Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus (1908).djvu/335

Rh reached a snow slope which led us to the pass. In front was a glacier basin, shut in, to the north, by a low wall of jagged rock. This wall evidently swept round further to the east, and enclosed the head of the glacier. Zurfluh and the Tartar turned to the left, never doubting that our route must lie in that direction. For a moment I could not quite understand where we were, and accordingly a halt was decreed. A few minutes' contemplation then convinced me that the mighty peak, blocking the whole width of the gorge down which the glacier before us wound its way, could be none other than Ush-ba, and that the glacier itself must be the Leksur. It was evident, therefore, that our route must lie to the right, and that we must force our way across the ridge in front if we wished to sup that night with the shepherds of the Bashil Su.

To avoid losing height, we skirted the slopes on our right, and a merely trifling descent led us on to the open glacier. We then began the ascent of a steep wall of frozen snow, which brought us to the uttermost reservoir of the Leksur. It proved, though extremely narrow, to be of considerable length, and we did not reach the ridge till 11 a.m.

A strong wind drove us from the crest of the ridge, and we made a halt on some rocks, a few feet below the pass, on the Chegem side. After half an hour's rest, we climbed down the rocks as far as they were practicable and then took to an