Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/234

Rh snow col on the left of the peak, and perhaps a thousand feet helow it. This col is shut in on the Chamonix side by the precipitous Aiguille in which the great northern buttress of the Plan culminates. It is an obtrusively visible notch, and may be seen from the stone man on the Little Charmoz ridge just above the Montenvers, or even from the Chapeau, though of course when seen from these points of view it is on the right of the summit. Once arrived on this col we should reach the precipitous little Glacier du Plan, on which during the preceding year we had exerted much fruitless labour. At the point, however, at which we were now aiming, we should be above the great ice walls and threatening séracs, and fairly certain of being able to force our way to the summit. The way to this col lay up a long gully, which formed a sort of line of demarcation between the great northern buttress and the main mass of the mountain. Unluckily the mists obstinately clung to this gully, and after waiting two hours the lengthening shadows suggested the propriety of an immediate retreat. I got back to camp