. The fascination of Switzerland. led goes over the shoulder of theleading guide, the lanterns are lighted, we grip ourice axes, and start off in single file. There is plenty of interest to be got outof a climb from the Schwarzegg Hut to theFinsteraarjoch, one of the snow passes leadingfrom Grindelwald to the Grimsel, as I discovereda year or two ago. The start is downhill towardsthe glacier, but the descending part does notlast long and we are soon crossing the lowerslope of the tributary Schreckhom Glacier withits dangerous seracs guarding, in the dim twilight,some giants castle high on the
. The fascination of Switzerland. led goes over the shoulder of theleading guide, the lanterns are lighted, we grip ourice axes, and start off in single file. There is plenty of interest to be got outof a climb from the Schwarzegg Hut to theFinsteraarjoch, one of the snow passes leadingfrom Grindelwald to the Grimsel, as I discovereda year or two ago. The start is downhill towardsthe glacier, but the descending part does notlast long and we are soon crossing the lowerslope of the tributary Schreckhom Glacier withits dangerous seracs guarding, in the dim twilight,some giants castle high on the left. We have aslippery path across the icy slope for the guidedoes not waste time by cutting more than mereindications of steps on a place which is not reallydangerous. All the same a slip feels ratheruncanny when you dont know when you willstop. We avoid the main glacier and its yawningcrevasses as much as possible, by keeping to theleft and scrambling up over spurs of the Strahlegg-horn. Snowfields come every now and then as64. OF SWITZERLAND above the snowline restful alternatives to the hard rocks. Soon therope is brought into use, and we are tied to eachother at distances of about 15 feet. Whymper,great climber as he was, always insisted on therope being used, but relates how the guides usedto dislike it, either from over-confidence in theirpower always to detect danger or from fear ofridicule from the others ; when once however aguide had slipped through the snow-bridge over ahidden crevasse and been hauled up by the pullof his comrades, he was converted and made nofurther demur. Now the rope is attached as a matter of course,for the snowfields with their crisp surfaces beginto show signs of crevasses further below us, and itwill not be very long before the surface begins tosoften, for the morning twilight is nearing day(our lanterns were extinguished and left behindsome time ago). Already the range of monsterson the other side of the glacier is beginning toalter its asp
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