Untitled

KASBEK AND THE OSSETE DISTRICT 93
above the sea, and it was most undesirable to hazard by any rash
or hasty move our chance of reaching terra cognita ere nightfall.
One plan suggested was to tiu'n to the left and cross a gap
west of our mountain which we had good reason to believe con-
nected the plateau we were on with the nere of the glacier by
whirli we had ascended. This course, if successfully
carried ovit,
would have brouii-ht us back to our tent and baofcraofe, but its
probable length was a fatal objection. Eventually
we determined
to keep nearly due north across the snowfield, towards a ridge
which divides the two glaciei's flowing respectively into the glens
of Devdorak and Chach. We descended for some distance under
the rocks along the left bank of the Devdorak Glacier, until the
ice became so steep and broken that further progress promised
to be difficult. We thereupon halted, Avhile Devouassoud climbed
up again to the ridge
side.
and made a i-econnaissance on its northern
After some delay, a shout from above called on us to follow, and
we rejoined our guide, after a sharp scramble, at the base of a veiy
remarkable tower of rock which crowns the ridge, and is visible
even from the Darial road. It will be useful as a finger-post to
future climbers. From this point the view of Kasbek is superb ;
its whole north-eastern face is a sheet of snow and ice, broken by
the steepness of the slope into magnificent towei's, and seamed
by enormous blue chasms.
We were glad to find that there was a reasonable prospect of
descending from our eyrie to the lower world without too much
difficulty. The ci-est of the ridge between the two glaciers fell
rapidly before us, and offered for some way an easy route. We
followed it— sometimes crossing a snowy plain, sometimes huirying
down rocky banks— until we saw beneath us, on our left, a series
of long snow-slopes leading directly to the foot of the northern
glacier. Down these we glissaded merrily, and at 5.30 halted on
the rocks below the end of the glacier, which was of considerable
size and backed by two lofty summits. The view of the lower
part of the glen was shut out by a rocky barrier, and before we
reached its brow, mists, which we had previously observed collecting