(Mountain Bcifte^ 



the outlet of the lake, an echoing on the oppo- 

 site clififs told me that a rock-slide was coming 

 down. Almost instantly there was the ripping 

 whizz of falling stone. A huge stone struck and 

 pierced twenty feet of snow and more than four 

 feet of ice, which covered the lake. At the same 

 instant there came sounds of riot from above. 

 More stones were coming down. The crash of 

 their striking, repeated and reechoed by sur- 

 rounding cliffs and steeps, made an uproarious 

 crashing as though the top of Long's Peak had 

 collapsed. It was an avalanche of several thou- 

 sand tons off the slope of Mt. Washington. 



This avalanche was formed of a quantity 

 of broken granite sufficient to load a number 

 of freight-trains. It smashed through the icy 

 cover of the lake. The effect was like a terrific 

 explosion. Enormous fragments of ice were 

 thrown into the air and hurled afar. Great 

 masses of water burst explosively upward, as if 

 the entire filling of water had been blown out 

 or had leaped out of its basin. The cliffs oppo- 

 site were deluged. The confused wind-current 

 which this created shredded and separated much 



163 



