The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 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
| anches are the more frequent and the
most important.
Canon GirdIestone, OF Oxford relates
| how he once sat down to lunch In the
| track of such an avalanche and had only
| just time to scurry out of the way before
| II whizzed past and that great climber
Mr. Tuckett once had race with an
avalanche on the Eiger glacier.
| This is one kind OF avalanche accident
! Another and more common kind Is when
| the climbers themselves start the avail
| anche. They are traversing a slope OF
| ice on which a certain amount OF fresh
| snow has fallen; their footsteps loosen
| the snow and set IL sliding. 1t trips them
up and carries them down with 1t. The
| slide ends in n creVasse: the danger Is
| that they win fall into 1t and that the
| snow will follow them and bury them
, alive. Yet there are men who have been
carried away by such avalarches and es-
! capped alive. TIE most famous man who
underwent such experience was the late
| Prof. Tyndall.
1t happened on the Piz Morteratsch. in
| the Engadine. in 1861. The professor. with
| two friends. Mr.. Hutchinson and Lee
| Warner, and two guides named Jenni
and Walter had occasion to cross a gully
| filled with hard ice coated with new snow.
The slope led straight down onto n gla-
cter with yawning crevasses in IL. Jenni.
who was very famous guide. ought to
have known better than to venture in
far onto 1t when he realized the danger
and warned the others TO tread gingeriy.
as a false step here might start am avail
anche"
THE word SAYS Prof TyndaIl was
scarcely uttered when l heard the sound
of Il fall behind me; then a rush. and in
moment my two friends and their guide.
all apparently entangled together whlrred
past me. suddenly planted myself to
resist their shock. but in an instant [
was In their wake. for their impetus was
irresistible. A moment afterward Jenni
was whirled away. and thus in the twink
ling of au eye. all five of US found our
selves riding downward with uncontrol-
liable speed on the back of an avalanche
which a 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 alpenstocks into the ice,
without the least result In 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 tumbled helpless If they had
been going at slower rate. But there
were other crevasses lower down. Could
they stop themselves before reaching
these? 1t was just a 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 chasms and been covered
inson emerged from the snow with his
forehead bleeding: Jenni had a bit of flesh
removed from his hand by collision
against stone No one. how
ever, was seriously hurt though the pro-
lessor FOUND that he had lost his watch.
Finally there are the incidents which
are due to billiards.. 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 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 persisted
together in this manner. One Of them
It. Beans-had scrubbed Il fragmentary
diary of his experience. which was sub
sequently found lying beside him. We
may end this article by Quoting his con-
Guiding words:
Sept. ! (evenIngl.-We have been on
Mount Blanc for two days in q terrible
snowstorm: we have lost our way and
are in hole scooped out of the snow at
a height of 1000 feet; / have no hope of
descending, Perhaps this book may he
found and forwarded. o We have no
food: my feet are already frozen, and
1 am exhausted. l have only strength to
write Il few words. i die in the faith of
Jesus Christ, with affectionate thoughts
of my family. My remembrance to all. l
trust we may meet in heaven. Outing.