To seek out tales of adventure easily intelligible to the non-climber, to edit them in popular form, to point out the lessons which most adventures can teach to those who may climb themselves one day, has occupied many pleasant hours, rendered doubly so by the feeling that I shall again come into touch with the readers who gave so kindly a greeting to my True Tales of Mountain Adventure. In that work I tried to explain the principles of mountaineering and something of the nature of glaciers and avalanches. Those chapters will, I think, be found helpful by non-climbers who read the present volume.

For much kindly advice and help in compiling this work I am indebted to Mr Henry Mayhew, of the British Museum, and to Mr Clinton Dent. Mrs Maund has enabled me to quote from a striking article by her late husband. Sir W. Martin Conway, Sir H. Seymour King, Messrs Tuckett, G. E. Foster, Cecil Slingsby, Harold Spender, and Edward Fitzgerald have been good enough to allow me to make long extracts from their writings. Messrs Newnes have generously permitted me to quote from articles which appeared in their publications, and the editor of The Cornhill has sanctioned my reprinting portions of a paper from his magazine. I am also indebted to the editor of M‘Clure’s Magazine for a similar courtesy.

Mons. A. Campagne, Inspector of Water and Forests (France), allows me to make use of two very interesting photographs from his work on the Valley of Barège. Several friends have lent me photographs for reproduction in this work, and their names appear under each of the illustrations I owe to them. Messrs Spooner have kindly allowed me to use several by the late Mr W. F. Donkin. When not otherwise stated, the photographs are from my own negatives.

I take this opportunity of heartily thanking those climbers, some of them personally unknown to me, whose assistance has rendered this work possible.

E. LE BLOND.

67 The Drive,
BRIGHTON, December 1903.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
PREFACE[ix]
[I.] SOME TALES OF ALPINE GUIDES[1]
[II.] TWO DAYS ON AN ICE-SLOPE[23]
[III.] SOME AVALANCHE ADVENTURES[51]
[IV.] A MONTH BENEATH AN AVALANCHE[65]
[V.] A MONTH BENEATH AN AVALANCHE (continued)[81]
[VI.] AN EXCITING CAUCASIAN ASCENT[99]
[VII.] A MELANCHOLY QUEST[116]
[VIII.] SOME NARROW ESCAPES AND FATAL ACCIDENTS[124]
[IX.] A NIGHT ADVENTURE ON THE DENT BLANCHE[152]
[X.] ALONE ON THE DENT BLANCHE[167]
[XI.] A STIRRING DAY ON THE ROSETTA[182]
[XII.] THE ZINAL ROTHHORN TWICE IN ONE DAY[195]
[XIII.] BENIGHTED ON A SNOW PEAK[208]
[XIV.] THE STORY OF A BIG JUMP[222]
[XV.] A PERILOUS FIRST ASCENT[235]
[XVI.] THUNDERSTORMS IN THE ALPS[257]
[XVII.] LANDSLIPS IN THE MOUNTAINS[275]
[XVIII.] SOME TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES[291]
[XIX.] FALLING STONES AND FALLING BODIES[310]
[GLOSSARY][327]
[INDEX]: [A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Z][329]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The last bivouac of Messrs Donkin and Fox in the Caucasus[Frontispiece]
Christian Almer, Joseph Imboden, Jean Antoine Carrel, Alexander Burgener[To face page 3]
The last steep bit near the top—At the end of a hot day—An instant’s halt to choose the best way up a steep wall of rock—The ice-axes are stowed away in a crack, to be brought up by the last man[" " 6]
Auguste Gentinetta—Auguste Gentinetta on the way to the Matterhorn—The beginning of the climb up the Matterhorn—The spot where was the bergschrund into which Mr Sloggett’s party fell[" " 8]
Auguste Gentinetta on a mountain-top—The ice-cliffs over which Mr Sloggett’s party would have fallen had they not been dashed into the bergschrund—The ruined chapel by the Schwarzsee—The last resting-place at Zermatt of some English climbers[" " 11]
On a snow ridge—A halt for lunch above the snow-line—Mrs Aubrey Le Blond[" " 51]
A cutting through an avalanche—The remains of an avalanche—An avalanche of stones—A mountain chapel[ " " 59]
A mountain path—Peasants of the mountains—A village buried beneath an avalanche—Terraces planted to prevent avalanches[ " " 65]
A typical Caucasian landscape[" " 105]
Melchior Anderegg, his son and grandchild[" " 124]
Crevasses and séracs—On the border of a crevasse—A snow bridge—Soft snow in the afternoon[" " 133]
The Bétemps Hut—Ski-ing—A fall on Skis—A great crevasse[" " 137]
The balloon “Stella” getting ready to start (p. 301)—A bivouac in the olden days—Boulder practice—The last rocks descending[" " 148]
Provisions for a mountain hotel—An outlook over rock and snow—Dent Blanche from Schwarzsee (winter)—Dent Blanche from Theodule Glacier (summer)[" " 152]
Hut on Col de Bértol—Ascending the Aiguilles Rouges—Summit of the Dent Blanche—Cornice on the Dent Blanche[" " 156]
Ambrose Supersax (p. 209)—View from the Rosetta[" " 182]
Climbing party leaving Zermatt—The Gandegg Hut—The Trift Hotel—Zinal Rothhorn from Trift Valley[" " 195]
Zinal Rothhorn—Top of a Chamonix Aiguille—A steep face of rock—“Leading strings”[" " 202]
A bergschrund—Homewards over the snow-slopes[" " 230]
The Ecrins—Clouds breaking over a ridge—Summit of the Jungfrau—Wind-blown snow[" " 235]
The Ecrins from the Glacier Blanc[" " 247]
Slab climbing—A rock ridge—On the Dent du Géant—The top at last[" " 252]
The second largest glacier in the Alps—On a ridge in the Oberland[" " 259]
Thirteen thousand feet above the sea—On the Furggen Grat—A “personally conducted” party on the Breithorn—Packing the knapsack[" " 269]
Monte Rosa from the Furggen Grat—The Matterhorn from the Wellenkuppe[" " 272]
A glacier lake—Amongst the séracs—Taking off the rope—Water at last![" " 297]
The balloon “Stella” starting from Zermatt—A moment after[" " 298]
The Matterhorn from the Hörnli Ridge—The Matterhorn from the Furgg Glacier—Joseph Biner—The Matterhorn Hut[" " 302]
A hot day on a mountain-top—A summit near Saas—Luncheon en route (winter)—Luncheon on a glacier pass (summer)[" " 310]
A tedious snow-slope—A sitting glissade—A glacier-capped summit—On the frontier[" " 312]
Unpleasant going—On the crest of an old moraine[" " 317]
An awkward bit of climbing—Guides at Zermatt—The Boval Hut—Au revoir![" " 322]