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THE VALLEYS OF DAUPHINÉ—THE PEAKS OF DAUPHINÉ—MISTAKES IN THEIR IDENTIFICATION—EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT PELVOUX—INTRODUCTION TO MONSIEUR REYNAUD—GRENOBLE—MEETING WITH MACDONALD—NATIONAL SENTIMENTS—WE ENGAGE A GUIDE—START FOR PELVOUX—PASS THE CAVERN OF THE VAUDOIS—MASSACRE...
THE VALLEYS OF DAUPHINÉ—THE PEAKS OF DAUPHINÉ—MISTAKES IN THEIR IDENTIFICATION—EARLY ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND MONT PELVOUX—INTRODUCTION TO MONSIEUR REYNAUD—GRENOBLE—MEETING WITH MACDO...
3. CHAPTER III.THE WEISSHORN AND THE MATTERHORN—INTRODUCTION TO JEAN-ANTOINE CARREL—SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NATIVES IN REGARD TO THE MATTERHORN—RIDGES OF THE MATTERHORN—EARLIEST ATTEMPTS TO ASCEN...
4. CHAPTER IV.MR. KENNEDY’S WINTER ATTEMPT—BENNEN REFUSES TO START AGAIN—THE THÉODULE PASS—MEYNET, THE HUNCHBACK OF BREIL—ON TENTS FOR MOUNTAINEERING—MACDONALD AND I START FOR THE MATTERHORN—...
5. CHAPTER V.THE DOUANE—“BUT WHAT IS THIS?”—DIFFICULTIES WITH MY LADDER—EXPLANATION OF TYNDALL’S REPULSE—ROMAN (?) AQUEDUCT IN THE VAL TOURNANCHE—ASCEND THE CIMES BLANCHES—WE DECEIVE A GOAT—...
6. CHAPTER VI.7. CHAPTER VII.RETURN AGAIN TO DAUPHINÉ—MICHEL CROZ—COL DE VALLOIRES—THE AIGUILLES D’ARVE—WE MAKE A PASS BETWEEN THEM—COL DE MARTIGNARE—ASCENT OF THE AIG. DE LA SAUSSE—THE MEIJE—FIRST PASSAGE...
8. CHAPTER VIII.LA BÉRARDE—PIC THE PORTER—BIVOUAC ON THE GLACIER DE LA BONNE PIERRE—DISSOLVING VIEWS—DRYNESS OF THE AIR—TOPOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL DAUPHINÉ ALPS—FIRST ATTEMPTS TO ASCEND THE ECRINS—A...
9. CHAPTER IX.10. CHAPTER X.MAPS OF MONT BLANC—MR. ADAMS-REILLY—OUR COMPACT—THE PEAKS OF THE MONT BLANC RANGE—ACROSS THE COL DE TRIOLET—A MINIATURE ASCENT—REILLY ADVOCATES PATIENCE—BIVOUAC ON MONT SUC—THE...
11. CHAPTER XI.12. CHAPTER XII.13. CHAPTER XIII.14. CHAPTER XIV.A LATE START AND THE RESULT—BEWILDERED—RETURN TO ABRICOLLA—CROSS COL D’HÉRENS TO ZERMATT—ASCEND THE THÉODULHORN—NEW IDEAS REGARDING THE MATTERHORN—DECEPTIVENESS OF THE EAST FACE...
15. CHAPTER XV.CONFUSION OF IDEAS—A MIDNIGHT START—SUMMIT OF THE PASS—EXTRAORDINARY ICE-WALL—MANNER OF ITS DESCENT—ON ICE-AXES AND THEIR USE—ON ICE-SLOPES AND THEIR SAFETY—CRAMPONS—ARRIVAL AT...
16. CHAPTER XVI.CROZ LEAVES US—CHRISTIAN ALMER—SUNSET ON THE MER DE GLACE—ASCENT OF THE AIGUILLE—ADVICE TO MOUNTAIN WALKERS—VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT—STORMS COME ON—A WORTHY PORTER—THE NOBLE ATTITUD...
17. CHAPTER XVII.18. CHAPTER XVIII.FACILITY WITH WHICH THE RUINETTE CAN BE ASCENDED—NOBLE PANORAMA—ON CONCEALED CREVASSES—GUIDES’ OBJECTION TO USE OF THE ROPE—ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE ROPE—ALMER DECLINES THE M...
19. CHAPTER XIX.CHARLES HUDSON—CAMP ON THE EAST FACE—CROZ REPORTS FAVOURABLY—ASCENT OF THE EASTERN FACE—CROSS TO THE NORTHERN SIDE—ARRIVAL AT SUMMIT—DISCOMFITURE OF THE ITALIANS—ASTONISHMENT AT...
20. CHAPTER XX.ORDER OF THE DESCENT—A FRIGHTFUL AVALANCHE—HADOW SLIPS—DEATH OF CROZ, HADOW, HUDSON, AND LORD F. DOUGLAS—TERROR OF THE TAUGWALDERS—THE BROKEN ROPE—AN APPARITION—AN INFAMOUS PROP...
21. CHAPTER I.On the 23d of July 1860, I started for my first tour in the Alps. As we steamed out into the Channel, Beachy Head came into view, and recalled a scramble of many years ago. With...
22. CHAPTER II.The district of which Mont Pelvoux and the neighbouring summits are the culminating points,(12) is, both historically and topographically, one of the most interesting in the Alp...
23. CHAPTER III.“What power must have been required to shatter and to sweep away the missing parts of this pyramid; for we do not see it surrounded by heaps of fragments; one only sees other pe...
24. CHAPTER IV.“’Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again. Then your courage should appear, For if you will persevere You will conq...
25. CHAPTER V.I crossed the Channel on the 29th of July 1863, embarrassed by the possession of two ladders, each twelve feet long, which joined together like those used by firemen, and shut u...
26. CHAPTER VI.Carrel had _carte blanche_ in the matter of guides, and his choice fell upon his relative Cæsar, Luc Meynet, and two others whose names I do not know. These men were now brought...
27. CHAPTER VII.When we arrived upon the highest summit of Mont Pelvoux, in Dauphiné, in 1861, we saw, to our surprise and disappointment, that it was not the culminating point of the district;...
28. CHAPTER VIII“Filled with high mountains, rearing their heads as if to reach to heaven, crowned with glaciers, and fissured with immense chasms, where lie the eternal snows guarded by bare a...
29. CHAPTER IX.From Ailefroide to Claux, but for the path, travel would be scarcely more easy than over the Pré de Madame Carle.(116) The valley is strewn with immense masses of gneiss, from t...
30. CHAPTER X.A few years ago not many persons knew from personal knowledge how extremely inaccurately the chain of Mont Blanc was delineated. In the earlier part of the century thousands had...
31. CHAPTER XI.On July 10, Croz and I went to Sierre, in the Valais, _viâ_ the Col de Balme, the Col de la Forclaz, and Martigny. The Swiss side of the Forclaz is not creditable to Switzerland...
32. CHAPTER XII.“Ye crags and peaks, I’m with you once again! . . . Methinks I hear A spirit in your echoes answers me, And bid your tenant welcome to his home Again!” S. KNOWLES.
33. CHAPTER XIII.“God help thee, Trav’ller, on thy journey far; The wind is bitter keen,—the snow o’erlays The hidden pits, and dang’rous hollow-ways, And darkness will involve thee.—No kind sta...
34. CHAPTER XIV.We should have started for Zermatt about 7 A.M. on the 18th, had not Biener asked to be allowed to go to mass at Evolène, a village about two and a half hours from Abricolla. He...
35. CHAPTER XV.Freethinking mountaineers have been latterly in the habit of going up one side of an Alp and coming down the other, and calling the route a pass. In this confusion of ideas may...
36. CHAPTER XVI.Michel Croz now parted from us. His new employer had not arrived at Chamounix, but Croz considered that he was bound by honour to wait for him, and thus Christian Almer, of Grin...
37. CHAPTER XVII.The person who discovered the Col du Géant must have been a shrewd mountaineer. The pass was in use before any other was known across the main chain of Mont Blanc, and down to t...
38. CHAPTER XVIII.All of the excursions that were set down in my programme had been carried out, with the exception of the ascent of the Matterhorn, and we now turned our faces in its direction,...
39. CHAPTER XIX.“It is a thoroughly unfair, but an ordinary custom, to praise or blame designs (which in themselves may be good or bad) just as they turn out well or ill. Hence the same actions...
40. CHAPTER XX.Hudson and I again consulted as to the best and safest arrangement of the party. We agreed that it would be best for Croz to go first,(234) and Hadow second; Hudson, who was alm...