True Tales of Mountain Adventures

had been attained on only eleven occasions, and no accidents had happened on i

le interest to general readers, if I enter into particulars of the controversy which this expedition excited. Some declared that Dr Hamel urged his guides to proceed against their better judgment. Others say that the whole party-which included two Englishmen a

t B

course the bodies took during th

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with his life, afterwards perished on the

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ht's body. He was killed in a duel in 1869. It is interesting to com

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Re

kerchief, shirt front with studs, prune stones, watch chain, pencil case, cartridge, spike

so a couple of guides were sent down to Chamonix for more provisions, and a second night was spent in camp. Early next morning, in beautiful weather, a start was made, one of the members of the party, Monsieur Selligne, who felt ill, and two guides leaving the others and going down to Chamo

the final mass of the mountain. Dr Hamel employed part of his time in writing a couple of notes announcing his arrival on the top of Mont Blanc leav

of Mont Blanc. When the snow is sound, and the ice above does not overhang much, this route is as safe as any other; but a steep slope

ne one behind the other, not mounting straight up, but making their way rather across the slope. Six guides walked

long, and rejoiced to be so near the culminating point

but up above it was more rapid. The leading guides were carried straightway off their feet. Hamel was also swept away by the gathering mass of snow. Using his arms as if swimming, he managed to bring his head to the surface, and as he

before had let his brother pass on to the head of the party,

forgotten it! The avalanche had pou

him. Dornford threw himself on the snow in despair, and Henderson, says Hamel, 'was in a condition which made one fear for the consequences.' A few minutes later two other guides extricated themselves, but the remaining three wer

the avalanche. Matthieu Balmat, who was fourth in the line, saved himself by his great personal strength and by presence of mind. Julien Dévouassoud was hurled

Valais, had fallen into a crevasse. Eventually his body and his stock of merchandise was found at the end of the glacier. Near the Grimsel, the remains of a child were discovered in the ice. An old man remembered that many years before a little boy had disappeared in that locality and must doubtless

imond, who happened to be with some tourists on the lower part of the Glacier des Bossons, discovered some pieces of clothing and human bo

g account of the sad event. Sylvain knew Mont Blanc better than any other native of Chamonix, and though when I knew him he had given up guiding, he desired to add one more ascent of the great white peak to his record, for at that time he had been up ninety-nine times. I accordingly invited him to come with my party when we climbed it from the Italian side. He did so-he ha

at is known as the

and two sisters. Writing from Geneva on 3rd September to a member of his family, he said, "We have ventured to try our luck higher up, as the weather is so

attempt. One of his sisters went with him as far as the hut at the Grands Mulets, and they were accompanied by the guide Michael Simond, and the porters Joseph and Fran?ois Tournier. Another party proposed also to go up. It consisted of two persons only, Sylvain Couttet and an emp

ss Fanny Arkwright employed herself with wr

e Corridor used instead. However, the snow was in good order, and as up to then no accidents had happened through falling ice, this danger was little dreaded, though it is sometimes a very real one in the Ancien Passage. So the guides advised that this

ave worked long enough. To each of us his share!' It was to this kindly thought for my comrade that, without the slightest doubt, Winhart and I owe our salvation! We had been walking for about ten minutes near some ve

I desperately drove my stick into the harder snow beneath, and crouched down on hands and knees, my head bent and turned towards the hurricane. I fe

eet below me, with the point of his stick firmly planted in the ice. The rope by which we were tied to each other was intact. I s

e like a madman, I burst out crying, I began to call o

an?ois Tournier, his face terribly mutilated, and his skull smashed in by a piece of ice. The cord had been broken between Tournier and the man next to him. We continued our search in the neighbourhood of his body, but after two hours' work could find nothing more. It was vain to make further efforts! Nothing was visible amongst the masses of déb

itting quietly occupi

e cried on seeing me

oiselle,' I replied, no

ead and my eyes full of tears-she rose, came

wer, 'Have courag

yed for a few moments, and then got up pale, calm, dry-eyed

amonix, where she, in her turn, would have to

n the sister of Mademoisell

of that awful day, I have not th

kwright, a brother of Henry Arkwright's, received

right peri Mont Bl

ne years the body of Henry Arkwright had descended 9000 feet in the ic

ic a service been held there as that which consigned to the earth what was left of him

s torn to pieces, yet two of the studs and the collar-stud were still in the button-holes and uninjured. The gold pencil-case (I have handled it), opened and shut as smoothly as it had ever done, and on the watch-chain there was not a scra

t down soon after the accident, but that of Henry A

e the following extract from The Daily Telegraph fo

8000 Y

ton, who has lately returned from an expedition in Northern Siberia

s ago. Its age was probably not more than twenty-six years-very young for a mammoth. Its flesh was quite complete, except for a few pieces which had been bitten at by wolves or bears. Most of the hair on the body had been scraped away by ice, but its mane and near foreleg were in perfect preservation and