Year: 1872

A FEW years ago party,4 having as
cended the Morteratsch, a mountain in
the center of the Grisons, had an eXper-
fence with an avalanche that came near
ending fatally. By the letter of Mr..
Tryndal, one of the party, to the London
Times. it seems that three gentlemen, with
only two guides, reached the summit
without difficulty. In decending they
left the track by which they had gone up,
and crossing piece of ice, by steps cut
in with a hatchet, struck slope of snow
that yielded just enough to give them
foothold. To help each other in case of
accident they were all five tied together
by rope. Jenny, an experienced guide,
took the lead. They had proceeded some
distance in this way, the one behind
carefully stepping in the tracks of the
one preceding him, when Jenny turned
around, and cautioned them not to miss a
step, for the shock of the fall might bring
down an avalanche The words were
scarcely out of his mouth when one of
the men slipped and fell. In AN instant
an avalanche, lOosened from its resting
place, thundered down upon them. The
three in the rear were whirled in tang
led mass past the two in advance. These
instinctively braced themselves to resist
the shock, when the rope should become





of the three descending men jerked them
from their footlold, and away all went
together on the back of the avalanche.
Hatchets driven into the ice as they
rolled over to arrest their progress and
their alpenstocks thrust wildly out for
the same purpose, were jerked from their
hands, and now sliding, now rolling over
andiover, they shot rapidly downwards
towards fearful chasms. The three fore
most men rode upon the forehead of the
avalanche and were at times almost i'm
mersed in the snow. They were carried
with such velocity that the whole five
were borne bodily across q crevasse, bare
ly hitting the farther edge. This, how
ever, checked their speed little, and
Jenny, partly recovering himself ON the
edge of another fissure, jumped boldly in
EIa knas- att ahnd ta
those who had been carried over it would
keep him from going to the bottom, while
the weight of his body, he being heavy
man, hanging in the crack, he hoped
would arrest the downward progress of
the rest 1t was quick heroic thought,
and bravely carried out. But it was of
no avail--the momentum OF the descend
ing bodies ierked him out as though he
had been an india-rubber ball-the sud
den, terrible tightening of the rope almost
taking the breath out of his body. He
however struggled desperately to his feet.
Being last of all, the snow of theavalanche
in which the others were submerged
was mostly in front of him, and he en-
deavored to drive his heels at every
plunge into the hard crust, shouting all
the time at the top of his voice.


Before the slope down which they were
driving reached the bro " of the precipice,
beyond which was DEATH it became less
steep and the avalanche slackened its
speed Hope revived in all. The mighty
mass, however did not halt, but, crossing
this partially level spot, began again to
accelerate its motion Seeing this, the
two forward friends threw their arms
around each other and resigned them
selves to their fate. Tryndal struggled
desperately to unbuckle his belt, to which
the rope was attached, but finding it inn
possible, he braced himself with all his
might. Jenny, however with wonderful
sef-possession and GOODNESS, had succeed
ed, in getting firm foothold, and bear
ing on the rope with his great weight, he
brought the whole to a stand still just on
the verge of the precipice, over which a
few seconds more would have carried
them. They arose stunned and bruised
but not seriously wounded, and reached
the bottom in safety, after certainly one
of the most extraordinary slides or
record.