A WOMAN’S CLIMBS IN THE HIGH ALPS 655 
THREE CARAVANS ON THE BREITHORN PLATEAU 
: Those nearest are seated on ice-axes breakfasting. The ascent is all snow, and easy, but 
it was so cold that three out of twenty caravans turned back because of freezing feet. Photo 
by Dora Keen. 
Down by the usual route took us only 
two hours anda half. ‘That is the differ- 
ence between a snow mountain, where 
one can occasionally run or slide, and a 
rock summit, down which one must 
climb with care, which takes time. To 
reach the saddle was an hour’s descent, 
and extremely distressing to me, for the 
rock ridge from the summit to that point, 
although not to be compared for steep- 
ness to the one by which we had as- 
cended, was very narrow. It consisted in 
a series of rock points between which one 
must descend steeply on the crest of deep 
snowdrifts, which sloped sharply away 
on one side, while on the other was a 
precipice. 
Below the saddle, however, we fairly 
ran down the snow slopes in the broad 
track of the seven or eight other cara- 
vanes that had already gone up and 
down again by this easier route. Run- 
ning and sliding in the deep snow that 
a noonday sun had by this time thawed, 
leaping over the crevasses on the way, 
in an hour and a half from the saddle we 
were down at the cabin. I was panting 
and perspiring, but not tired now, and 
my guides were exultant when they 
found that the only other tourist that 
had gone by our route, although he had 
done nothing the day before, lay asleep, 
exhausted. 
THE BREITHORN, 13,085 FEET, AND THE 
LITTLE MATTERHORN, 12,750 FEET, 
10 HOURS 
More snow made it necessary to wait 
in the valley again now for three days, 
and then to content ourselves with the 
Breithorn, which was a short and very 
beautiful snow climb. The ascent of 
