CLIMBING ADVENTURES 189 



stuck in that gully, carefully calculating" whether I could 

 let myself drop with safety on to a ledge, about two feet 

 wide, covered with snow and slightly slanting outwards, 

 some distance below me. I knew that if the ledge 

 was ice-glazed I should certainly slip and fall down 

 the mountain, but I was unable to get back. 



I persuaded myself that the ledge was protected 

 from the north wind through being in a north-westerly 

 position, and at last I let myself drop. As luck would 

 have it I was able, just as I landed on the ledge, to 

 grasp a projecting piece of rock which had been in- 

 visible from above. The remainder of the climb was 

 easy ; it was below the exposed part of the ridge, 

 and the rocks were not ice-glazed. I was glad to 

 scramble down the last steep rocks and recognize the 

 spot where I had left my rucksack. Shouldering it, 

 I started on my return journey. The temperature on 

 the moraine was 1 8 below freezing-point. I found 

 it very difficult walking, as I was getting very tired, 

 and I became aware of internal pain. The pains 

 developed, and I decided that I had either contracted 

 a severe chill or had eaten something that did not 

 agree with me. 



I could not give up on that desolate moraine, because 

 I should never* have been found. I seemed about a 

 million miles from England, and progress over the 

 moraine became more difficult, or appeared to be more 

 difficult. 



It required all the will-power and patience I could 

 command. At times I was completely exhausted, and 

 my legs became so strained and sore with slipping 

 down between the boulders that I felt I could not 

 stir another yard. After a brief rest I plodded on 



