TRAVELLERS OVERWHELMED IN SNOWSTORMS. 441 



This makes travelling of any kind always a very 

 slow and difficult operation, and the night may close 

 in upon the adventurer before he can extricate himself 

 from his difficulties or the impossibility of seeing 

 where one is going on account of the fog may of 

 itself alone, when the route lies through difficult and 

 dangerous ground, compel the party to seek the nearest 

 shelter that can be found, and come to a halt until 

 the weather clears. But these storms may sometimes 

 last two or three days, though this is fortunately a 

 comparatively rare event; still it is never possible to 

 make sure. It is therefore obvious that travellers may 

 be exposed to very great danger and privations. Want 

 of food, even for a single night, in the bitter cold of 

 high altitudes will always be severely felt, and there 

 is besides the constant risk of frost-bites, and of being 

 overcome by the cold. 



The recent melancholy death of Mr. N., a dis- 

 tinguished scholar and fellow of Oxford University, 

 affords a good illustration of the risks to which climbers 

 are subject from storms during mountain ascents. 

 On August 25, 1892, he was attempting the ascent of 

 Mont Blanc in company with two guides from Cha- 

 mounix, and 



" after leaving the Cabane of the ' Aiguille du Gouter,' (it seems) 

 they were overtaken by a violent snowstorm, which blinded 

 them and obliterated all tracks, the guides losing all reckoning 

 of their whereabouts. After vainly endeavouring to recover 

 the road, they dug a hole in the snow, and passed the night 

 there. Next morning the storm continued with unabated 

 violence. A start was made to risk an almost impossible 

 descent, but after an hour's fruitless battling with the storm, 

 Mr. N. fell exhausted and died, after shaking hands 



