82 THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS 



cross gave way. Thanks to his presence of mind and a 

 lightning-Hke movement — some would call it luck — he 

 managed to save himself. In this way we worked up 

 about 200 feet, but then we came upon such a labyrinth 

 of yawning chasms and open abysses that we could not 

 move. There was nothing to be done but to find the 

 least disturbed spot, and set the tent there. 



As soon as this was done Hanssen and I set out to 

 explore. We were roped, and therefore safe enough. 

 It required some study to find a way out of the trap we 

 had run ourselves into. Towards the group of moun- 

 tains last described — which now lay to the east oi us — 

 it had cleared sufficiently to give us a fairly good view 

 of the appearance of the glacier in that direction. What 

 we had before seen at a distance, was now confirmed. 

 The part extending to the mountains was so ground up 

 and broken that there was positively not a spot where 

 one could set one's foot. It looked as if a battle had 

 been fought here, and the ammunition had been great 

 blocks of ice. They lay pell-mell, one on the top of 

 another, in all directions, and evoked a picture of violent 

 confusion. Thank God we were not here while this 

 was going on, I thought to myself, as I stood looking 

 out over this battlefield; it must have been a spectacle 

 like doomsday, and not on a small scale either. To 

 advance in that direction, then, was hopeless, but that 

 was no great matter, since our way was to the south. 

 On the south we could see nothing; the fog lay thick 



