The times., 1901-03-31

the climber-we have to do with the avail
! anches. These are avalanches Of snow
of Ice. and OF rock. but the snow avail
| most important.
Canon Girdlestoue. OF Oxford. relates
| how lie once sat down to lunch in the
| track of such an avalanche and had oniS
| Just time To scurry out of the way before
| II whizzed past, and that great climber
| Mr.. Tuckett, once had q race with al
| avalanche on the Eiger glacier.
This is one kind of avalanche accident
! Another and more common kind is wher
| the climbers themselves start the avail
anche- They are traversing a slope OF
Ice on which certain amount OF fresh
| snow has fallen, their footsteps loosen
| the snow and set il sliding II trips them
| UP and carries them down with 1t. The
| slide ends in CreVaSSe: the danger Is
| that they will fall into IL and that the
snow VIII follow them and bury them
, alive. Yet there are men who have been
carried away by such avalanches and es-
underwent such experience was the late
| Prof. Tyndall.
It happened on the Piz Morteratsch. in
| the Engadine, In 1854 The professor. with
| two friends, Mr. Hutchinson and Lee
| Warner. and two guides named Jenni
| and Walter. had occasion to cross gully
| filled with hard ice coated with new snow.
| The slope led straight down onto gia-
| cier with yawning crevasses in il. JenDi.
| who was very famous guide, ought to
/ have known better than 10 venture in
| far onto ii when he realized the danger
and warned the others TO tread gingeriy
as a false step here might start an avail
anche."
THE word" says Prof TyndaIl. was
scarcely uttered when / heard the sound
of a fall behind me; then rush, and in
a moment my two friends and their guide
all apparently entangied together. whirred
past me. / suddenly planted myself to
resist their shock but i'm an instant I
was In their wake. for their impetus was
Irresistible A moment afterward Jenni
was Whirled away. and thus. in the twink
ling OF an eye all five of US found our
selves riding downward with uncontrOl-
liable speed on the back of an avalanche
which single slip had originated
There was nothing to clutch at no
means of arresting the descent. They
tried to put on the brakes by grinding the
points of their alpeustocks into the ice.
without the least result I'm a sense. as
it turned out, their very speed was their
salvation. 1t caused them to shoot over
the gaping CrevasSeS into which they
would have tumbied helpless il they had
been going at "a slower rate. But there
were other crevasseS lower down. Could
they stop themselves before reaching
these? 1t was just chance, and the
chance happened TO be in their favor.
We came To rest so near the brow
that two or three seconds OF our average
motion of descent must have carried US
over. Had this occurred We should have
fallen into the chdsms and been covered
up py the tail of the avalanche. Hutch
inson emerged from the snow with his
forehead bleeding. Jenni had a bit of flesh
removed from his hand by collision
against a stone No one. how
ever, was seriously hurt. though the pro
feSsOr found that he had lost his watch.
Finally, there are the incidents which
are due to bliZzards, Mount Blanc has
been the principal scene OF these, for on
that the distances are great, the snow
fields are wide. and the chance of losing
your way is good You may scoop your
self n sort of shelter in the snow and
wait but you may freeze TO death while
you are waiting This is what happened
only few years ago to Prof. Nettleship
OF Oxford. though the weather lifted in
time for the other members of the party
TO be saved A still graver case occurred
in 1870 when a party OF three American
travellers, with sight guides, all perishcd
together in this manner One of them
T. BeanS-had scribbled Il fragmcnt4ry
diary of his experience. which was sub
scquentiy found lying beside him. We
may end this article by Quoting his CON
Guiding words:
Sept (eveningl.-Ne have been on
Mount Blame for two days in a terrible
snowstorm we have lost our way and
are in a hole scOoped out Of the snow at
a height of 5000 feet; ! have no hope of
descending. Perhaps this book may be
found and forwarded. We have no
food; my feet are already frozen, and
/ am exhausted 1 have only strength to
write few words. ] die in the faith OF
Jesus Christ, with affectionate thoughts
of my family. My remembrance to all. /
trust we may meet in heaven. Outing.