The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-31 00:00:00

AN ASCENT OF MONT BLANC.

Mr. F. Campbell Clay says :—I started from Chamounix
last Tuesday week in company with two Englishmen (Lieut.
W— and Mr. S—), after an arduous preliminary
struggle with the chef des guides, who would on no account
allow us to attempt the ascent with less than seven guides.
My companions were determined not to take more than five,
and after a very long and stormy discussion they carried
their point. Our party then numbered 16—namely, three
novices, five guides, and eight porters carrying provisions
as far as the Grands Mulets.
It was a beautifully fine morning, and though the baro-
meter was low our hopes were high, our limbs were strong,
and our Alpen stocks trusty; so, turning our backs on the
village, we cheerfully wended our way through the banging
woods in which the path commences. For two hours did
we toil onwards and upwards through the grateful shade.
Then the path, leaving the forest, emerges upon the
moraine formed by the beautiful Glacier des Boissons. We
skirted this beautiful moraine until we arrived at the head
of the glacier ; and, as it is necessary to cross it here, our
guides made their final arrangements for entering upon the
domains of the winter king. Veils, masks, and spectacles
were assumed. Two guides went some distance in advance,
while we were severally attached by a small but stout cord
to one another. Our descent upon the ice was made with
great caution, for the midday sun was very powerful, the sno w
was soft and treacherously concealed the deep crevasses
which yawned about us in every direction. Our route lay
directly under some mighty precipices of ice, in which were
imbedded huge blocks of granite, and hero our guides made
us hurry as fast as possible. We did not know at the
moment the danger we incurred, but within three minutes
after we had gained a more secure station a roar and a shock
made us pause and look round. One of the enormous masses
of stone had become detached by the heat from the face of
the ice, and smashed to fragments in its fall, was sweeping
the irclined plain we had just crossed, carrying death and
destruction in its path. _ _

O. next difficulty lay in a crevasse much broader
than ordinary, over which a ladder was placed horizontally,
from which we inferred that the said ladder was to serve
as a bridge over the gulf. And so it proved ; creeping cau-
tiously forward on our hands and knees, and scarcely daring
to breathe, we passed over the chasm, which was so deep
that we could not see the bottom. Having passed safely
over this, the appearance of the Grands Mulcts directly
above us cheered our flagging energies with the hope of a
speedy temporary termination of our toil. Although the
sky was all this time quite clear above and around us, the
scene below, in the Vale of Chamounix, had assumed a
♦ery different appearance Huge masses of menacing clouds
were drifting hither and thither; lightning was darting
among them, and the growl of the thunder below echoed
back the equally awful roar of the avalanche above us.
The clouds were rapidly rising, concealing peak after
peak of the hills below, and we strained every muscle to
gain our resting-place before the storm reached us. Ay „
breathlessly stumbled through the snow and slipped upon
the ice—now on our feet, now on our hands and knees, and
occasionally upon less dignifid parts of our persons. Again
and again we caught sight of those delusive Grands Mules;
and again and again did we lose them as we wandered
through the intricacies of the crevasses and icy hills. At
length, just as the first heavy drops of rain warned us that
the storm was upon us, we reached the foot of the rocks,
and right joyfully did we scramble up to the rude hut
which the guides have built upon them. At this moment
the clouds below us parted, and the faint sound of the can-
non at Chamounix announced that the residents there had
marked our progress so far on our way.

In a short time the storm vas raging about us in all its
fury. It now snowed heavily, and the lightning and the
thunder were awfully grand among these desolate hills. The
guides predicted that any further ascent on the morrow
would be impracticable, and, as we lay down upon the wet
floor to attempt to sleep, our hearts were heavy with fears
that all our labour had been in vain. A great improvement,
however, had taken place by 4 o'clock next morning. The
moon was sinking serenely behind tho mountain above us,
while a beautiful rosy tint, shooting far up into the heavens,.
announced that before long the sun would be visible. All was:
soon bustle and activity among our party. A hasty break-
fast was swallowed, and at 5 o'clock we cheerfully resumed
our work. Again there was not a single cloud in the
heavens as high as we stood; but at our feet, filling the
vale and stretching along as far as the eye could see, was a
dense mass of motionless vapour, looking so smooth and.
solid that one would have thought it easy to sail upon it
from our feet to the utmost horizon. Not a breath of air
stirred these masses, but different shades of colour played
upon them, like the reflexion upon water of clouds above,
while the peals of the high mountains which pierced
through the vapour looked like rocky islands in a vast
sea. We were compelled to turn our backs upon this
beautiful scene, an•l soon were once more toiling ever
upwards, through the snow and over the ice. The snow-
was not so soft as our guides had apprehended, and walk-
ing upon it was consequently so much easier. Up to the
Grand Plateau, about three hours' ascent from the Grands
Mulets, we managed to get along without much difficulty
or any danger, barring the avalanches, the voices of which