3n a QUounfain 



standing with only my head above the drift, I 

 found the air still and saw a snowy mountain 

 world all serene in the morning sun. I hastily 

 adjusted sleeping-bag and snowshoes, and we 

 set off for the final climb to the summit. 



The final one hundred feet or so rose steep, 

 jagged, and ice-covered before me. There was 

 nothing to lay hold of; every point of vantage 

 was plated and coated with non-prehensible ice. 

 There appeared only one way to surmount this 

 icy barrier and that was to chop toe and hand 

 holes from the bottom to the top of this icy wall, 

 which in places was close to vertical. Such a 

 climb would not be especially difficult or danger- 

 ous for me, but could Scotch do it? He could 

 hardly know how to place his feet in the holes 

 or on the steps properly; nor could he realize that 

 a slip or a misstep would mean a slide and a roll 



to death. 



t 



Leaving sleeping-bag and snowshoes with 

 Scotch, I grasped my axe and chopped my way 

 to the top and then went down and carried bag 

 and snowshoes up. Returning for Scotch, I 

 started him climbing just ahead of me, so that I 



317 



