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92 THE EXPLORATIOX UF THE CAUCASUS
commencement of our difficulties our minds had been troubled
as to how we should get down, though, fortunately for our success,
they had been more pressingly occupied with the business of the
ascent. Now, however, the question had to be fairly faced—how
were we to descend the ice-slope we had climbed with so much
difficulty? With a strong party — that is, a party with a due
proportion of guides, and when good steps can be cut— there is no
more delicate mountaineering operation than the descent of a
really steep ice-slope. We were not a strong party, and on this
particular slope it was practically impossible to cut A bad slip must result in a fall or roll of at
steps at all.
least 2000 feet,
unless, indeed, our progress was cut short by one of the numerous
crevasses on the lower part of the mountain. The exact manner
of its termination might, however, be a matter of indifference
when that termination came.
We were unanimously of opinion that an attempt to return by
our morning's route would end in disaster, and that a way must
be sought in another direction. This could only
be on the
northern flank of the mountain, and it was satisfactory to see that
for a long distance on that side there was no serious difficulty.
A steep slope of firm snow fell away from our feet to a great
level neve, which we knew must pour down glaciers into the
glens which open into the Terek valley below the Kasbek station.
A very few minutes' consideration determined us to follow this line,
on the east
abandoning for the time our camp and the porters
side of the mountain. The first hundred feet of descent down the
hai'd snow-bauk were steep enough. I was ahead, and neglected
to cut good steps, an error which resulted in Moore's aneroid
getting a jolt which upset it for several hours. Happily,
the little
thing recovered during the night, and told us our approximate
heights for many a day afterwards. Very soon the slope became
gentle enough to allow iis to dispense with axe-work, and we
trudged straight and steadily downwards, until we were almost
on the level of the extensive snow-fields upon which we had looked
from above. Here we again halted to consider our further course.
We were on an unknown snow-plain, at a height of 14,000 feet