Above the Snow Line: Mountaineering Sketches Between 1870 and 1880

ABOVE THE SNOW LINE
LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET
THE BIETSCHHORN. FROM THE PETERSGRAT
BY CLINTON DENT VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ALPINE CLUB
“Celui qui n’a jamais ses heures de folie est moins sage qu’il ne le pense”—La Bruyère
THESE SKETCHES OF MOUNTAINEERING I DEDICATE TO T. I. D. IN THE HOPE THAT A BOOK WITHOUT A HEROINE MAY, AT LEAST, ACQUIRE SOME FEMININE INTEREST
Some of the following sketches do not now appear for the first time; but such as have been before published in other form have been entirely re-written, and, in great measure, recast.
To the writer the work has afforded an occasional distraction from more serious professional work, and he cannot wish better than that it should serve the same purpose to the reader.
Cortina di Ampezzo: September 1884.
ABOVE THE SNOW LINE

Buried records—Litera scripta manet—The survival of the unfit—A literary octopus—Sybaritic mountaineering—On mountain “form”—Lessons to be learned in the Alps—The growth and spread of the climbing craze—Variations of the art—A tropical day in the valley—A deserted hostelry—The hotel staff appears in several characters—Ascent of the Balfrinhorn—Our baggage train and transport department—A well-ventilated shelter—On sleeping out: its advantages on the present occasion—The Mischabelhörner family group—A plea for Saas and the Fée plateau—We attack the Südlenzspitz—The art of detecting hidden crevasses—Plans for the future—Sentiment on a summit—The feast is spread—The Alphubeljoch—We meet our warmest welcome at an inn.