674 
Montets. Although high, this ascent in- 
volved no rocks. It was therefore possi- 
ble even now, and its location under the 
_Aiguille Verte and the Aiguille du Dru 
afforded wonderful views of both, as 
well as a superb view of “The Aiguilles,” 
with Mt. Blane for a background. 
DENT DU REQUIN, 11,214 FEET, 17% 
HOURS 
The ascent of the Aiguille, or Dent du 
Requin, “The Shark’s Tooth,” ranks as 
the third hardest at Chamonix. The ap- 
proach was long—three hours up the 
Mer de Glace, two hours up the steep 
Glacier du Plan, and finally, two hours 
cong the face of snowy and precipitous 
rocks. On the Glacier du Plan it had 
been hard to find a way among the deep 
crevasses (see picture, page 673), which 
were on every side and were filled or 
covered with treacherous snow. Occa- 
sionally one of us would sink in to the 
waist. But the rocks were far worse. 
Generally bare, we must now take two 
hours to reach the “shoulder,” instead of 
the usual 40 minutes, for every step 
across the snow had to be pounded be- 
fore venturing to tread on it. Even then 
every fifth step would give way from 
under our very feet. Only one person 
could move at a time, and we had to be 
careful every moment in order not to go 
down in the small avalanches that we 
started. 
It was 10.45 under a hot sun, seven 
hours since the start, when we began the 
acrobatic and difficult ascent to the sum- 
mit. We saw it close by, and not much 
higher up; yet it took two hours to reach 
it in safety, and an hour and a half “> 
get back from the top to the shoulder. 
Moreover we “traversed” it, and to come 
down the steeper side involved a chim- 
Neve, Olctack mls seey deeph a waheagy 
rope carried along all day—and on the 
previous six-day tour—tfor just this pur- 
pose was doubled over a projecting rock 
at the top, and each person in turn slid 
down it to a ledge half way. Since to 
carry a rope longer than 115 feet would 
be too heavy, and loose it must be, in 
order to be pulled down again, an iron 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. 
staple had here been driven into the rock. 
On the slanting, slippery, small shelf 
opposite it three must find lodgment 
while the rope was pulled down and 
doubled over the staple for the other 
half of the descent. 
It was thus 2.45 p. m. by the ane we 
started down from the shoulder. For 
two hours we had been hearing ava- 
lanches on every side every few minutes, 
and this was our real anxiety. Just as 
carefully as we had come up must we 
go down the precipitous base rocks, for 
now the snow was softer, therefore more 
ready to loosen itself from the rocks 
and slide: \Whis' was, in) fact) whameace 
ually happened. 
Three times did I see the guide below 
me, to whom I was roped, sliding down, 
10, 15, or 20 feet, carried down by snow 
that had been too soft to bear his weight: 
But each time he wheeled as he ‘slid 
slowly down, dug his ice-pick into the 
snow far above his head, stopped him- 
self, and climbed up without once drag- 
ging me down. A truly thrilling day 
had it been, and 17%4 hours long by the 
time we got back to the Montanvert. 
CONTRASTS 
In summarizing and contrasting these 
16 climbs, I should rank the Matterhorn 
as the hardest, because it was so long 
under the conditions that we had, and 
was hard all the time, but the Chamonix 
guides do not admit that it is harder 
than the Aiguilles. In general, except 
for the Matterhorn, the ascents at Cha- 
monix were harder, more interesting, 
and more of an anxious strain than those 
at Zermatt. If one wishes to convince 
himself of this he has only to consult the 
tariff for guides for these different as- 
cents as given in Bedeker. The worst 
ones at Chamonix are more expensive 
than the worst at Zermatt, because 
harder and involving more risk, and the 
very worst at Chamonix have no tariff. 
Even Mt. Blane, as we did it, was a 19%4- 
hour day, the coldest, too, and some 
hours of it were anxious because of the 
descent by the Italian side. Monte Rosa 
and the Weisshorn were also hard. But 
