CHAP. X. BEATEN ON ANTISANA. 191 



and we proceeded on foot, by moraine on the northern side 

 (right bank) of tlie glacier, nearly seven hundred feet higher in 

 forty minutes ; and then, arriving at the termination of land, 

 dismissed the natives, who up to this point had carried the 

 baggage. The elevation of this place was 15,984 feet above 

 the sea. 



We roped up at once,^ and took to the ice at 7.30 a.m. 

 Only the first part of it was free from snow, and it was highly 

 crevassed ; but, as the fissures were small at the beginning, we 

 were able to keep a direct course for about an hour, at this time 

 passing alongside the serrated ridge that is shewn on the right 

 of the engraving," having the upper part of the mountain free 

 from cloud. The glacier then steepened, and became broken up 

 into seracs (nearly invisible from below) which required much 

 cutting, and beating down to consolidate the snow-bridges lead- 

 ing from o]ie to another. Some of these passages were very 

 complicated, and extensive circuits had to be made to avoid the 

 largest crevasses. At 10.30 a.m. the mists caught us up, and 

 half an hour later we arrived at a prodigious schrund, not less 

 than two hundred feet deep and some sixty feet wide. We 

 wasted more than two hours in attempts to cross it, and I spoilt 

 my eyes by vainly endeavouring to see into the invisible. At 

 last it was found that we had run into a nd-de-sac, and had to 

 retreat. At 1.20 p.m. we turned to descend,^ and by 5.55 were 

 back at the hacienda. 



^ Although not necessarj' to do so at this stage, it woiihl have been at a later 

 one. It conduced to regularity in the march. 



To the advantages to be derived from the use of the rope in mountaineering 

 which are set forth at pp. 372-377 of Scrambles amongst the Alps may be added that 

 it tends to produce a better average rate of speed. The pace of a party is deter- 

 mined by that of its slowest member. When tied up, the rapid or impetuous ones 

 cannot rush away, and the slow-coaches are urged on, 



2 The points on this ridge ^vere decorated with tufted cornices. See p. 133. 



"^ The place at which we turned back was 17,623 feet above the sea. It was 

 found afterwards that we had borne too much to the right, and had been going 

 away from the summit. 



