John +Davies and Frederick Charles Borckhardt (with Fridolin Kronig and +Peter Aufdemblatten), were forced to spend the night out; the latter +party, indeed, spent part of the next day (18th August) out as well, +and Mr Borckhardt unfortunately succumbed to the exposure in the +afternoon. He was the youngest son of the late vicar of Lydden, and +forty-eight years of age. Neither he nor Mr Davies was a member of the +Alpine Club." + +_The Pall Mall Gazette_ published on 24th August the account given by +Mr Davies to an interviewer. It is as follows, and the inexperience of +the climbers is made clear in every line:- + +"We left Zermatt about 2 o'clock on Monday afternoon in capital +spirits. The weather was lovely, and everything promised a favourable +ascent. We had two guides whose names were on the official list, whose +references were satisfactory, and who were twice over recommended to +us by Herr Seiler, whose advice we sought before we engaged them, and +who gave them excellent credentials. We placed ourselves in their +hands, as is the rule in such cases, ordered the provisions and wine +which they declared to be necessary, and made ready for the ascent. I +had lived among hills from my boyhood. I had some experience of +mountaineering in the Pyrenees, where I ascended the highest and other +peaks. In the Engadine I have also done some climbing; and last week, +together with Mr Borckhardt, who was one of my oldest friends, I made +the ascent of the Titlis, and made other excursions among the hills. +Mr Borckhardt was slightly my senior, but as a walker he was quite +equal to me in endurance. When we arrived at Zermatt last Saturday we +found that parties were going up the Matterhorn on Monday. We knew +that ladies had made the ascent, and youths; and the mountain besides +had been climbed by friends of ours whose physical strength, to say +the least, was not superior to ours. It was a regular thing to go up +the Matterhorn, and we accordingly determined to make the ascent. + +"We started next morning at half-past two or three. We were the third +party to leave the cabin, but, making good speed over the first stage +of the ascent, we reached the second when the others were breakfasting +there, and then resumed the climb. Mr Mercer, with his party, followed +by the Dutch party, started shortly before us. We met them about a +quarter-past eight returning from the top. They said that they had +been there half an hour, and that there was no view. We passed them, +followed by the Italians, and reached the summit about a quarter to +nine. The ascent, though toilsome, had not exhausted us in the least. +Both Mr Borckhardt and myself were quite fresh, although we had made +the summit before the Italians, who started together with us from the +second hut. Had the weather remained favourable, we could have made +the descent with ease.[14] + +"Even while we were on the summit I felt hail begin to fall, and +before we were five minutes on our way down it was hailing heavily. +It was a fine hail, and inches of it fell in a very short time, and +the track was obliterated. We pressed steadily downwards, followed by +the Italians, nor did it occur to me at that time that there was any +danger. We got past the ropes and chains safely, and reached the snowy +slope on the shoulder. At this point we were leading. But as the +Italians had three guides, and we only two, we changed places, so that +their third guide could lead. They climbed down the slope, cutting +steps for their feet in the ice. We trod closely after the Italians, +but the snow and hail filled up the holes so rapidly, that, in order +to make a safe descent, our guides had to recut the steps. This took +much time--as much as two hours I should say--and every hour the snow +was getting deeper. At last we got down the snow-slope on to the steep +rocks below. The Italians were still in front of us, and we all kept +on steadily descending. We were still in good spirits, nor did we feel +any doubt that we should reach the bottom. Our first alarm was +occasioned by the Italians losing their way. They found their progress +barred by precipitous rocks, and their guides came back to ours to +consult as to the road. Our guides insisted that the path lay down the +side of a steep couloir. Their guides demurred; but after going down +some ten feet, they cried out that our guides were right, and they +went on--we followed. By this time it was getting dark. The hail +continued increasing. We began to get alarmed. It seemed impossible to +make our way to the cabin that night. We had turned to the right after +leaving the couloir, crossed some slippery rocks, and after a short +descent turned to the left and came to the edge of the precipice where +Mosely fell, where there was some very slight shelter afforded by an +overhanging rock, and there we prepared to pass the night, seeing that +all further progress was hopeless. We were covered with ice. The night +was dark. The air was filled with hail. We were too cold to eat. The +Italians were about an hour below us on the mountain side. We could +hear their voices and exchanged shouts. Excepting them, we were +thousands of feet above any other human being. I found that while +Borckhardt had emptied his brandy-flask, mine was full. I gave him +half of mine. That lasted us through the night. We did not try the +wine till the morning, and then we found that it was frozen solid. + +"Never have I had a more awful experience than that desolate night on +the Matterhorn. We were chilled to the bone, and too exhausted to +stand. The wind rose, and each gust drove the hail into our faces, +cutting us like a knife. Our guides did everything that man could do +to save us. Aufdemblatten did his best to make us believe that there +was no danger. 'Only keep yourselves warm; keep moving; and we shall +go down all right to-morrow, when the sun rises.' 'It is of no use,' I +replied; 'we shall die here!' They chafed our limbs, and did their +best to make us stand up; but it was in vain. I felt angry at their +interference. Why could they not leave us alone to die? I remember +striking wildly but feebly at my guide as he insisted on rubbing me. +Every movement gave me such agony, I was racked with pain, especially +in my back and loins--pain so intense as to make me cry out. The +guides had fastened the rope round the rock to hold on by, while they +jumped to keep up the circulation of the blood. They brought us to it, +and made us jump twice or thrice. Move we could not; we lay back +prostrate on the snow and ice, while the guides varied their jumping +by rubbing our limbs and endeavouring to make us move our arms and +legs. They were getting feebler and feebler. Borckhardt and I, as soon +as we were fully convinced that death was imminent for us, did our +best to persuade our guides to leave us where we lay and make their +way down the hill. They were married men with families. To save us was +impossible; they might at least save themselves. We begged them to +consider their wives and children and to go. This was at the beginning +of the night. They refused. They would rather die with us, they said; +they would remain and do their best. + + [Illustration: Hoar Frost in the Alps.] + + [Illustration: Hoar Frost in the Alps.] + +"Borckhardt and I talked a little as men might do who are at the point +of death. He bore without complaining pain that made me cry out from +time to time. We both left directions with the guides that we were to +be buried at Zermatt. Borckhardt spoke of his friends and his family +affairs, facing his death with manly resignation and composure. As the +night wore on I became weaker and weaker. I could not even make the +effort necessary to flick the snow off my companion's face. By degrees +the guides began to lose hope. The cold was so intense, we crouched +together for warmth. They lay beside us to try and impart some heat. +It was in vain. 'We shall die!' 'We are lost!' 'Yes,' said +Aufdemblatten, 'very likely we shall.' He was so weak, poor fellow, he +could hardly keep his feet; but still he tried to keep me moving. It +was a relief not to be touched. I longed for death, but death would +not come. + +"Towards half-past two on Wednesday morning--so we reckoned, for all +our watches had stopped with the cold--the snow ceased, and the air +became clear. It had been snowing or hailing without intermission for +eighteen hours. It was very dark below, but above all was clear, +although the wind still blew. When the sun rose, we saw just a gleam +of light. Then a dark cloud came from the hollow below, and our hopes +went out. 'Oh, if only the sun would come out!' we said to each other, +I do not know how many times. But it did not, and instead of the sun +came the snow once more. Towards seven, as near as I can make it, a +desperate attempt was made to get us to walk. The guides took +Borckhardt, and between them propped him on his feet and made him +stagger on a few steps. They failed to keep him moving more than a +step or two. The moment they let go he dropped. They repeated the same +with me. Neither could I stand. I remember four distinct times they +drove us forward, only to see us drop helpless after each step. It was +evidently no use. Borckhardt had joined again with me in repeatedly +urging the guides to leave us and to save themselves. They had +refused, and continued to do all that their failing strength allowed +to protect us from the bitter cold. As the morning wore on, my +friend, who during the night had been much more composed and tranquil +than I, began to grow perceptibly weaker. We were quite resigned to +die, and had, in fact, lost all hope. We had been on the mountain from +about 3 A.M. on Tuesday to 1 P.M. on Wednesday--thirty-four hours in +all. Eighteen of these were spent in a blinding snowstorm, and we had +hardly tasted food since we left the summit at nine on the Tuesday +morning. At length (about one) we heard shouts far down the mountain. +The guides said they probably proceeded from a search party sent out +to save us. I again urged the guides to go down by themselves to meet +the searchers, and to hurry them up. This they refused to do unless I +accompanied them. Borckhardt was at this time too much exhausted to +stand upright, and was lying in a helpless condition. The guides, +although completely worn out, wished to attempt the descent with me, +and they considered that by so doing we should be able to indicate to +the searchers the precise spot where my friend lay, and to hasten +their efforts to reach him with stimulants. Since early morning the +snow had ceased falling. We began the descent, and at first I required +much assistance from the guides, but by degrees became better able to +move, and the hope of soon procuring help from the approaching party +for my poor friend sustained us. After a most laborious descent of +about an hour and a half, we reached the first members of the rescue +party, and directed them to where Borckhardt lay, requesting them to +proceed there with all haste, and, after giving him stimulants, to +bring him down to the lower hut in whatever condition they found him. +We went on to the hut to await his arrival, meeting on the way Mr +King, of the English Alpine Club, with his guides, who were hurrying +up with warm clothing. A few hours later we heard the terrible news +that the relief party had found him dead." + +A letter to _The Times_, written by Mr (now Sir Henry Seymour) King +comments as follows on this deplorable accident. It is endorsed by all +the members of the Alpine Club then at Zermatt. After describing the +circumstances of the ascent, the writer continues: "Instead of staying +all together, as more experienced guides would have done, and keeping +Mr Borckhardt warm and awake until help came, they determined at about +1 P.M. to leave him alone on the mountain. According to their account, +the snow had ceased and the sun had begun to shine when they left +him. At that moment a relief party was not far off, as the guides must +have known. They heard the shouts of the relief party soon after +leaving Mr Borckhardt, and there was, as far as I can see, no pressing +reason for their departure. They reached the lower hut at about 5 +P.M., and at about the same time a rescue party from Zermatt, which +had met them descending, reached Mr Borckhardt, and found him dead, +stiff, and quite cold, and partly covered with freshly-fallen snow. No +doubt he had succumbed to drowsiness soon after he was left. + +"The moral of this most lamentable event is plain. The Matterhorn is +not a mountain to be played with; it is not a peak which men ought to +attempt until they have had some experience of climbing. Above all, it +is not a peak which should ever be attempted except with thoroughly +competent guides. In a snowstorm no member of a party should ever be +left behind and alone. He will almost certainly fall into a sleep, +from which it is notorious that he will never awake. If he will not +walk, he must be carried. If he sits down, he must be made to get up. +Guides have to do this not unfrequently. A stronger and more +experienced party would undoubtedly have reached Zermatt without +misfortune. In fact, one party which was on the mountain on the same +day did reach Zermatt in good time." + +It is fitting that this short, and necessarily incomplete, account of +the conquest of the Matterhorn, and events occurring subsequently on +it, should conclude with the recital of a magnificent act of heroism +performed by Jean-Antoine Carrel, whose name, more than that of any +other guide, is associated with the history of the peak. No more +striking instance of the devotion of a guide to his employers could be +chosen to bring these true tales of the hills to an appropriate end. + +I take the account from _Scrambles Among the Alps_. + +"When telegrams came in, at the beginning of September 1890, stating +that Jean-Antoine Carrel had died from fatigue on the south side of +the Matterhorn, those who knew the man scarcely credited the report. +It was not likely that this tough and hardy mountaineer would die from +fatigue anywhere, still less that he would succumb upon 'his own +mountain.' But it was true. Jean-Antoine perished from the combined +effects of cold, hunger, and fatigue, upon his own side of his own +mountain, almost within sight of his own home. He started on the 23rd +of August from Breuil, with an Italian gentleman and Charles Gorret +(brother of the Abbé Gorret), with the intention of crossing the +Matterhorn in one day. The weather at the time of their departure was +the very best, and it changed in the course of the day to the very +worst. They were shut up in the _cabane_ at the foot of the Great +Tower during the 24th, with scarcely any food, and on the 25th +retreated to Breuil. Although Jean-Antoine (upon whom, as leading +guide, the chief labour and responsibility naturally devolved) +ultimately succeeded in getting his party safely off the mountain, he +himself was so overcome by fatigue, cold, and want of food, that he +died on the spot." + +Jean-Antoine Carrel entered his sixty-second year in January 1901,[15] +and was in the field throughout the summer. On 21st August, having +just returned from an ascent of Mont Blanc, he was engaged at +Courmayeur by Signor Leone Sinigaglia, of Turin, for an ascent of the +Matterhorn. He proceeded to the Val Tournanche, and on the 23rd set +out with him and Charles Gorret, for the last time, to ascend his own +mountain by his own route. A long and clear account of what happened +was communicated by Signor Sinigaglia to the Italian Alpine Club, and +from this the following relation is condensed: + +"We started for the Cervin at 2.15 A.M. on the 23rd, in splendid +weather, with the intention of descending the same night to the hut at +the Hörnli on the Swiss side. We proceeded pretty well, but the glaze +of ice on the rocks near the Col du Lion retarded our march somewhat, +and when we arrived at the hut at the foot of the Great Tower, +prudence counselled the postponement of the ascent until the next day, +for the sky was becoming overcast. We decided upon this, and stopped. + +"Here I ought to mention that both I and Gorret noticed with +uneasiness that Carrel showed signs of fatigue upon leaving the Col du +Lion. I attributed this to temporary weakness. As soon as we reached +the hut he lay down and slept profoundly for two hours, and awoke much +restored. In the meantime the weather was rapidly changing. Storm +clouds coming from the direction of Mont Blanc hung over the Dent +d'Hérens, but we regarded them as transitory, and trusted to the north +wind, which was still continuing to blow. Meanwhile, three of the +Maquignazs and Edward Bich, whom we found at the hut, returned from +looking after the ropes, started downwards for Breuil, at parting +wishing us a happy ascent, and holding out hopes of a splendid day for +the morrow. + +"But, after their departure, the weather grew worse very rapidly; the +wind changed, and towards evening there broke upon us a most violent +hurricane of hail and snow, accompanied by frequent flashes of +lightning. The air was so charged with electricity that for two +consecutive hours in the night one could see in the hut as in broad +daylight. The storm continued to rage all night, and the day and night +following, continuously, with incredible violence. The temperature in +the hut fell to 3 degrees. + +"The situation was becoming somewhat alarming, for the provisions were +getting low, and we had already begun to use the seats of the hut as +firewood. The rocks were in an extremely bad state, and we were afraid +that if we stopped longer, and the storm continued, we should be +blocked up in the hut for several days. This being the state of +affairs, it was decided among the guides that if the wind should abate +we should descend on the following morning; and, as the wind did abate +somewhat, on the morning of the 25th (the weather, however, still +remaining very bad) it was unanimously settled to make a retreat. + +"At 9 A.M. we left the hut. I will not speak of the difficulties and +dangers in descending the _arête_ to the Col du Lion, which we reached +at 2.30 P.M. The ropes were half frozen, the rocks were covered with a +glaze of ice, and fresh snow hid all points of support. Some spots +were really as bad as could be, and I owe much to the prudence and +coolness of the two guides that we got over them without mishap. + +"At the Col du Lion, where we hoped the wind would moderate, a +dreadful hurricane recommenced, and in crossing the snowy passages we +were nearly _suffocated_ by the wind and snow which attacked us on all +sides.[16] Through the loss of a glove, Gorret, half an hour after +leaving the hut, had already got a hand frost-bitten. The cold was +terrible here. Every moment we had to remove the ice from our eyes, +and it was with the utmost difficulty that we could speak so as to +understand one another. + +"Nevertheless, Carrel continued to direct the descent in a most +admirable manner, with a coolness, ability, and energy above all +praise. I was delighted to see the change, and Gorret assisted him +splendidly. This part of the descent presented unexpected +difficulties, and at several points great dangers, the more so because +the _tourmente_ prevented Carrel from being sure of the right +direction, in spite of his consummate knowledge of the Matterhorn. At +11 P.M. (or thereabouts, it was impossible to look at our watches, as +all our clothes were half frozen) we were still toiling down the +rocks. The guides sometimes asked each other where they were; then we +went forward again--to stop, indeed, would have been impossible. +Carrel at last, by marvellous instinct, discovered the passage up +which we had come, and in a sort of grotto we stopped a minute to take +some brandy. + +"While crossing some snow we saw Carrel slacken his pace, and then +fall back two or three times to the ground. Gorret asked him what was +the matter, and he said 'nothing,' but he went on with difficulty. +Attributing this to fatigue through the excessive toil, Gorret put +himself at the head of the caravan, and Carrel, after the change, +seemed better, and walked well, though with more circumspection than +usual. From this place a short and steep passage takes one down to the +pastures, where there is safety. Gorret descended first, and I after +him. We were nearly at the bottom when I felt the rope pulled. We +stopped, awkwardly placed as we were, and cried out to Carrel several +times to come down, but we received no answer. Alarmed, we went up a +little way, and heard him say, in a faint voice, 'Come up and fetch +me; I have no strength left.' + +"We went up and found that he was lying with his stomach to the +ground, holding on to a rock, in a semi-conscious state, and unable to +get up or to move a step. With extreme difficulty we carried him to a +safe place, and asked him what was the matter. His only answer was, 'I +know no longer where I am.' His hands were getting colder and colder, +his speech weaker and more broken, and his body more still. We did all +we could for him, putting with great difficulty the rest of the cognac +into his mouth. He said something, and appeared to revive, but this +did not last long. We tried rubbing him with snow, and shaking him, +and calling to him continually, but he could only answer with moans. + +"We tried to lift him, but it was impossible--he was getting stiff. We +stooped down, and asked in his ear if he wished to commend his soul to +God. With a last effort he answered 'Yes,' and then fell on his back, +dead, upon the snow. + +"Such was the end of Jean-Antoine Carrel--a man who was possessed with +a pure and genuine love of mountains; a man of originality and +resource, courage and determination, who delighted in exploration. His +special qualities marked him out as a fit person to take part in new +enterprises, and I preferred him to all others as a companion and +assistant upon my journey amongst the Great Andes of the Equator. +Going to a new country, on a new continent, he encountered much that +was strange and unforeseen; yet when he turned his face homewards he +had the satisfaction of knowing that he left no failures behind +him.[17] After parting at Guayaquil in 1880 we did not meet again. In +his latter years, I am told, he showed signs of age, and from +information which has been communicated to me it is clear that he had +arrived at a time when it would have been prudent to retire--if he +could have done so. It was not in his nature to spare himself, and he +worked to the very last. The manner of his death strikes a chord in +hearts he never knew. He recognised to the fullest extent the duties +of his position, and in the closing act of his life set a brilliant +example of fidelity and devotion. For it cannot be doubted that, +enfeebled as he was, he could have saved himself had he given his +attention to self-preservation. He took a nobler course; and, +accepting his responsibility, devoted his whole soul to the welfare of +his comrades, until, utterly exhausted, he fell staggering on the +snow. He was already dying. Life was flickering, yet the brave spirit +said 'It is _nothing_.' They placed him in the rear to ease his work. +He was no longer able even to support himself; he dropped to the +ground, and in a few minutes expired."[18] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Here the whole contention that the party was a competent one +falls to the ground. No one without a reserve of strength and skill to +meet possible bad weather should embark on an important ascent. +Fair-weather guides and climbers should keep to easy excursions. + +[15] The exact date of his birth does not seem to be known. He was +christened at the Church of St Antoine, Val Tournanche, on 17th +January 1829. + +[16] Signor Peraldo, the innkeeper at Breuil, stated that a relief +party was in readiness during the whole of 25th August (the day on +which the descent was made), and was prevented from starting by the +violence of the tempest. + +[17] See _Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator_, 1892. + +[18] Signor Sinigaglia wrote a letter to a friend, from which I am +permitted to quote: "I don't try to tell you of my intense pain for +Carrel's death. He fell after having saved me, and no guide could have +done more than he did." Charles Gorret, through his brother the Abbé, +wrote to me that he entirely endorsed what had been said by Signor +Sinigaglia, and added, "We would have given our own lives to have +saved his." + +Jean-Antoine died at the foot of "the little Staircase." On the 26th +of August his body was brought to Breuil, and upon 29th it was +interred at Valtournanche. At the beginning of July 1893 an iron cross +was placed on the spot where he expired at the expense of Signor +Sinigaglia, who went in person, along with Charles Gorret, to +superintend its erection. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WHOLE DUTY OF THE CLIMBER--ALPINE DISTRESS SIGNALS + + +I cannot bring this book to a more fitting end than by quoting the +closing words of a famous article in _The Alpine Journal_ by Mr C. E. +Mathews entitled "The Alpine Obituary." It was written twenty years +ago, but every season it becomes if possible more true. May all who go +amongst the mountains lay it to heart! + +"Mountaineering is extremely dangerous in the case of incapable, of +imprudent, of thoughtless men. But I venture to state that of all the +accidents in our sad obituary, there is hardly one which need have +happened; there is hardly one which could not have been easily +prevented by proper caution and proper care. Men get careless and too +confident. This does not matter or the other does not matter. The fact +is, that everything matters; precautions should be not only ample but +excessive. + + 'The little more, and how much it is, + And the little less and what worlds away.' + +"Mountaineering is not dangerous, provided that the climber knows his +business and takes the necessary precautions--all within his own +control--to make danger impossible. The prudent climber will recollect +what he owes to his family and to his friends. He will also recollect +that he owes something to the Alps, and will scorn to bring them into +disrepute. He will not go on a glacier without a rope. He will not +climb alone, or with a single companion. He will treat a great +mountain with the respect it deserves, and not try to rush a dangerous +peak with inadequate guiding power. He will turn his back steadfastly +upon mist and storm. He will not go where avalanches are in the habit +of falling after fresh snow, or wander about beneath an overhanging +glacier in the heat of a summer afternoon. Above all, if he loves the +mountains for their own sake, for the lessons they can teach and the +happiness they can bring, he will do nothing that can discredit his +manly pursuit or bring down the ridicule of the undiscerning upon the +noblest pastime in the world." + + +ALPINE DISTRESS SIGNALS + +No book on climbing should be issued without a reminder to its readers +that tourists (who may need it even oftener than mountaineers) have a +means ready to hand by which help can be signalled for if they are in +difficulties. That in many cases a signal might not be seen is no +reason for neglecting to learn and use the simple code given below and +recommended by the Alpine Club. It has now been adopted by all +societies of climbers. + +The signal is the repetition of a sound, a wave of a flag, or a flash +of a lantern _at regular intervals_ at the rate of six signals per +minute, followed by a pause of a minute, and then repeated every +alternate minute. The reply is the same, except that three and not six +signals are made in a minute. The regular minute's interval is +essential to the clearness of the code. + + + + +GLOSSARY AND INDEX + + + + +GLOSSARY. + + + ALP A summer pasture. + + ARÊTE The crest of a ridge. Sometimes spoken + of as a knife-edge, if very narrow. + + BERGSCHRUND A crevasse forming between the snow still + clinging to the face of a peak, and that + which has broken away from it. + + COL A pass between two peaks. + + COULOIR A gully filled with snow or stones. + + GRAT The same as _arête_. + + JOCH The same as _col_. + + KAMM The same as _arête_. + + MORAINE See chapter on glaciers, page 7. + + MOULIN See chapter on glaciers, page 7. + + NÉVÉ See chapter on glaciers, page 7. + + PITZ An Engadine name for a peak. + + SCHRUND A crevasse. + + SÉRAC A cube of ice, formed by intersecting + crevasses where a glacier is very steep. + Called thus after a sort of Chamonix + cheese, which it is said to resemble. + + + + + A + + Albula Pass, 20 + + Aletsch glacier, 12, 142 + + Almer, Christian, 29, 50, 51, 71, 126, 134 + + Almer, Ulrich, 42 + + Altels, Ice-avalanche of the, 78 + + Anderegg, Jacob, 162 + + Anderegg, Melchior, 24, 50, 113, 162 + + d'Angeville, Mademoiselle, 204 + + Ardon, 59 + + Arkwright, Henry, 98 + + Aufdemblatten, Peter, 269 + + Avalanches, different kinds of, 15 + + + B + + Balmat, 52 + + Barnes, Mr G. S., 32 + + Bean, Mr, 108 + + Bennen, 59, 113, 252 + + Bich, J. B., 262 + + Bionnassay, Aiguille de, 169 + + Birkbeck, Mr, 113 + + Blanc, Mont, 3, 92, 107, 162, 203 + + Bohren, 52 + + Boissonnet, Monsieur, 59 + + Borchart, Dr, 150 + + Borckhardt, F. C., 269 + + Bossons, Glacier des, 9 + + Breil, 253 + + Brenva Glacier, Ascent of Mont Blanc by, 162 + + Burckhardt, Herr F., 147 + + Burgener, Alexander, 226 + + + C + + Carré, Glacier, 172 + + Carrel, J. A., 252, 259, 261, + death of, 280 + + Coolidge, Rev. W. A. B., 30, 171 + + Couttet, Sylvain, 89, 99, 109 + + Croda Grande, feat of endurance on, 48 + + Croz, Michel, 126, 134, 252 + + + D + + Davies, John, 269 + + Dent, Clinton, 58, 221 + + Douglas, Lord Francis, 45, 259 + + Distress Signals, Alpine, 291 + + Dru, Aiguille du, 221 + + + E + + Eigerjoch, 208 + + + F + + Falkner, Monsieur de, 269 + + Föhn Wind, Note on the, 80 + + + G + + Gabelhorn, Ober, 42, 45 + + Gardiner, Mr, 170 + + Garwood, Mr Edmund, 194 + + Glacier tables, 11 + + Gorret, Charles, 281 + + Gosaldo, 48 + + Gosset, Mr Philip, 59 + + Grass, Hans and Christian, 44 + + Greenland, Glaciers of, 7 + + Guntner, Dr, 33 + + + H + + Hadow, Mr, 260 + + Hamel, Dr Joseph, 92 + + Hartley, Mr Walker, 226 + + Haut-de-Cry, 59 + + Hinchliff, Mr T. W., 122 + + Hudson, Rev. C., 113, 269 + + + I + + Imboden, Joseph, 5, 30, 35, 38, 40, 84 + + Imboden, Roman, 32, 84, 194 + + + J + + Jungfrau, 147 + + + K + + King, Sir H. Seymour, 278 + + Klimmer, 150 + + Kronig, F., 269 + + + L + + Lammer, Herr, 72 + + Lauener, 41, 52, 66, 208 + + Longman, W., 142 + + Lorria, Herr, 72 + + + M + + M'Corkindale, Mr, 108 + + Mammoth, 105 + + Maquignaz, J. P. and D., 269 + + Martin, Jean, 154 + + Mather, Mr, 113 + + Mathews, Mr C. E., 289 + + Mathews, Messrs, 208 + + Matterhorn, 23, 72, 250 + + Maurer, Andreas, 46, 226 + + Maurer, Kaspar, 239 + + Meije, 170 + + Mercer, Mr, 269 + + Miage, Col de, 114 + + Moming, Pass, 126 + + Moore, Mr, 126, 134, 162 + + Moraines, 10 + + Moser, 269 + + + N + + Nasse, Herr, 150 + + + P + + Palü, Piz, 44, 150 + + Paradis, Maria, 203 + + Penhall, Mr, 72 + + Perren, 113 + + Pigeon, The Misses, 153 + + Pilatte, Col de, 134 + + Pilkington, Messrs, 170 + + Plan, Aiguille du, 46 + + + R + + Randall, Mr, 108 + + Rey, Emile, 46 + + Reynaud, Monsieur, 135 + + Richardson, Miss K., 169 + + Riva, Valley Susa, 18 + + Rochat, Mademoiselle E. de, 169 + + + S + + Saas, Prättigau, 17 + + Schallihorn, 83 + + Schnitzler, 150 + + Schuster, Oscar, 48 + + Scerscen, Piz, 194 + + Sesia, Joch, 153 + + Sinigaglia, Leone, 281 + + Stephen, Sir Leslie, 113, 208 + + Stratton, Miss, 206 + + + T + + Taugwald, Peter, 269 + + Taugwalder, 259 + + Trift Pass, 112 + + Tuckett, Mr F. F., 66, 113 + + + W + + Wainwright, Mrs and Dr, 44 + + Walker, Mr, 50, 134, 162 + + Wetterhorn, 51 + + Wieland, 194 + + Wills, Chief Justice, 51 + + Whymper, Mr C., 126, 134, 250 + + + Z + + Zecchini, G., 48 + + + + + Printed at + The Edinburgh Press + 9 & 11 Young Street + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of True Tales of Mountain Adventures, by +Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42758 *** |