Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/143

Rh north-westerly direction to the right a steep rocky arête connecting with the ridge leading on to Mount Tasman. From the lower parts of these rocks steep ice slopes streaked with marks from falling rocks descend to the upper portions of the Linda Glacier, bounded all along their lower termination by an immense bergschrund which severs them from immediate contact with the glacier itself.

On the left of the summit slopes the north-eastern arête, consisting of a ridge of alternate knife-edges of ice and gensdarmes or towers of rock. The northern side or face of this ridge descending to the Linda Glacier is composed of very steep slopes of ice set with three immense masses of red-sandstone rocks, with two ice-filled couloirs or ditches between them. Up these two couloirs lay our route. We thought, however, that by leaving the glacier and taking to the crest of the ridge we could improve on the route, but soon found that the change was a mistake, and so struck back on to our old course up the middle of the glacier, the final slopes of which were very steep and exposed to the chance of avalanches from either hand.

It seemed a hopeless task this plunging through soft snow hour after hour, and it was nearly one o'clock ere we gained the edge of the big bergschrund and with difficulty discovered a sound enough snow bridge. Shortly before this an incident occurred in crossing one of these snow bridges which brought forcibly before our minds the serious nature of the work in which we were engaged. I—the lighter man by two stone—had crawled over in safety, and planting myself well in the soft snow above, was taking in the slack of