84 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



that I did not have with me a Sierra Club register. But 

 I doubt whether any records kept up there would be safe 

 from one year to another. Lightnings constantly play 

 on the summit during storms, and soon demoHsh any 

 metal object left up there. 



By 10 o'clock the clouds had cleared away. The air 

 had been washed clean by the rain, and we looked forth, 

 as from the car of a balloon, upon an infinitely variegated 

 world. Northward the central Pennine Alps crowded 

 the foreground. The valley of Zermatt, so immense to 

 the tourists who throng its hotels, seemed a very insig- 

 nificant depression at the foot of the mountain. About 

 fifteen miles northwest of us, in an air-line, towered the 

 Mischabelhorner with their massive entourage of glaciers 

 and lesser peaks. Southward the green valley of Val- 

 tournanche sloped down into the highlands of northern 

 Italy. The whole of Switzerland, with Alps piled upon 

 Alps, seemed to be lying at our feet. 



But there was not much time to enjoy the view. A 

 piercing cold wind that swept the summit urged us to 

 begin the descent. David had shown some symptoms of 

 mountain sickness during the ascent. It was deemed 

 wiser, therefore, not to give him the lead. After a brief 

 parley it was decided that I should lead off during the 

 descent, Burgener bringing up the rear. The distance 

 from the summit to the shoulder required care. The wind 

 had already obliterated our tracks so that I had to cut 

 new steps in many places. To find the descent more 

 difHcult than the ascent is not an uncommon experience 

 among Alpinists. It was ours also, especially down the 

 sharp, icy slope of seven or eight hundred feet from the 

 crest to the shoulder. In going down one is more vividly 

 conscious of the precipices on account of the necessary 

 centering of one's attention on things below. It was be- 

 tween noon and i o'clock when we arrived at the 

 shoulder. A flask of brandy left there on our way up put 

 David thoroughly on his feet again. But I kept the lead 

 during the rest of the descent, which by comparison was 



