CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIERS. IBS 



§ 51. The Bel Alp. ' 



352. From the iEggischhorn I might lead you along 

 the mountain ridge by the Betten See, the fish of which 

 we have already tasted, to the Eieder Alp, and thence 

 across the Aletsch to the Bel Alp. This is a fine moun- 

 tain ramble, but you and I prefer making the glacier 

 our highway downwards. Easy at some places, it is 

 by no means child's play at others to unravel its cre- 

 vasses. But the steady constancy and close observation 

 which we have hitherto found availing in difficult places 

 do not forsake us here. We clear the fissures ; and, 

 after four hours of exhilarating work, we find ourselves 

 upon the slope leading up to the Bel Alp hotel. 



353. This is one of the finest halting-places in the 

 Alps. Stretching before us up to the iEggischhorn 

 and Margelin See is the long last reach of the Aletsch, 

 with its great medial moraine running along its back. 

 At hand is the wild gorge of the Massa, in which the 

 snout of the glacier lies couched like the head of a 

 serpent. The beautiful system of the Oberaletsch glaciers 

 is within easy reach. Above us is a peak called the 

 Sparrenhorn, accessible to the most moderate climber, 

 and on the summit of which little more than an hour's 

 exertion will place you and me. Below us now is the 

 Oberaletsch glacier, exhibiting the most perfect of medial 

 moraines. Near us is the great mass of the Aletsch- 

 horn, clasped by its neves, and culminating in brown 



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