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24S THP] EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS sliding gently downwards. When, by climbing some banks of broken rocks, we had ovei'come the ice-fall, we found it almost more than we could do to jilough up the first slope of ncce. The surface gave way at every step under our feet. The stillness of the upper air was broken by a singularly soft and ominous hiss- ing sound, like that made by a disturbed snake. The rocks on our right were steep, but our best chance was clearly to grapple with them at once. We took advantage of a sort of shelf, by which, with more labour of arms than legs, we raised ourselves on to the western buttress of our peak. It
T HAVEL AND MorXTAINEERING IX SUANETIA 240 projects into the nere, part of which flows from a recess behind it. Beyond this snow, at a distance of a few hundred yards, a pair of rocky pinnacles divided us from the basin of the ChaUiat Glacier. The rocks were probably not more difficult than those leading up to the Schreckhorn Sattel. The impression they made on me was probably due to the (juantity of ice and loose snow spread about them, and also not a little to the superabundance of loose boulders. Latter-day Swiss climbers can hardly realise the extraordinary service that has been rendered them by their predecessoi's in clearing the ordinary tracks up rock-peaks of treacherous handholds. At the point where we first looked directly down a grim precipice on to the Chalaat Glacier, the crest of the mountain narrowed to a thin comb. We made the cliffs smoke with the boulders we dislodged for safety's sake. But the climbing was not difficult, and we speedily gained the nearest summit. There was a second beyond, perhaps a foot or two higher. An ice-gully sepai-ated them, but with a little delay we crossed it, and at 3 p.m. — in three hours from the lower —were glacier installed on our belvedere. From Betsho, I must confess, Gulba is 'a poor thing,' blunt and stumpy ; but when on the top one discovers that the mountain is in fact a wedge, and a very thin one. The cliff on the east is, from the picturesque point of ^^ew, perpendicular, and stones sent down it towards the Chalaat Glacier disappeared at once from sight, leaving behind them a sulphureous reek. ' Aiiiini causa devolvere rupem Avulsam scopulo placet, ac audire sonantem Haud secus ac tonitru scopulis dum immurmurat altis,' writes, in his clumsy hexametei's, an old Swiss Latinist. This pleasure we enjoyed for a minute or two, but as soon as we had cleared a solid space to sit down upon we found something better to do than to imitate such mediteval frivolity. Gulba may be a little mountahi, but it is a great view-point. The sky overhead was ominous, but the lower clouds had lifted,
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T HAVEL AND MorXTAINEERING IX SUANETIA 240<br />
projects into the nere, part<br />
of which flows from a recess behind<br />
it. Beyond this snow, at a distance of a few hundred yards, a<br />
pair of rocky pinnacles<br />
divided us from the basin of the ChaUiat<br />
Glacier. The rocks were probably not more difficult than those<br />
leading up to the Schreckhorn Sattel. The impression they made<br />
on me was probably due to the (juantity of ice and loose snow<br />
spread about them, and also not a little to the superabundance<br />
of loose boulders. Latter-day Swiss climbers can hardly realise<br />
the extraordinary service that has been rendered them by their<br />
predecessoi's in clearing the ordinary tracks up rock-peaks of<br />
treacherous handholds.<br />
At the point where we first looked directly down a grim<br />
precipice on to the Chalaat Glacier, the crest of the mountain<br />
narrowed to a thin comb. We made the cliffs smoke with the<br />
boulders we dislodged for safety's sake. But the climbing was<br />
not difficult, and we speedily gained the nearest summit. There<br />
was a second beyond, perhaps a foot or two higher. An ice-gully<br />
sepai-ated them, but with a little delay we crossed it, and at 3 p.m.<br />
— in three hours from the lower —were glacier<br />
installed on our<br />
belvedere.<br />
From Betsho, I must confess, Gulba is 'a poor thing,' blunt and<br />
stumpy ; but when on the top one discovers that the mountain is<br />
in fact a wedge, and a very thin one. The cliff on the east is, from<br />
the picturesque point of ^^ew, perpendicular,<br />
and stones sent down<br />
it towards the Chalaat Glacier disappeared at once from sight,<br />
leaving behind them a sulphureous reek.<br />
'<br />
Aiiiini causa devolvere rupem<br />
Avulsam scopulo placet, ac audire sonantem<br />
Haud secus ac tonitru scopulis dum immurmurat altis,'<br />
writes, in his clumsy hexametei's, an old Swiss Latinist. This<br />
pleasure we enjoyed for a minute or two, but as soon as we had<br />
cleared a solid space to sit down upon we found something better<br />
to do than to imitate such mediteval frivolity.<br />
Gulba may be a little mountahi, but it is a great view-point.<br />
The sky overhead was ominous, but the lower clouds had lifted,
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