Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1890-10-01
In The Crevasse.


said the old guide, shaking his head
gravely. "There is yellow mist
over the cap of old Heilgen Alp, and
tn at means a thaw."
"Well, and what of that?" asked
the younger man whom l had chosen
for my guide. "Neither one days
nor one months thaw is going to melt
the Merde Glace."
mo-" said the old man, "but a
thaw sometimes splits the glacier into
crevasses. I've seen the Mer dc
Glace as full of cracks as the bottom
of a dried up pond in summer.
Many good fellow has lost his life
at the bottom of those chasms."
"It's not crack in. the ice, nor
crack in an old mans brain that is
going to scare Franz Berg" said the
young man, laughing. "Pve been
guide here. boy and man, these fifteen
years, and l never heard of even a
goat being lost in crevasse."
"Well, well, have your own way"
muttered the old man, wisdom is
learned by experience. Happy for
you if you live to profit by it."
/ was somewhat disturbed by the
old guides ominous words, but not
deferred from my original purpose.
l had come all the way from Geneva
to see the glacier, and it was not the
prophesyings of a doting old man
that was going to interfere with my
object. ] had but one day to spare.
The weather was beautiful. The sky
was brilliantly blue, and the snow
crowned caps of the mountains spark
led like gigantic prisms in the sun.
/, for one, could not see the yellow
mist to which the old man had re-
ferred, and was greatly inclined to
attribute his warning, as my guide had
done, to a megrlm of his old brain.
One preparation, consisting of high
boots, shod with spikes, steel-tipped
slaves and a wicker flask of spirits
apiece. were soon complete, We set
out at ten in forenoon and by twelve
had reached the left bank of the great
ice river which we proposed to across.
| paused a moment awe-struck at
the magnificent spectacle. Imagine
gigantic river, perhaps two miles
broad, whirling between vast snow
capped hills, suddenly frozen to a
slow, moving torrent of ice. Vast
heaps of snow lay upon it and here
and there masses of rock, weighing
tons, detached from some gorge far
up the impossible cliffs.
Very near us a narrow assure or
cleft ran diagonally across the DO dy
of the ice, the sides smooth as glass
and of deep lustrous green, descend.
ing sheer into impenetrable dark
ness. Such a crevasse as this, the
guide said, was always to be found
in the glacier and only the most
ordinary care was necessary to AVOID
it.
We scrambled down upon the ice
and began to make our way across it.
Owing to various Instructions, such
as heaped-up snow or soft spots in the
ice, our progress was very slow. AT.
ter an hour of hard work we had not
accomplished one half of the distance.
l sat down upon cube of rock to
rest and looked about me.
A change had already taken place
in the weather. The sun was obscur-
ed by dense, leaden-colored mist,
and the valley of the glacier itself
seemed to be choked with masses of
whirling vapor. My outside garments
were wet, and all around us the ice
sent up cold and benumbing steam.
AS / sat in far from comfortable
frame of body and mind l was start
led by far-of, dull, booming sound,
the echoes of which seemed to be re-
peated interminably among the hills.
"What was that I" l asked the
guide.
"Most likely an avalanche on the
Heilgen Alp" he replied. "They are
always falling there"
He was interrupted by repetition
Of the sound, much nearer to us, &C.
companied by tremendous shock
that seemed to shake the ice beneath
us. l looked at him inquiringly, and
observed that he was slightly pale.
"a crevasse," he said, answering
my look with an air of unconcern that
l could see was not wholly real.
when the ice parts it makes noise
like a cannon. Il is nothing. How
ever, we had better be moving. l
don't like the looks of this fog"
We arose and resumed our journey,