Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/213

172 a second perpendicular rock rose immediately above it, and the outward sloping ledge on to which it was necessary to climb was not more than eighteen inches wide. Hastings, with extraordinary daring and skill, managed to follow me up a yard or so, and gave a most welcome push to my feet with an ice-axe: so aided, I got a hand on to the ledge, and at its extreme upper limit found a deep and most satisfying crack; even with its aid getting one's feet on to the ledge and subsequently abandoning the crack, and reassuming an upright attitude, was not wholly easy.

We then encountered the usual sort of chimney work, steep corners, occasionally wet rock, and a general tendency in everything to slope outwards with overhanging edges. At more than one place Hastings had to propel the leading man upwards for some eight or nine feet, but beyond trifles of this sort, which appeared to that same leading man a most convenient and restful method of getting up a hill, we met with no very serious obstacle. About 11.30 a.m. we reached the window in the eastern ridge and were within a short distance of the summit.

On our right a bold pinnacle cut off the view; on the left a knife-edge of granite rose steeply for some fifteen feet and then abutted against a square tower. Taken as a whole it looked very formidable, and we all agreed that a halt was desirable. It soon, however, became obvious that life is not