The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-06-20
A TERRIBLE FIFTY MINUTES.

In August, 1858, I arrived at Cha
mouniX with one of my friends, trav-
eler like myself For about five weeks
we had been exploring Switzerland, SO
that we had plenty of time to get used
to the snow and glaciers. We had
made several ascents, one to IA, 600
feet. | we'll remember the sensation [
felt when / first saw one of those Gre
vases which seem the surface of the
glaciers. Holding firmly by my guides
hand, | leaned over that yawning gulf,
and tried to gaze down into it's terri
bic depth. The two perpendicular
walls of ice appeared to meet some
three hundred feet below, but l be-
perspective, the rent being probably
as far as the solid rock.
"a man who falls there is certain
never to come out alive" said one of
my guides.
True" replied the other, "but [
knew one who was rescued A mar
row escape indeed it was he still lives
at Grindlewald. He is q chamois hun
ter; was returning home, and in de-
scending the crevasse, his fall was
broken by projecting blocks of ice,
which yielded, however, against his
weight, when he clung to them. When
he reached the bottom, distance of
some hundred feet, he had a leg and
arm broken. Between the earth and
the ice he found a hollow place into
which stream was running crawl
ing along, suffering terrible pain, he
followed the course of the water, and
in three hours was out of the glacier"
Crevasses vary in breadth from two
to six feet at the mouth, the sides APP
proach rapidly as they descend, so
that a man may find himself jammed
in between two walls of ice long time
before he reaches the bottom, and
then, if ropes long and strong enough
are at hand, it is possible to save him
from death. But generally the ropes
are not long enough, and the traveller
perishes Of cold, or falls down into the
crevasses during the hours which
elapse while some of the party have
gone to the nearest village to fetch
longer ropes Thus an unfortunate
Russian nobleman perished in a gla-
cier near Zermatt some years ago.
We had ascended to the Brevent,
and we now had only the Mer de
Glace and the Jardin to visit. We
slept at the Montanvert in the solitary
little inn at the foot of the glacier.
Next morning we were up at dawn.
Furnished with some provisions and
two bottles of wine, we started with
our guide 1t was a splendid morn
ing, and augured well tor our excur-
sion. For half an hour we followed a
rough path which skirted the Mer de
Glace, which displayed below us its
surface riven with creyasses and COW
cred with rocks and fragments Our
road ended at the glacier, upon which
we now began to descend and traverse
in zig-zags in the midst of numerous
| assures. The Mer de Glace is not
considered dangerous, and 1T Is quite
the exception to take axes and ropes
when crossing it. Alert and cheerful
we FASTENED on without taking notice
| of the guide, who, some way behind,
cried out to us several times to be
cautious and wait for him. We were
obliged at last to halt before vast
| crevasse which barred upon our pas
:; sage. 1t opened with length Of some
sixty yards, and ended up our left
in a slope of ice, somewhat steep, but
which thought L could easily mount
Using the iron spike of my alpenstock