i8o THE SNOWFIELDS AND GLACIERS OF KENYA part ii 



and there was nothing for it but to return, especially as the 

 afternoon snowstorm was blowing up from the west.^ 



I therefore worked back to the nearest rock, and tried to 

 light a fire to boil the thermometer. But the wood was damp 

 and would not burn, though I kept on trying till I had used 

 up my last match. 



The storm broke before I had got off the arete, and as it 

 had buried my footmarks I did not care to risk crossing the 

 glacier again, for the ice in the neighbourhood of the cliffs was 

 much crevassed. I kept along the crest to a col at the height 

 of 1 6,600 feet, which leads over to the Hobley Valley. I stayed 

 for a few minutes to pile some of the blocks of coarse rhyolite 

 that occur there into a small stone man, under which I left 

 a note of the date of the ascent, and then ran down the Lewis 

 glacier moraine to camp, reaching it, very exhausted, two hours 

 before sunset. The fact that I ordered " fannya jocula tiari " 

 (make food ready), as soon as I was within shouting distance, 

 and settled down at once to as hearty a meal as I dared make, 

 seemed to relieve my men considerably ; but I could estimate, 

 from the anxious way they watched me, their deep concern for 

 my mental welfare. 



Next day I made another attempt by the western arete, 

 hoping that, as this was all rock work, I should be less handi- 

 capped by going alone. I ascended the ridge that forms the 

 north wall of the Teleki Valley, and continued along this until 

 I came to a depression which, from the existence of two lake- 

 lets on the summit, I have called Two Tarn Col. From this 

 point I had my last view of the snowfields of Kenya, though 

 I was among them for the rest of that day, and was within 

 range of view of the mountain for a month afterwards. Just 

 before sunset that evening a rift in the clouds gave me for 

 three minutes a view of the double-peaked summit, but with 

 that brief exception I never saw it again. The clouds buried 

 it the whole time, and prevented my obtaining a single bearing 

 by which to help in the determination of its position. 



This last view, however, was perhaps the best. At my feet, 

 in a deep valley, lay the snow-covered and crevassed Tyndal 

 Glacier, beyond which rose the steep western face of the final 



^ These storms greatly increased the difficulties of chmbing on Kenya. They occurred 

 every afternoon, and spoilt a terribly high proportion of the twelve hours of daylight. 



