The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-04-22
Alpine Feat.

asa. 3, An Alpine Feat. !, y -,.s
ysaAgl ,'tTinsieys Masazins.l sisig-1e, tai 4
" saw last year another splendid and
distinctive sight, which, lives wildly in
my rmountaineer's memory, / mean o.,
solitary piece Of rock-climbing by Mel.
chior Anderegg, which Tor danger and
difficulty,2 for courage and skill, has
scarcely,s r shouldn think, saexeu sbeenE
equaled, has certainly neverbeen sur
passed, by man. We. started to cross
from the Montanyert to Courmayeur by
the newly discovered Col des Hiron-
delles. At the top of the Lechaud
glacier is lofty and precipitous wall of
smooth limestone rock, which has, how
ever, one weak point, one couloir by
which, if there be good snow in it, the
summit of the ppeless-looking rock wall
may be attained. When we arrived at
the top of the glacier we found this
couloir bare of snow, and we found
further, to our dismay, that the huge
bergschrund had so increased and
widened, and had so fallen away from
the rocks, that the attempt seemed to be
liupIdCIiCdDlc. NuciCuiOI, uitCI pWCCPiiB
the whole range carefully with his eagle
eye, pronounced the ascent impossible,
and said that we must abandon the idea.
| knew, from his tone, that this was SO
but that irrepressibly ardent mountain
eer, Lyvetete, could not readily consent
to turn back from an expedition in fine
weather, and he began to argue the
question of possibility by other routes.
1t is probable that he dropped some
| incautious word which stung the amour
propre of the first and greatest of Swiss
! guides. Melchior said positively that to
try an ascent by the one practicable
couloir was wholly out of the question
and that he would not allow of any at
tempt. -f,h ID,
.'".Now," added Melchior, as you
think that another route may be found
Twill go along andt try. ] won't have any
one with me; wait. If the thing can b.
done at all, it mtist be by those smooth
rock slabs to the left. don't believ,
that it can be done but will show you
whether it can or cannot. Unrope me
and wait here till come back" I" q!
We were sitting on frozen snow, jus
on the narrow brink of the great berg
schrund, and above a long, steep slope o
the same material, which descended from
our seat to the glacier. How differentl.
Melchior works when he is climbin,
along! At what pace he goesl neve
before SO fully realized his immens
superiority to the best amateur mountain
eer. No one--except one or two of tn
best guides could have worked witt
him as he performed that daring, pique
stung feat. He disappeared somewher
into the huge schrund. He appeare'
next, climbing UP a sheer straight-ul
wall of ice thinly covered by snow. /
was SO steep that he could not swing tn
ak; he could only peg the point in wit
his chest; yet up he went, and rapid
too. Beneath him was the terribl
depth of the huge chasm of the gian
bergschrund. After about a hundre
feet of this work he got on the smooth
large slabs of limestone rock, whic
shelved sideways. l watched him wit
delight at his working, with dread of hi
danger. My pipe went out as gaze
with all my eyes. Even Peter Andel
egg, his stOlid brother, was anxious, an
looked on with all the emotion of whic
he is capable. e.,
Melchior proceeded, sometimes extei
ded fiat upon his face over sloping slaf
with hardly crack of projectio
visible. He had got so far off that h
recumbent slowly-moving figure ha
been very small. Presently we saw hill
T stop, and grope about blindly with hant
and feet. He can't get further" erie
Peter, "and l only hope that he ca
, get back" We saw that he just raise
,, his head, and was looking carefully u
: and round him. Then he turned on h
back, and descended little way, wit
great difficulty, in that position. I"
nasty place that" said Peter in gre'
excitement. II am afraid that he can
get back" Here the brother freed hin
self from. the rope, in order, if necessar
to try to help Melchior. We watche
,, again, and / felt terrible tension of I'll
|. nerve as / saw man in such DANCE
.. Gus position. He moved very slowl
= creeping on from point to point wit
outstretched legs and hands, whic
clutched after every crack and fissur
|, He turned again upon his face, an
, seemed to move better. "He'll do
now," cried Peter. "He's safe now,
think" Gradually the small dal
; figure of man got lower and lower.
! last he returned to the snow, let himse
down that very carefully, and aga
disappeared. In q moment he emerge
close by us, and advanced coolly with b
quick, firm step. "Ifany Herr likes
try that" said Melchior, calmly, lookil
/, rather particularly at Lyvetete, 81
!, must go alone; won't go with hin
r There is one place at which / thougl
: that could neither get forward n
. backward, and there are other plac
;, higher up that are probably as bad. N
y no one will get up the Col DIES Hirondell
f to-day, and the sooner you see that u
+ BETTER ~ SCI 81 y.Jy9 nj