Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers. A series of excursions by members of the Alpine Club. Edited by J. Ball

Front matter

PEAKS, PASSES, AND GLACIERS. THE EIGHT SWISS MAPS FROM THIS WORK, Accompanied by a Table of the Heights of Mountains, May be had separately, price 3*. od. sewed. London : LONGMAN, GREEN, and CO. Paternoster Row. PEAKS, PASSES, AND GLACIERS. LONDON PRINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AJTD CO. NEW-STHEET SQUARE THE FINSTERAAR HORN, FROM THE SOUTH EAST. PEAKS, PASSES, AND GLACIERS. gl Strug of EXCURSIONS BY MEMBERS OF THE ALPINE CLUB. EDITED BY JOHN BALL, M.R.I.A. F.L.S. PHESIDENT OF THE ALPINE CLUB. ls"es sempiternas Hupasi0" SECOND EDITION. LONDON LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS.

Preface

. In presenting this volume to the Public, it seems proper to offer some explanation of the circumstances that have led to its production. The European Alps have long exerted a powerful attraction upon strangers from other lands; our countrymen and countrywomen, in particular, have been accustomed to seek health and enjoyment in repeated visits to a region where, in matchless combination, the sublime scenery of snow-clad peak and glacier is associated with the softer beauty of lake and valley ; but for a long time the crowds of tourists who annually visited the Alps were content to follow in certain beaten tracks, each one copying with almost servile fidelity the route followed by his predecessor. It is true that the two districts which once monopolised the attention of foreign visitors A VI

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. present a combination of attractions that are not surpassed elsewhere : Chamouni, and Cormayeur, Grindelwald, Lauterbrunnen, and the Grimsel, are spots that can never lose their charm for the lover of Nature ; and since, in addition to these, tourists have found their way to new head-quarters, such as Zermatt, Saas, Gressonay, Macugnaga, the Æggisch horn, Stachelberg, and Heiligenblut, it must be owned that no new routes which they can discover for themselves are likely to surpass those now known and accessible. Of late years, however, an increasing desire has been felt to explore the unknown and little frequented districts of the Alps. The writings of Professor J. D. Forbes, those of M. Agassiz and his companions, and of M. Gottlieb Studer, led many in whom the passion for Alpine scenery was blended with a love of adventure, and some scientific interest in the results of mountain-travel, to strike out new paths for themselves, and especially in the higher snow region, which had before been almost com pletely shunned by ordinary travellers.

Practice soon developed the powers of those who undertook such expeditions ; experience showed that the dan gers connected with them had been exaggerated, while at the same time it taught the precautions

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. VII which are really requisite. The result has been to train up amongst the foreign visitors to the Alps, but especially amongst our own countrymen, many men as familiar with the pecuhar difficulties and risks of expeditions in the High Alps, and as com petent to overcome them, as most of the native guides. The powers thus acquired have been chiefly directed to accomplishing the ascent of the highest summits, or effecting passes across the less accessible portions of the Alpine chain ; and within the last five years the highest peak of Monte Eosa, the Dom, the Great Combin, the Alleleinhorn, the Wetterhorn proper, and several other peaks never before scaled, have been successfully attacked by travellers, most of whose names will be found among the contributors to this volume.* In the accidental intercourse of those who have been engaged in such expeditions, it has been per ceived that the community of taste and feeling amongst those who in the life of the High Alps have shared the same enjoyments, the same labours, and the same dangers, constitutes a bond of sympathy * Since the appearance of the first edition, six weeks ago, another giant of the Alps has been ascended. On the 18th of June, 1859, the highest point of the Aletschhorn was attained by Mr. Tuckett, a member of the Alpine Club. A

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. stronger than many of those by which men are drawn into association; and early in the year 1858, it was resolved to give scope for the extension of this mutual feeling amongst all who have explored high mountain regions, by the formation of the Alpine Club. It was thought that many of those who have been engaged in similar undertakings, would willingly avail themselves of occasional opportunities for meeting together, for communicating information as to past excursions, and for planning new achievements ; and a hope was entertained that such an association might indirectly advance the general progress of knowledge, by directing the attention of men, not professedly followers of science, to particular points in which their assistance may contribute to valuable results. The expectations of the founders of the Club have not been disappointed ; it numbers at the present time nearly a hundred members, and it is hoped that the possession of a permanent place of meeting will materially further the objects which it has proposed to itself.

The interest shown by the Public in narratives of excursions through the less frequented districts of the Alps contained in several recent pubhcations, had naturally suggested to others the idea of re cording their adventures, either in separate volumes,

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. IX or in the form of contributions to periodicals, when it was proposed that the facilities for combined action presented in the Alpine Club should be made use of to bring together, in a single volume, some of the materials likely to interest the general reader, which were available in the hands of several members of the Club. It was thought to be no shght advantage, that in this mode of publication the effort of each author would be rather to condense than to extend his narrative, and it was hoped, at the same time, that the resources which could be made avail able for the present volume woidd secure a degree of excellence in the illustrations, — both plates and maps, — that could not easily be attained if several writers had separately given their productions to the Public Each chapter, containing an account of some se parate excursion, or of a single district, is signed by the author, who is responsible for the accuracy of his own statements, and in this respect it is hoped that not much scope has been left for unfavour able criticism ; but those who have had experience in the matter are aware that a traveller's notes are unavoidably incomplete, and that some occasional slip of memory in minute details must necessarily occur. In the snow region of the Alps, again,

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. X changes are perpetually occurring from one day, and even from one hour, to another ; and it is only those who are unacquainted with the ice-world that require to be told that they may find the condition of a glacier, or a snow-slope, very different from the description of preceding travellers. It will be observed that a few of the contributions do not strictly relate to the chain of the Alps. It was not intended by the founders of the Alpine Club to limit the scope of their association by any geographical boundary, neither do those of the members who have taken a part in the preparation of this volume wish to adopt any such restriction ; and if they should hereafter renew the present ex periment upon the public favour, they hope to extend, still farther than they have now been able to do, the range of their inroads upon the higher regions of great mountains, wherever on the earth they may be placed.

The paper upon the Ancient Glaciers of Switzerland and Wales will, it may be hoped, be accepted as coming fairly within the title of the present work, and as interesting from its intrinsic importance, as Avell as from the scientific eminence of the writer. Although the plates and wood-cuts introduced into this volume have for the most part been taken from

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. XI rough sketches made in the course of a long day's walk, they may be rehed upon as generally correct ; but as they represent objects quite out of the range of ordinary experience, it is impossible that the artists engaged upon them should be able (especially on so small a scale) to attain the degree of perfection and accuracy of effect that Mr. Coleman, who unites skill as an artist to the experience of a successful mountaineer, has been able to achieve in his " Scenes from the Snow-fields." The maps have been in part taken from the best existing authorities, and especiaUy from the Swiss Federal Map, still in course of publication, and from Studer's " Karte der Siidlichen Walhsthaler ; " but in every one of them corrections have been intro duced, sometimes of considerable importance. The map of the Mont Blanc range may be considered altogether new, as large portions, quite incorrectly laid down in all preceding maps, have been drawn afresh, with the great advantage of the accurate local knowledge of the well-known and respected Auguste Balmat, of Chamouni, now on a visit in this country. Though shght errors may still be detected, the present map is confidently offered as very superior to any hitherto given to the Public.

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. XII In the Appendix is added a Table of the heights of the chief mountains in the chain of the Alps, which, it is hoped, will be found more full and accurate than the Catalogues contained in preceding Enghsh works. The degree of success that may attend the present volume, and the extent and value of the new ma terials that may be accumulated . in the course of fresh expeditions, will probably decide whether a new collection of Alpine adventures shall at some future time be presented to the Public. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Papi

The Passage op the Fen£tbe de Salena, feom the Col de Balme to the Val Feeeet, bt the Glaciee du Toue, the Glaciee de Trient, akd the Glaciee de Salena. By A. Wills, M.A 1 1CHAP. II. A Dat among the SÆeacs of the Glaciee du Geant. By J. Tyndall, F.R.S 39 CHAP. III. Notes of Excursions oh the West Side of Mont Blanc, including the Col de Miage. By F. V. Hawkins, M.A 58 CHAP. IV. The Mountains of Bagnes, with the Ascents of the Velan, Combin, and geaffeneiee, and the passage of the col du mont rouge. By W. Mathews, Jun., M.A 76 CHAP. V. Feom Zeematt to the Val D'Anniviees, bt the Teift Pass. By T. W. Hinchliff, M.A 126 CHAP. VI. Passage of the Schwarz Thoe feom Zeematt to Atas. By J. Ball, M.R.I.A., F.L.S 155 CHAP. VII. Ascent of one of the Mischabel - HObner, called the Dom. By the Rev. J. Ll.

Davies, M.A. 104 CHAP. VIII. Ascents of the Fletschhorn and Alleleinhoen. By E. L.Ames, M.A. CONTENTS XIV CHAP. IX. Ascent of the Schrecehoen. By E. Anderson ... .... 231 CHAP. X. The Geimsel to Grindelwald.— Passage of the Strahleck. By J. Ball, M.R.I.A., F.L.S 255 CHAP. XI. Ascent of the Finstee Aar Horn By Rev. J. F. Hardy, B.D. . . .283 CHAP. XII. Excursion from the Æggisch-Horn to the Monch Sattel, oe Col de la Jungfrau. By E. H. Bunbury, M.A .309 CHAP. XIII. The Wildstrubel and Oldenhoen. By T.W. Hinchliff, M.A. • . .326 CHAP. XIV. A Night Adventure on the Bristenstock. By E. S. Kennedy, B.A. . 353 CHAP. XV. The Baths of Stachelberg and the Heights and Passes in the Vicinitt. By R. W. E. Forster 371 CHAP. XVI. The Old Glaciers of Switzerland and Wales. By A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S., and G.S 400 CHAP. XVII. Ascent of Ætna. By Rev. J. F. Hardy, M.A 471 CHAP. XVIII. Suggestions for Alpine Travellers. By J. Ball, M.R.I.A., F.L.S. . . 486