A WOMAN’S CLIMBS IN THE HIGH ALPS 
Nantillons must be mounted and de- 
scended, part of the way right in the 
track of possible avalanches from its 
rotten cliffs. 
Being only five feet tall, the chief diff- 
culty I have in mountain climbing is in 
being so much shorter than my guides 
that Lb fail to reach. Steep snow, on 
which I must keep exactly in their steps, 
for safety and speed, is therefore much 
harder for me than rocks. Instead of 
letting me follow my normal pace, labor- 
ing as I always had to on snow in order 
to stride in the steps of my tall leader, 
he had no mercy, but fairly dragged me 
along by the rope. He had no choice. 
It would not do to go under and across 
where we were going except at a most 
rapid pace. 
Nor was this the worst. Above the 
glacier, on one side rise the very steep 
snow slopes of the twin Aiguille des 
Grands Charmoz and the Aiguille de 
Grépon, on the other the Aiguille de 
Blaitiere, and the snow on their steep 
slopes lay not only deep, but soft, and 
hence ready to slide. To gain the crotch 
between the Chermoz and the Grépon. 
from which both are ascended, required 
an hour’s ascent of a couloir of snow 
which was soft enough and steep enough 
to put us in constant dread of our weight 
starting a whole mass down. Every step 
had to be kicked in as far as the foot 
would go, and far above the last one, so 
as not to have any step undermined by 
the one below. It was as steep as a 
ladder and just like one. The steps 
above were the only handholds, and the 
pick must be plunged to its hilt and far 
to one side at every step in order to be 
out of the line of pressure in case of 
need to hold to it. 
At the top came rocks, already steep 
and difficult enough, and now made slip- 
pery by deep snowdrifts, and finally a 
summit chimney, up which I could not 
reach a single hold and had to be pulled 
for some 20 feet. The descent was even 
worse, for before we could get down, 
midway on the snow couloir, a fierce sun 
came full on it, increasing its softness 
and our concern lest it avalanche. Never 
ee 
Co 
One of the many crevasses on the steep Gla- 
cier du Plan, 
and with difficulty got around 
Photo by Dora Keen. 
which we could not easily cross 
(see page 674). 
more than ten minutes did we stop the 
whole day, and as I used those minutes 
to photograph, I had had no more than a 
bite to eat for 12 hours, when at last, at 
2 p. m., we reached the end of the snow. 
COL DES GRANDES MONTETS, 10,634 FEET, 
IT HOURS 
More rain and snow alternated with 
briefest sunshine. One unsuccessful at- 
tempt of eight hours was made on the 
Requin, and finally, while waiting for 
the snow on it to melt, we set out for a 
very fine snow pass, the Col des Grands 
