Little Falls herald., 1914-01-30
AN alpine PIN THRILL {
Wild Slide Down the Snow Slope
of a Mountain Peak.
SWEPT INTO AN ICE FUNNEL.


In Treacherous crevasse In a GIa-
cier on the Brink Of Gaping Chasm.
Some thrilling experiences once be-
fell Frederick Chamberlin while he
was exploring the Alps. In the Wide
World Magazine lie writes of an ad-
venture that befell him on the after
noon of Il September day when he was
descending the snow slope Of Il noun
tain:
'Suddenly found myself in front of
particularly nasty selac. or ice ridge.
that gave very little foothold The
surface was not broken and crumbly.
but just smooth. treacherous ice. How
ever. Was not going to be daunted. so
wormcil my way up and was about
to dcSce:1d the other side when with
out warning my feet shot from under
me. and started careeriny down the
slope at break neck speed.
'noWn slid. straight through fun
mel shaped hole into partly formed
crcvasse. l brought up sharply against
Il small bar of ice that only just pre-
vented NE from continuing my head
long career into Il gaping cllasni below.
''For a few seconds ! lay half stull-
ned: then | carefully got on my feet.
felt my body a|l over to see that no
bones had been broken and looked
round for my ice ak. but that had dis
appeared.
Il saw Il slight crack in the surface
Of one of the sides. and tried to draw
myself up. but my fingers could not
get IL firm hold in the slippery ice. and
was soon forced to give that up
Then | tried lying flat on my back in
the funnel through which had en.
tered my prison and. firmly planting
my knees against it's slopinS roof. en-
too. failed.
Being by this time quite desperate.
! took out my little pocket knife to try
to cut steps in the slope. My still torn
fingers let the knife slip ut the first
attempt and, although l groped about
for long time. failed to recover it.
MY last chance had gone with the
knife. The darkness creeping ON and
enveloping everything. the dead si-
lence. the bitter cold. We're all begin.
ming to take effect. and yroaned ut
the prospect of the long night in front
OF Inc. ] dared not lean too far back.
for that slender bar of ice might give
way. called out loudly at intervals,
but the sound was stitled 10y the over
hanging walls.
'SOOn it was pitch dark, and to while
away the time and keep my spirits up
loudly sang a popular American song
But soon my thoughts became gloomy
again. There WAS no sound but an eerie
drip. drip. down below. and sometimes
the grinding. tearing, booming collapse
OF whole serac would set my nerves
Quivering. | shivered necessarily, for
| was wet through from constant con.
tact with the ice. and the night seem
ed interminabie
when was on the point of utter col.
lapse the first gray daylight mercifully
began to filter into my prison. Now l
must make by last desperate attempt
to escape.
"As a forlorn hope | looked about
again for my knife. My eyes caught a
CLINT on fan shaped piece of ice, and
there. just over the dark chasm, where
providentially it had fallen the night
before. spied it. Determined not to
lose it again. l attached it to my wrist
by a piece of string and started dig
ging at the steep ice slope.
"Threc and half hours I slaved in
the ice cavern, and then WAS able to
crawl up, digging my tues in at every
step. till could draw myself up into
comparative safety on the ledge above
lay there. gasping. for few seconds:
then. taking the greatest precautions
all the while, pissed between the re-
naming crevasses and ut last descend
ed safely to the firm rocks"