Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/43

22 The day was perfectly calm and the view cloudless. Time fled swiftly, and when Burgener came up to me with the rope at 2.30 p.m. I could hardly believe we had been three-quarters of an hour on the summit.

Then we descended the chain-clad north-eastern arête to the elbow, where we waited a few minutes to watch Penhall's party, which had just come in sight on the Zmutt ridge. With a parting jodel to our friends we plunged down the slopes to the cabane. Great care, however, was required to avoid the broken glass and sardine boxes which had accumulated in large quantities. After a short halt we ran down to the Furggen glacier, and at 6.30 p.m. were unbuckling our gaiters on the moraine under the Hörnli. An hour and a half later we tramped down the high street of Zermatt, and were soon enjoying the rewards of the faithful.

.—So far as I can learn, the ascent had till 1894 been only once repeated. On the 27th of August of that year, however, S. A. R. il Duca degli Abruzzi, with Dr. Norman Collie and myself, left a gîte, rather below my previous quarters. Under the lead of young Pollinger, who was the only professional member of the party, we kept to the right of my old route, and, reaching the Tiefenmatten glacier, skirted it where it abuts against the cliffs of the Matterhorn. Then