CHAPTER IX
THE PIZ BERNINA SKI CIRCUIT IN ONE DAY
Old snow well padded with new—Christmas Eve in the Bernina hospice—The alarum rings—Misgivings before battle—Crampons and sealskins—A causeway of snow—An outraged glacier—The Disgrazia—A chess-player and a ski-man—Unroped!—In the twilight—The Tschierva hut—Back to Pontresina—Hotel limpets—Waiting for imitators.
At the close of 1910 Marcel Kurz was at Pontresina. I had occasion to draw up certain reports upon the winter aspect of the district, and he kindly undertook the inspection of the glacier routes for me. A few glorious days seemed about to efface the memory of many previous gloomy ones. On the day on which this account begins, a little snow had fallen in the morning, the skier’s welcome quotum. Nothing affords such excellent sport as old snow well padded out with about a foot of new floury stuff. The ski blades sink nicely through the top layer of rustling crystals. The ski-points pop out of the snow like the periscope of a submarine. The sparkling prismatic flakes stream past each side of the lithe, curled-up blade, like silvery waves parted by the prow of a fast motor canoe.
“The north wind,” writes Mr. Kurz, “was now clearing the sky of every cloud, leaving the dazzling snowy heights and the forests below steeped in sunshine and brightness. It was our last chance, and, in a few minutes, our minds were made up to accept it. Half an hour later we were in the train on our way to the Bernina pass.
“The exact itinerary of this expedition I published in the Alpina (Mitteilungen des Schweizer Alpenclubs) number of February 1st, 1911, p. 22. The following only being intended as a short sketch, I will not describe the route too minutely. The principal landmarks are: Pontresina, Bernina pass, Alp Palü, Palü glacier, Fellaria glacier, Upper Scerscen glacier, Fuorcla Sella, Sella glacier, Roseg glacier, and back to Pontresina.
“‘Grützi Herr Stäub! Grützi Herr Kurz!’ These first words of greeting, uttered on our arrival by our little friend at the hospice, showed her evident pleasure on seeing us so soon back again. It was, in fact, our second visit to the hospice within the week, but this time we came firmly intending at last to carry out our plan.