PEAKS AND PASSES 377 



also. But 1 fear it must be aduiittod, that experienco lias 

 jJi'uNcd that, on a slope of sudi steepness, tlie ini^take 

 of one may involve the destruction of all. 



At lenii'tli. tlic mnmont of relief arri\c(l. when ihe fare 

 of ice to \vhieh we had lieen clinuinir, heii'an to assume a. 

 less acute angle to oui- l)odies, and in a f(vv minutes, we 

 were able to stand upright with a tolciaMe sense of 

 snpi)orl. Snow could lie, and in the softer material we 

 quickly trod out the remaining steps nccessai}' to land us 

 on tlie ridi-e, 



O 



Thouo-h the narrow edu'e on which we now stood still 

 ran uiiwards, and curved out of sii»iit to an unknown 

 distance, there appeared no obstacle likely to stop us. 

 We had l)een going for twelve hours, almost without a 

 halt, and foi- seven hours the ice-wall had held us in 

 its toils, but now, for the moment, the tension was at an 

 end, and wiili a sense of assuivd \iclor\', we tlii'cw our- 

 selves on our backs in the snow, to enjoy the delicious 

 luxurv of a stretch, and to recovei- somewhat fi'om the 

 exhaustiug lal)our. We opened our rucksdcki^ and fed, 

 but the sense that we were bound to win had a still more 

 restorative effect. 



But one thing was clear : that we had occupied far too 

 much time over the nreliininarv struggle. Tn describinir it, 

 perhapis 1 liaNc niaile the same mistake, and I niii.-t hurr\ 

 over the remainder of our ascent, as in fact we did on 

 that day. 



To my mind, the last two hours of a narrow arrte, 

 leading to a viriiin iteak, oilers the most cxhilaratinG: 

 exercise which falls to the lot of man, descended from a 

 monkey. The difiiculties encountered are generally of 



