Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-08
more frequent and the most important.

more frequent and the most important.
canon Glrdlestone of Oxford relates how
ne ne once sat down to lunch in the track
OF such an avalanche and had only Just
uIne TO scurry out of the way before it
Mnizzed past; and that great climber, Mr.
uckett, once had a race with an ava
lanche on the Eiger Glacier
This is one kind of avalanche accident
another and more common kind is when
the climbers themselves start the ava
ianche: They are traversing slope of ice
on on when a certain amount of fresh snow
mas fallen; their footsteps loosen the snow
ana set 1t sliding. 1t trips them I'D and
carries them down with it The slide ends
IN a crevasse; the danger is that they will
ran into 1t, and that the snow will follow
them and bury them alive. Yet there are
men who have been carried away by such
avalanches and escaped alive. The most
FAMOUS man who underwent such expe-
r1enence was the late Prof. Tyndall.
1t happened on the Piz Morteratsch. in
the Engadine, in 1864. The professor, with
two friends, Mr.. Hutchinson and Mr.. Lee
warner, and two guides, name Jenni and
waiter, had occasion to cross a gully filled
with hard ice coated with new snow The
slope led straight down onto a glacier, with
yawntng crevassses in it. Jenni who was
very famous guide, ought to have known
peter than to venture in that gully. He
had not led his party very far onto it when
he realized the danger and warned the
others to tread gingerly, as a false step
here might start an avalanche"
uc "oIu, says fTO1. 1ynQah, was
scarcely uttered, when 1 heard the sound
Of a fall behind me; then a rush, and in a
moment my two friends and their guide,
all apparently entangled together. whirred
resist their shock but in instant 1 was in
their wake, for their impetus was irresisti-
all apparently entangled together, whirled
away, and thus, in twinkling Of an eye,
all five of US found ourselves riding down.
ward with uncomfortable 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 brake by grinding the points Of
their alpenstocks into the ice, without the
least result. In sense. as ii turned out
their very speed was their salvation. II
caused them to shoot over the gaping Gre
vassses into which they would have tum-
bled helpless if they had been going at a
slower rate. But there were other ere
vases lower down. Could they stop them
selves before reaching these7 1t was just
a chance. and the chance happened to be
in their favor.
I'VE came to rest so near the brow that
two or three seconds of our average mo-
ton of descent must have carried us over
Had this occurred We should have fallen
into the chasm and been covered up by
the tail of the avalanche. Hutchinson
emerged from the snow with his forehead
bleeding; Jenni had a bit of flesh re-
moved from his hand by collision against
a stone No one, however, was
seriously hurt. though the professor found
that he had lost bis watch.
Finally, there are the incidents which
are due to billiards. Mont 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 yourself sort of
shelter in the snow and wait, but you may
freeze to death while you are waiting, This
was what happened only few years ago
to Prof Nettleship Of Oxford. though the
weather lifted In time for the other men,
bers Of the party to be saved. still
graver case occurred In $780, when a party
Of three American travellers. with eight