376 SHOUT STALKS 



rendered viscid 1)y the warm moist weather. Under, and 

 among the leaning clifis we cut our tortuous way upwards, 

 with a sense of relief as each source of danger was passed. 

 At lengtl), we had subdued them all, and there lay between 

 us and the ridge, nothing but a slope of hard ice of great 

 steepness and unknown length. It was only a question of 

 the sturdiness of our men, when we should succeed in 

 surmountino- it. In turn they took the lead and wielded 

 the axe. 



Hour after hour, with a muscular vigour, only to be 

 found in countries where every peasant is a woodman, the 

 ringing strokes succeeded one another monotonously, and 

 the fragments of ice hissed past the string of ]»atient 

 followers. In cutting up an ice-slope of this length, it 

 is necessary to economise time and labour as much as 

 possi1ile, and the steps are hacked out as far apart as is 

 consistent with safety. Tliis necessitates a cramped posi- 

 tion for each member of the party, for one leg is always 

 doubled up sharply, with the knee nearly at the level of 

 the stomach, while the other remains stretched at its full 

 length. The best way to pass the tedious hours, and to 

 prevent the imagination dwelling too fixedly on the 

 ol;)vious possibilities of the situation, is to work away with 

 the axe, and imj^rove the steps which the pioneer has 

 l)eQ:nn. To most Enolishmen rocks seem more comfortable. 

 It is the pitiless ice with its exquisite lines, curving over 

 to the unknown, which daunts the nerves. At least that 

 is my experience, and I do not think it is possible for the 

 most practised mountaineer to find himself on such a 

 slope witliout some tremors. The rope gives confidence, 

 and at that time I used to maintain that it gave security 



