The North-Carolinian., 1861-01-05

From. All the Year Round.
DOWN 4 CREFASSE.

DOWN 4 CREVASSE.
arrived in Chamouni the 9th of August, 1859,
l.n - = Hiena and companion, an Englishman, like
I1aysei We two had been about five weeks in Swift
1'riand, and in that time had " done :" everything
CONSIDERED necessary by countrymen. We had
tacqoired some experience in glacier work. having
Ascendeo the Alitsch Horn, whose summit had been
!: reached Tor the first time By Englishman mems
@ oer OF the Alpine Club, only two months before
/ We made the ascent successfully. and were proud
ol aasng been the second exploring party to stand
o ITS lefty peak nearly fourteen thousand high
un that occasion We passed two whole days the
i glacier.
4 remembered the first glimpse had had into one
those terrible which intersect glaciers
s~nsag brink and gazed carefully into the fAthom-
lsss asyss The t~o perpe,sdcalsx walls e ice an-
pesreo TO join together about three HUNDRED fset
down; an appearance resulting from the con.exity
Of the crcSasse. Usually, believe, the great split
ends only where the glancicr touches the ground
beneath.
mo one who falls into one of these comes
out alive, said one of our guides. Yes" ssid a.
mother, " man once escaped, and lives Still At the
Grindewald; he 4 chaznois hunter, and whom
colang home alone over the glacier, his feot slip
ped, and he was precipitated into crevasse. His
fall was broken by projecting lodges and blocks OF
ice; which, however, gave way he clung to thana.
After falling three hundred feet he reached the bot
tom of the glazer with an arm and leg broken
He found q hollow space between the ground and
the ice, through which stream Of water ruas. In
stinctvely hs followed it's despite the great
pain he endured and after crawling along for three
hours found himself freed from the glacier"
Ordinary crevasscs are from three to eight feet
wide at the top, but the sides approach each other
rapidly, 80 that man would be wedged in between
the two walls of ice long before he could reach the
bottom And then, unless there should be ropes at
hand long enough and strong enough, what aw-
full death. An unfortunate Russian gentleman per-
ished t2aus In creEasse only last year. half frozen
half squeezed to daath the heat Of his body mel
ting the ice he ever sinking deeper and deeper into
his dreadful grave
! Ny companion and a.ccud<d the Brsvant, and
few cliuab bng travellers leave Chamouni without
visiting the Mer de Glace and the Jardin, arran-
ged to make thut excursion. To shorten days
work, we left Cnamoun in the evening and slept at
Montanvert, a solitary little mountain inn on the
edge Of the Mer de Glacc
We we're UP betianes in the morning. We provi
ded ourselves with eatables and wine, and star
ted with our guide, whom we had brought from
Courmayeur 1t was glorious morning and prom
ised well for our expedition. Our road, for about a
hatt an hour, was along uneven path skirtns the
glacier, which lay below our left hand. very
much crevassed aud covered with debris. The path
then came to end. and the guide said we must
now take to the glacier. We descend on to 1t, and
threaded QUO way among the unerous crevasses -
The excursions to the Mcr dc Glace not being look
ed upon as regular glacier expedition, is not made
- nsitber We wcTe in 5rh spirits and went
's,,nS at great rate quickly, indeed, that
guide, who had fallen behind, cautioned us once or
twice, and requested US to allow him to take, and
keep the lead.
Just then our progress arrested by wide
crevasse. Looking to the left, perceived that it
terminated, some twenty feet from us, IN a steep
slope "f ice which thought could easily climb
AS the crevassc was about sixty yards long, de-
tcrmlned to try this slope rather than go und by
the other end Using my Alpenst"ck instead OF an
axe. therefore, began liking foot holes In the ice
with it The guide had now come up with US. He
looked at the ice slope and the wide crevasse, and
said, very seriously, 1t is dangerous let us 60
round" BY this time had with the aid of my Al
penstock, climbed about half way up the slope.
had already come tn he conclusion that 1t much
too steep to scale without axe. and had determin
ed to retraee my steps. So when the guide had
Spoken carefully stretched back my right leg feel
ing for the last hole had made ia the ice. Ny foot
went past the place, and felt that was slipping.
There not the least projection that could grasp.
The slope became perpendicular, and fell head
foremost into the yaHning crevsEae below.
/ heard loud cry from my fellow traveller and
guide Ny own sensations cannot be described, or
distncly separated from the whrl and shock.
felt that was being bumped from side to side be-
tween the two walls OF ice that being hurled
to utter destructonto horrible DEATH that hung
suspended. l was able to take breath, and to call
on, for "A rope a rope!
been arre.ted by little ledge Of ice which spanned
the creyasso like bridge. On this frail structure,
, not than two inches wide at the top and (as
well could judge about two feet deep, had ta-
len SO that my head hung down ons side, my legs
on the other. Instinctvely and Immediately, by
means which cannot at all recall, raised myself
from this ledge, in which there was = little niche
far collected that could hear my fellow traveller
| saying FROM above 1--WE never hoped to hear your
voice again. For Gods sake take heart. The guide
IS running to MOnanvert for men and ropes, ond Will
| soon be back"
" If he is not" answered, 81 shall never come
up alive"
Ny position was awful one. The little ledge
was narrow that could not get both my feet
upon it. I was, in fact, supporting myself on one
leg, half leaning against one side OF the crevasse
and pressing my hand against the opposite slde 1t
was perfectly smooth and there was nothing to grasp
stream of water poured over my shoulders, dren-
ching me to the skin, and freezing me with its icy
codness Overhead could zee the long narrow
strip Of blue sky bounded by the mouth OF the ere
vase. There terribly stolid, unrelenting look
in the intensely blue ice that surrounded all
sides. The grim walls Of the crevasse looked As II
they would unite to crush rather than relnqulsh
their victim. Numerous rills of water poured into
the crevasse, but in the whole sixty yards OF its
length, l could see projection except the little
ledge on which had mraculously CHANGED to fall
vcntured to look down, only for an instant INTO
the fearful chasm which was suspended At
the depth to which had fallen the crcvasse was
barely two feet wide, but downward It narrowed
rapidly, and about two hundred feet below me the
sides appeared to Join. believe that If had fallen
six inches either side of the little ledge ! must
inevitably have been jammed IN head downward. 1t
depth where ropes that could have been brought
there could possibly have reached me.
had now been about twenty minutes standing
in this pero4s position, strannS every nerve to pre-
vent myself from. giving way, looking up at the blue
sky above me and the clear leo on all Sides but sell
dom daring to cast = glance into the abyss below
fryrk frnrn0 RlYfn n