Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/204

Rh tiny oasis in the desert of stones, he might have been seen to gaze wearily at the steep moraine above and then, throwing himself on the ground, begin to pour forth, with most persuasive eloquence, a series of convincing reasons for camping at this particular spot.

There being no dissentients, the porter was promptly paid off, and the afternoon tea was put in train; we then proceeded at our leisure to contemplate the formidable summit we were to attack. Seated in the shadow of a great rock, we examined it with the telescope, and came to the conclusion that it would be won if we could only reach the eastern ridge anywhere in the near neighbourhood of the summit. From a cleft in this ridge we could see there was a convenient crack or gully leading down to a great buttress that merged in the face of the mountain, about five hundred feet below the ridge. To the left of this was a considerable patch of snow, and it appeared to us that once on this snow, we should have a fair chance of success. Below this snow, however, the rock was, for a short distance, slabby and precipitous, and it seemed doubtful whether the ascent of this section could be effected. The optimists were confident that it could be done, but the pessimists were even more certain that we should be stopped. An alternative line was then suggested by Slingsby, who pointed out, that though the southern ridge of the peak concealed the western face, this face not