The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-23
felt when this suggestive proceeding

felt when this suggestive proceeding
was Finished.
There was as yet no indication Of
coming day. The heavens were cloud
less, and the Matternorn, rising
athwart the Milky Way, seemed etc
hang in the sky, plotting out the stars
Picking up a lantern, Tangwalder lee
the way around a corner of the stone
hut and out upon an almost leye
stretch of snow, from which our fee
awoke a low musical humming in the
tense, frosty air. Almost before / was
aware of it we were treading on the
edge OF "a precipice which seemed in
the darkness of abyssmal depth. while
the crusted snow that curled over its
brink frequently broke under oul
weight. The first time this thing hap.
pened the impression flashed across
my mind that was dropping through
a snow roof projecting from the preci-
pice like the caves of a house. How.
ever, there was no use in shrinking
away from the verge, for the snow
| field was up-tilted in such a manner
| that on the opposite side it ran steeply
down into gulf of black obscurity.
On the Face of a Cliff CIinging to
Crags.
Presently we turned to the left
quilted the snow, and in "a moment
were out on the face of a cliff, cling
| ing to crags and lodges with the up
per edge of a glacier dimly visible far
beneath us. l had been in a rather
jaunty mood heretofore, but this eX-
perience sobered my mind in an in
slant. We worked our way dag
onally across the cliff until we reached
a higher part of the glacier that rose
to our level, and then stepped out upon
the ice. Here for the first time
1,1 -, T,rr
steps. 1t was like the first shot OF tine
enemy to the ear of the new recruit,
This portion of the glacier was steep
and smooth, and the lamplight oc-
casionally revealed a huge crack. or
one of those round holes called
mouths, into which a person falling
would disappear as in a we'll. For a
considerable distance we assembled on
the back of the glacier, but presently
the mountain became too steep for the
ice to get a grip upon it, and then I'VE
took to the crags again, now climbing
directly upward, now working to the
right or left around vertical places.
My inexperience made the rope a
source of considerable perplexity to
me, for it was continually getting
tangled with my feet, while my hands
were fully employed above. Then, in
crawling sideways on the front of a
precipice it was sometimes necessary,
while hanging on with fingers and
toes, to crouch in order to save ones
head from knocking against projec-
tons above. AT such times l found
the rope particularly troublesome,
although it would have afforded my
only chance for life if I had fallen.
But after an hour or two 1 acquired
a little skill in managing it.
Climbing in such places by the dim
and uncertain light of a lantern was
also somewhat trying, and l was glad
when, at last, a gray dawn broke upon
the rocks, and Tangwalder blew out
his lantern and placed it in a creyice
to be picked up on our return. Now,
at least, one could see what was be-
low and above him.
The Hardest Climb StiH to Come.
When day began we were high UP
on the eastern face of the mountain,
that which is seen from Zermatt, the
Riffel, and the Gornergrat. But the
hardest work was yet before u.s.
CHANGING up at the peak I saw 1T shin
ing in. the morning sun, and apparent
ly as far away and inaccessible as the
gilded apex of a thunder cloud. The
immense ridge, or arete, the continual
ton of the Homli, that runs down like
a great wall between the .Furggen
glacier on one side and the Matterhorn
SloOlCl VII lliC OliiSI, NdS an amazing
sight. 1t is crowned with impossible
looking turrets which, at first glance,
seemed actually to be hanging over
our heads a thousand feet above 1t
was hard to persuade ones self that
they were not about to fall headlong
and involve the entire mountainside
in their ruin. Yet I knew that that
ferocious ridge. hacked and split and
wrenched into fantastic and terrify-
ing shapes, would presently become
our only pathway to the top of the
Matterhorn. 1t was just under this
ridge that we passed the old cabin of
the Alpine club, now abandoned and
filled to the door with blue ice.
Higher, we left the face of the noun
tain and got upon the crest of the
arete. Here were places where one
had to balance himself carefully, while
the fatigue resulting from the con-
slant use of every limb did not, to say
the least, increase ones control over
mis- muscles. 1t is a simple matter TO
stand on ledge only few inches
broad when 1t is near the ground: but
put your ledge above cloud level, GET
up upon it out of breath. LET void
space yawn round your feet. and
recollect that it is only the friction of
your fingers against the projecting
rocks beside you and above your head
that retains you where you are, and
you will find that a very entertain
into the problem of how to keep the
centre of gravity within the base.
Where is the worst placer 1 in
CURED several times.
Not yet, not yet" was the reply;
1.-The Shoulder is the worst