Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/107

86 like flour at every step; still, bad as it was it rendered progress possible, and, working upwards with indomitable courage, we saw him at last reach reliable footing. Our feelings found vent in loud shouts and jodels, but all the same it was grim work standing in a small step three-quarters of an hour, with splinters of ice and a stream of snow from above chilling fingers and toes till it seemed impossible to endure it longer. Indeed, nothing but the sure and certain knowledge that the only alternative was to move and slip, could have kept me inactive so long. Welcome were the occasional cheery assurances from above, "Hold on a bit longer and we shall get up all right." But Burgener, being unroped, could give no direct help to my husband, and it was some time before the latter could effect the traverse back into the gully and up the treacherous steps to the snow above. When the safety of the party was once more in Burgener's hands, I ascended, finding that my husband had already cut his way to the ridge. Then the order to untie reached me, and the rope was sent down for Andenmatten.

With a hasty glance at the never-to-be-forgotten gully, we bent our somewhat weary steps onward, scrambling, climbing and crawling over the various crags, pinnacles and flying buttresses which constitute the arête. Compared to our recent experiences it seemed easy, and progress