Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/86

Rh were half-way down. The same cause which had rendered the upper half easier, greatly increased the difficulty of the lower. The fine weather had stripped the snow from the ice and left nothing but a bleak, stone-swept slope. Luckily they were able to take refuge on a small shelf of rock, where they were protected to some extent from the hail of shot and shell discharged by the mountain, and, after a terrible night, reached the Tiefenmatten glacier safely the next morning.

One other passage, and one only, has been effected. On this occasion, Herr Kuffner, with Alex. Burgener and Kalbermatten, crossed the pass from Zermatt to Breuil, but of this passage I have heard no details. Possibly the experience gained by Burgener enabled him to avoid some of the difficulties we encountered. I do not, however, think that in any conditions it is likely to be easy.