Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus (1908).djvu/275

Rh and quickly rounding a shoulder of Les Courtes, were lost to sight.

The pipe of peace being once more lit, we deputed Hastings, who, not being a smoker, had no particular duties on hand, to pack the knapsack, and subsequently, from the cold and wind-swept summit of the sérac, to prospect for an easy and convenient way across the Schrund. All idea of making the col immediately under the Aiguille de Triolet had been abandoned, owing partly to the difficulty of finding a possible route, and partly to the fact that any such route would of necessity be exposed to many and various falling missiles. We fell back, therefore, on the alternative plan of climbing up to the Glacier des Courtes, and thence traversing on to the ordinary Col Triolet. Before, however, these operations could be begun, it was necessary to get over the very formidable Bergschrund, by which access to the slopes of Les Courtes is defended.

At 5 a.m. we left the friendly sérac, and walked slowly up to the great yawning chasm. Two courses were open to us. We could either assault the Schrund at a point where, once across, the ascent would be merely an ordinary piece of step-cutting work; or we could keep more to the right, where an occasional sérac and more than an occasional stone were in the habit of falling, and ascend by a series of séracs piled one on the other, till an avalanche groove, high above the Schrund, was gained.