ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 79 



rugged ice below is surmounted by an entablature of 

 stratified snow, giving us architrave, frieze and cornice, 

 in due succession. We halt for the chief guide to cut 

 steps; and then follow in a zigzag path to the Little Pla- 

 teau, after a march of three hours. An hour later we 

 reach the Middle Plateau. This is bounded by another 

 glacier cascade called the Grandes Montees, shattered ice 

 and yawning crevasses, and dusky caverns with icicles 

 hanging from their snowy eaves. This slope escaladed, 

 we are on the borders of the Grand Plateau. The giant 

 domes of the mountains now rise above our horizon. 



The Grand Plateau is a vast plain of snow, or rather, 

 a broad, shallow firn-valley, about 13,000 feet above the 

 sea-level. It is bounded by the dome of Mont Blanc, 

 which lies directly in front of us, Dome du Gouter at our 

 right, and Mont Maudit at our left. The old route pur- 

 sued by Balmat and De Saussure lies directly across the 

 Plateau; but the labors of the final ascent are terrible 

 and the dangers imminent. Another route more fre- 

 quented leads to our right, by the Dome du Gouter, and 

 thence across the narrow crest connecting with the bosses 

 of the Dromedary and Mont Blanc. This route is joined, 

 at Dome du Gouter, by the path from St. Gervais. The 

 third and most frequented route diverges to the left into 

 the col or depression, separating Mont Blanc from Mont 

 Maudit, and known as the Corridor. 



We are now approaching what has been styled " the 

 region of accidents." The Grand Plateau is detached by 

 a series of Grand Crevasses from the mountain slopes 

 which rise on the farther side of it. These crevasses are 

 of such width and depth as to be absolutely impassable 

 except in places where filled by avalanches of snow de- 



