Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1861-04-20
From "All The Year Ruu 4
AN ALPINE ADVENTURE.


AN ALPINE ADVENTURE.
| arrived in Chamouney on the 4,h o.
August, 1859, with a friend and compan-
ion. an Englishman like myself We two
had been about five weeks in Switzerland
aid in that time had done" everything
considered necessary oy our countrymen.
We had acquired some experience in gla-
cier work, having ascended the Aliisch
Horn, whose sum init had been reached for
the first time by an Euglishman, mem
Der Of the Al pine Club, only two months
before. We made the ascent successfully,
and were proud Of having been the second
exploring party to stand on its lofty peak,
nearly fourteen thousand feet high. On
that occasion we passed two whole days
on the snow and glacier.
l remember well the first glimpse had
into one Of those terrible crevasses which
intersects glaciers. Getting guide TO
hold my hand, leaned over its yawning
brink and gaZed carefully into the fathom.
less abyss. The two perpendicular walls
of ice appeared to join together about
th'ee hundred feet down an appea. ance
resulting from the convexity of the ere.
vase. Usually, believe, the great split
ends only where the glacier touches the
ground underneath.
mo one who falls into one Of these ev
er comes out alive said one of our
guides.
Yes said another, "a man once es-
capped, and lives still At the Grindelwald
He was chamois hunter, and when
coming home alone over the glacier, his
foot slipped, and he was precipitated into
. crevasse. His fall was broken by the
projecting ledge and blocks OF ice which
however, gave way as he clung to them
After falling three hundred feet, he reach
ed the bottom Of the glacier, with leg
and arm broken. He found hollow place
between the ground and the ice, through
which stream of water ran. Instinct.
lively he followed its course, despite th.
great pain he endured, and after crawling
along for three hours, found himself freed
from the glacier
Ordinary crevasses are from three to
eight feet wide at the top. bat the sides
approach each other rapidly, so taat man
would be wedged in between the two walls
of ice long before he could reach the bot
tom. And then, unless there should be
ropes at hand long enough and strong
enough, what an awful death. An unfor-
tunate Russian gentleman perished thus
in a crevasse only last year, half frozen,
half squeezed to DEATH the heat Of his
body ever melting tho ice, he ever sinking
deeper and deeper into his dreadful grave.
My companion and ascended the Bre-
want, and as few climbing travellers leave
Chamouny without visiting the Mer de
Glace and the Jardin, we arranged to
make that excursion. To shorten our
days work, We left Chamouny in the eve-
ming, and slept at Mon,anvert, solitary
little mountain lin on the edge Of Mer de
Glace.
We were up betimes in the morning.
We provided ourselves with some eatables
and wine, and started with our guide,
whom we had brought from Courmayeur
1t was glorious morning, and it promis-
ed well for our expedition. Our road, for
about half an hour, was along an uneven
path skrting the glacier, which lay below
US on our lef! hand, very much crcvassed
and covered with debris. The path then
came to an end, and the guide said we
must now take to the glacier. We descen.
ded on to it, and threaded our way among
the numerous crevassss. s
The excursion to the Mer de Glace not
being looked upon as a regular glacier ex.
pedition, is not made with the attendant
precautions of axes or ropes. We had
neither. We were in high spirits, and went
along at a rapid rate SO quickly, indeed 4
that our guide, who had fallen behind
cautioned u. once or twice, and requested
US to allow him to take and keep the lead.
Just then our progress was arrested by
wide crevsDe.. Looking to the left, / per-
ceived that it Terminated some twenty feet
from us, in steep slope of ice, which |
thought could easily climb. As the Gre.
vasse was about sixty yards long, | deter.
mined to try this slope rather than 60
round by the other end.
Using my Alpenstsck instead Of an axe
therefore, l began making footholds in the
ice with it. The guide had now come up
with US. He looked a. the ice slope and