188 SIBERIA 



precipitated on to the ice below. The general im- 

 pression produced by the mountain at this part was 

 that it had at one time been considerably higher, but 

 had been shattered by some powerful agency. I 

 was now on the south side of the ridge. The north 

 side was a sheer precipice with semi-circular gullies 

 varying in width and depth. The last of these gullies 

 was about 150 yards from the northern extremity, 

 making an almost complete semi -circle of the ridge 

 and nearly cutting off the summit, which required 

 some very good climbing to attain. On reaching the 

 summit I found that no snow had accumulated on 

 the steep northern slopes, which were composed of 

 loose rock, while the north-eastern face of the moun- 

 tain was cased in hard ice, and was quite impossible 

 to climb. It was completely free of snow and re- 

 flected the sun's rays like a looking-glass. I had 

 never before seen ice adhering to a mountain peak 

 at an angle of 70 degrees. The Matterhorn glacier 

 breaks and falls on the Swiss side at an angle of 

 S3 degrees. 



These peaks are apparently too much exposed to 

 the strong winds and blizzards to retain any snow 

 on their summits. The intense cold of the blizzards 

 plasters the side of the mountain with snow, which 

 is speedily converted into the hardest ice. The hard- 

 ness of the ice is difficult to realise, and is due princi- 

 pally to the fact that the mountains are fanned by the 

 bitterly cold winds which sweep across the Siberian 

 steppes from the Arctic regions, freezing everything 

 they come in contact with and expending their dying 

 fury on these remote peaks, which they clothe in a 

 translucent armour of sky-blue ice of indescribable 

 beauty and purity. There is a wealth of beauty in 

 the snow-clad summits of the Alps when the sun 

 is upon them, as seen from some neighbouring peak. 

 I have gazed at Mont Blanc from the summit of the 



