ion] CHANCES OF A SNOW BRIDGE 183 
must have been dangling for over an hour. I had a 
good opportunity of examining the crack. 
The section seemed such as I have shown. It narrowed 
towards the east and widened slightly towards the west. 
In this direction there were curious curved splinters ; 
below the snow bridge on which I stood the opening 
continued, but narrowing, so that I think one could not 
have fallen many more feet without being wedged. Twice 
I have owed safety to a snow bridge, and it seems to me 
that the chance of finding some obstruction or some 
saving fault in the crevasse is a good one, but I am far 
from thinking that such a chance can be relied upon, 
and it would be an awful situation to fall beyond the 
limits of the Alpine rope. 13 * 
We went on after lunch, and very soon got into soft 
snow and regular surface where crevasses arc most unlikely 
to occur. We have pushed on with difficulty, for the dogs 
arc badly cooked and the surface tries them. We arc 
all pretty done, but luckily the weather favours us. A 
sharp storm from the south has been succeeded by ideal 
sunshine which is flooding the tent as I write. It is the 
calmest, warmest day we have had since we started 
sledging. We are only about 12 miles from Safety Camp, 
and I trust we shall push on without accident to- 
morrow, but I am anxious about some of the dogs. 
We shall be lucky indeed if all recover. 
My companions to-day were excellent ; Wilson and 
Cherry-Garrard if anything the most intelligently and 
readily helpful. 
I begin to think that there is no avoiding the line of 
