A WOMAN’S CLIMBS 
on the arms that is the main difficulty 
on the Matterhorn, rock climbing was 
my object; but when fresh snow ruled 
out the higher and harder rock climbs, 
the snow climbs could be made and were 
at their greatest beauty. Always possi- 
ble in good weather, they became only 
more fatiguing after a storm, when one 
must toil up through snow that was deep 
and soft instead of hard and smooth. I 
emphasize what bad weather conditions 
mean, because it is often the conditions 
that make a mountain easy or hard, safe 
or dangerous, and also because it was the 
exceedingly bad conditions that made 
the ascents of the harder peak at Chamo- 
nix the next year so very much worse 
than these at Zermatt. 
As soon as it cleared I set out for the 
two successive ascents of the Rimpfisch- 
horn and Monte Rosa, passing directly 
from one hut to the other. 
THE RIMPFISCHHORN, 13,790 FEET, 1614 
HOURS 
The Rimpfischhorn (see pictures, 
pages 646 and 649) was similar in char- 
acter to the Wellenkuppe. It was a 
little longer, a little harder, and, owing 
to its position, the near views from it 
were much finer, for it directly over- 
looks the billowy masses of snow and 
ice that lie between it and Monte Rosa 
(see picture, page 648). The first bit 
was troublesome, since, unlike the be- 
ginning of most ascents, we had to make 
our way for three-quarters of an hour 
up and down among huge boulders, 
where it was hard not to fall, with three 
people lighted only by a one-candle lan- 
tern. Coming after the Rothorn, its 
snow fields and snow-covered rocks of 
moderate steepness and difficulty did not 
Seem hard: Starting at 2.30 a: m., by 
about I p. m. we were back at the little 
base hotel, and at 2 o'clock off again 
over the Findelen Glacier and across the 
Gornergrat for the cabin at the base of 
Monte Rosa. Five hours and a half it 
took us to reach it, and brought us in 
rather tired, for my guides had never 
done this before, and to gain the Corner- 
grat had meant finding a way without a 
[INGLE HIGH ALPS 651 
path, for two long hours jumping and 
climbing up and dow n amid a succession 
of great rock falls. 
MONTE ROSA, 15,217 FEET, 1344 HOURS 
After this 1614-hour day, an hour of 
sleep on a mattress on the floor in the 
servants’ room—and the kitchen floor 
for my guides—was all we could get, 
since it was 7.30 p. m. and the cabin was 
already full, 45 people seeking food and 
lodging in space intended for 15. It 
was therefore with a little misgiving, be- 
cause of weariness, that I started again 
at 2.30 a. m. for a very high summit, to 
which we intended to climb by its much 
harder and steeper rock side. 
The usual route up Monte Rosa takes 
five hours up its long snow slope as far 
as “the saddle,” and thence 1% hours up 
the rock ridge, or west “arete.” “Trés 
déchirce,” very jagged, Baedeker well 
calls this ridge, but its slope is gradual. 
The ascent by this route is much easier 
and less steep than by the harder south- 
west side, which we had chosen; but it 
is exposed to the north wind, and be- 
cause of the height and the long time on 
the snow, there is danger of freezing a 
hand or a foot. Snow climbs are far 
more beautiful than.rock climbs, but they 
are less difficult and less varied, and 
therefore considered less interesting. 
For the sake of protection from the 
north wind, and because it would be 
more interesting, we had therefore de- 
termined to go by way of the long 
Grenzgletscher, the glacier that rises on 
the boundary crest of Monte Rosa, and 
then directly up a rock ridge as hard and 
steep as the Matterhorn (see picture, 
page 650). 
Hour upon hour we mounted this most 
beautiful glacier that I have ever seen. 
Its huge, bottomless crevasses, its pure 
white mantle of snow on which, by their 
lanterns, could be followed three cara- 
vanes ahead and three behind, bound for 
other points, filled me with wonder. At 
our right rose the terrifyingly steep slope 
of the Lyskamm (see picture, page 652) ; 
up ahead of us an immense expanse of 
snow and ice broken only where crev- 
