Kashmir i?3 



or sprang, or fell, off the moving snow, against the 

 rocks, into the corner ; while on rushed the young 

 avalanche a mad glissade down the couloir, across 

 the flat, and over out of sight below where we 

 might easily have been lying. . . . 



" Having waited till we were steady, we turned into 

 the couloir once more, and reaching the flat terrace, 

 we left it on our left. The next snow-field was soon 

 crossed ; and then followed the last bit and the worst 

 bit a steep, rocky arete. Here F. led again, followed 

 by Chowry, and they literally hauled G. and myself 

 up after them. The ridge was completely shattered 

 by frost into nothing more than a heap of piled-up 

 fragments. It was always narrow, and where it was 

 narrowest it was also most unstable and most difficult. 

 We could not ascend it by keeping below the crest, 

 because it was too steep, and if we had sent down 

 one stone, all those above would have tumbled down 

 too ; we were therefore forced to keep to the crest 

 of the ridge, and, unable to deviate a single step 

 either to the right or to the left, we were compelled 

 to trust unsteady masses, which trembled under our 

 tread, settled down, and grated in a hollow and 

 ominous way, seeming as though a little shake 

 would send the whole crumbling down in an awful 

 avalanche. 



" But the top was not far off" now. We came to 

 a block which was poised across the ridge, with a 

 gap beyond. We climbed the block, finding it very 

 unsteady, and were faced by a broadish jump to the 



