186 SIBERIA 



and glaciers. At four o'clock, however, we made a 

 start on skis, crossing the frozen moraine and the 

 lake. It was my third experience of skis, and one leg 

 persisted in going the wrong way, laying me low 

 on the soft snow. Once over the deep snow that 

 covered the actual moraine we went over lumpy earth 

 for about 300 yards to the frozen lake. Continuing 

 over the lake we went too far to climb the glacier 

 that we had intended to climb, so we decided to go 

 to the end of the frozen lake and follow the course 

 of the stream which flowed into it to its source. We 

 left our skis at a spot on the bank by a clump of 

 trees, and proceeded without them, but were soon 

 obliged to desist, owing to the steepness and hardness 

 of the ice. My companion had crampons on, while 

 my boots were only furnished with ordinary Alpine 

 nails. We could not stand, or make any impression 

 on the ice, so we abandoned the stream and took to 

 the steep slopes which flanked it. Here we had some 

 formidable loose earth to negotiate at an angle of 

 about 70 degrees. Once at the summit, however, 

 the ground was fairly level, although buried in snow. 

 The skis, which we had left behind us, were bound 

 with fur, the object of which was to take a firm grip 

 of the snow and prevent our sliding backwards. We 

 lived to regret not having taken them with us, as we 

 sank deep into the snow at every step. Leaving 

 the snow at last we climbed some steep rocks, only 

 to find ourselves on a snow slope, the surface of 

 which only was frozen over. .We presently reached 

 the lower end of the glacier, and again found the 

 ice too hard and smooth for our boots. We were, 

 therefore, compelled to take to the loose rocks once 

 more. Following these by a zig-zag course, which 

 introduced us to frequent snow slopes and isolated 

 square blocks of rock, also covered with snow, we 

 at last reached the top of the glacier, which we 



