420 The Bearded Vulture 
to climb some 20 to 25 of the feet of the 50 to 60 which 
separated us from our much coveted objective. 
Among my party I happily numbered my old ally, Admiral 
Arthur Farquhar, a good climber and, needless to say, with a 
thorough knowledge of ropes. Two of our Spaniards were ex- 
goatherds and reckoned as good climbers. 
It did not require more than a glance to see that the Bearded 
Vultures had selected this seemingly low-placed cavern, simply 
because it was totally inaccessible from below and so I at once 
started off to see if it were possible to work round the left 
flank of the cliff (facing it) and gain the “artichoke.” Mean- 
while my companions, more especially the two ex-goatherds, 
indulged in fruitless gymnastic efforts about twenty feet up the 
cliff. 
At first I made good way and, stopping for breath, was shortly 
joined by Farquhar who had remained behind to see what the 
goatherds could do. We worked our way amid smooth rocks and 
across steeply sloping grassy terraces, alike slippery with ice. 
It was most unpleasant and soon the soles of our adpargatas, 
which had got wet amid the rank herbage below the cliff, 
began to freeze! A rope-soled shoe frozen hard is about as nasty 
a thing to climb rocks with as can well be imagined. It soon 
became evident that although we could reach easily the same level 
as our ‘“‘artichoke,” we had against us the geological fact that the 
portion of the hill we were on, by reason of the trend of the 
strata, made it impossible to cross over to our desired point. 
For separating us from it was a series of low tiers of rocks and 
terraces which, whilst enabling us to work upwards, ever led us 
away from our point. Returning to our party below the nest we 
found them in the lowest depth of despair and half-frozen. It 
was not difficult to see that they had come to the conclusion that 
the nest was unassailable, so leaving them huddled round a fire 
