1903] AN EVENTFUL DAY i8i 



one avoid danger to life and limb, but also the chance of relay 

 work, which alone would allow the longer distance to be three 

 times as far, without loss of time. 



' Whilst we were in difficulties this afternoon there occurred 

 one of those extraordinary climatic changes which are such a 

 menace to sledge travellers. The cold had been so intense 

 that we had been walking all day in our wind clothes and with 

 our heaviest head-gear ; but now we suddenly found ourselves 

 perspiring freely, and within half an hour we had stripped off 

 our outer garments, and the majority were walking bare- 

 headed.' 



That night we camped in gloriously fine weather, after 

 crossing to the south side of the glacier and finding another 

 long stream of boulders. Here we had our usual trouble in 

 repairing our battered, torn runners; and, to add to this 

 annoyance we had come to the end of our scraps of metal, 

 nails, and everything else necessary for repairing work. It was 

 evident that we could not stand many more miles of this rough 

 ice, and that it would be touch-and-go whether we ever reached 

 the snow above without having to carry our belongings. 



We had now attained a height of 7,000 feet, and whilst the 

 summits of the mountains on each side still stood high above 

 our level, they no longer overawed us or conveyed that sense 

 of grandeur which we had felt so keenly at our former camps. 

 The majestic cliffs of the lower valley were beneath us, and we 

 gazed over the top of many a lesser summit to the eastward. 

 To the west the glacier still wound its way upward, and we saw 

 that there was a stiff climb yet to come ; but already the 

 character of the valley was altering, the boundary cliffs were 

 cut by the broad channels of tributary glaciers, the masses of 

 dark, bare rock were becoming detached and isolated, whilst 

 the widening snowfields were creeping upward with the ever- 

 increasing threat to engulf all beneath their white mantle. 



November 4 was such an eventful day that I quote its 

 incidents from my diary : 



'Started in bright sunshine, but with a chill, increasing 

 wind in our teeth. At first we made good progress over hard, 



