Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/147

122 without a bridge, its upper lip was twenty or thirty feet above the lower, and more than a hundred feet above a mass of broken débris on which the chasm could alone be crossed. The rocks on either hand were smooth and quite unassailable, so we were compelled to abandon the couloir of our choice. We accordingly traversed to the left to see whether the next gully would be more favourable. We found that while the upper lip of the Bergscbrund was equally hopeless, the ice in the gully had so shrunk from the rock that a sort of precipitous chimney was left, up which, Burgener thought, a way might be forced. Venetz was accordingly lowered into the Bergschrund, and, having got across on a bridge of ice débris attacked the chimney. He had not climbed more than ten feet when he found himself pounded and unable to move up or down. The débris bridge did not run quite home to the foot of the chimney, but left a yawning chasm very conveniently placed for him to fall into, and his position appeared extremely critical. Burgener, seeing the necessity for instant action, laid hold of the spare rope, and without waiting to tie on, let me lower him into the Schrund. He promptly scrambled across the confused heap of rickety ice-blocks and was soon able to lend Venetz the requisite aid. The latter, after a short halt on Burgener' s shoulder, succeeded in wedging his axe between the rock and ice, and, subsequently using it as a footing, was able to