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THE REICHEN RANGE preceded by the cross-looking woman. She said loudly : ' The window must be closed ! ' This was too much for Secord. Swathed like a cocoon in his blankets, he rose in his wrath. His German came to him unhandily, but nevertheless effectively. ' No !' he declared emphatic ally, ' the window must not be closed.' The window remained open. At 4 a.m. we rose, breakfasted and climbed slopes of glaciated slabs and boulders towards the Gabelkopf, which peak we proposed to traverse

en route to the Reichen Spitze. Despite the lurid sunset of the previous evening, it was a perfect morning. Even the filaments of cloud had vanished and the sun rose jauntily into a sky destitute of a single shred of vapour. A little uncrevassed snow-field lies on the northern slopes of the peak. The snow was hard-frozen and we strode uphill inhaling deeply the keen frosty air. It was good to be alive on such a morning. In our exuberance we deliberately elected to gain the crest of the north-east ridge

low down in preference to a route on one side which would have saved both time and energy. Our enthusiasm received a check. For a short dis tance the ridge was broken and easy. Then, abruptly it narrowed and rose in an unclimbable flake of rock. This we sought to avoid by a traverse, and a reascent to the ridge above the impasse. Here the rocks were more broken but were very steep. I tried, but retired defeated. Then Secord tried, but met with no better success. Eventually we scrambled round

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Seite 96 von 257

. There were old friends waiting to be identified—the peaks of Canton Glarus and the Bernese Oberland. And what was that dim blue cloud, so low and yet so high in the south-west ? Could it be Monte Rosa ? In the north were the Bavarian Alps, their ghostly limestone ridges and precipices in striking contrast to the darker schists south of the Inn Tal. The view to the south was perhaps the most enchanting of all. In this direction we could gaze over the rim of the snowy Alps into Italy, whence rose the

strange spires of the Rosengarten Dolomites. It was not an agreeable view to an Austrian. It would make him realize, as no map could have done, the pitiful smallness of the Austrian Tyrol, hemmed in as it is by Germany in the north, Italy in the south and Switzerland in the west. A giant, standing on the summit of the Wildspitze, could slice it across with a single sweep of his knife. Only eastwards did Austria extend beyond the horizon. There rose the great range of the Hohe Tauern with the Gross

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Seite 92 von 257

OVER TYROLESE HILLS crest of the Wildspitze was a waxen white, the next it was golden. We halted. Eastwards the peaks lit up one by one. As I watched day touching off its myriad lamps I had a curious feeling of standing upon a living earth, voyag ing through the abysses of space. That morning it was not the sun that rose, it was the Alps that turned into the sun. Above its base the buttress rose sheer. Our prob lem was to effect a lodgment upon it. To the left, between it and the rocks

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Seite 61 von 257

young man, slow of comprehension, attended to our wants at the alp hut. We purchased some butter and milk, and were charged a very small sum, less, indeed, than we should have been charged in Pfunds. This tickled Secord's economic fancy and he expounded at length on some complicated theories relating to the problems of supply and demand, taking into account venue, porterage, labour, etc., etc. Above the alp the valley rose steeply. The path wound upwards through forests, then over slopes covered

with the Alpine rose. The weather was in poor shape. A thin rain was falling and mists were fast gathering. It seemed as though the exceptionally fine weather were coming to an end. We consoled ourselves with the thought of our rest day and came to the quite ' unjustifiable and optimistic conclusion that the rain would be confined to that day alone. The Höhenzollern Hut is well situated. It stands on the crest of a steep rise in the floor of the Radurschel Tal and commands a view of the valley, the

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Seite 120 von 257

OVER TYROLESE HILLS hungry again. A small amount of food was left and would be reserved as an emergency ration, but there is small consolation to be gained from the thought of an emergency ration when you are hungry. Meanwhile, the storm increased in fury. Great gusts of wind hurled themselves upon the hut and volleys of snow beat on the windows like small shot. Now and then when the storm rose to a supreme pitch of fury, thundering about the walls, there would come sharp smacks and crashes

the hut, I could see that he found some difficulty in believing me. Indeed, on that calm July day, I found it difficult to accept my own memories. We discovered one or two blankets. They were torn, threadbare, odorous, and would have been ' lively ' had the temperature permitted, but they were better than nothing. All night long the storm roared furiously about the hut. We rose at intervals to replenish the fire, and thus managed to keep warm and moderately comfortable. The following morning

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Seite 115 von 257

by minute, al though the cold north wind still tore over the rocks above us. There was no need to hasten ; we had only to scramble along the ridge over the Wilder Pfaff and the Wilder Freiger, to descend into the Stubai Tal which stretched into the hazy north-east. Already we were nearly half-way on our journey. In the west were the ötztal Alps, a serried maze of peaks from which the Wildspitze rose unrivalled. It had been good fun all the way and the weather had been marvellous. We bestirred ourselves

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Seite 149 von 257

THE OLPERER As far as possible we kept to the crest of the ridge. This presently became very narrow. Then it rose vertic ally in an elegant yellow flake, a prow of rock like the stem of a battle-cruiser. There was no climbing this. We slunk off the ridge sideways to the right and immedi ately found ourselves on some horribly rotten rock. To regain the ridge we had to ascend a gully in which a mass of great boulders was insecurely wedged. Secord was now leading methodically and skilfully

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Seite 161 von 257

PART VI THE ZILLERTAL ALPS NEXT MORNING, JULY l8, WE ROSE LATE. WE SHOULD have liked to remain longer at the comfortable Geraer Hut and made some more ascents in the vicinity, but time was drawing on and we anticipated spending a week or more in traversing the Zillertal Alps. We decided, first of all, to cross the Alpeiner Scharte, 9,711 feet, a pass between the Fuss-stein and the Schram- macher Spitze, and enter the range by way of the Zamser Tal, spending the night at the Dominikus Hut

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Seite 37 von 257

us grumbling, but our grumblings ceased as we gained height and discovered firmer rock. From toilsome trudging we passed to scrambling and from scrambling to rock climbing. Secord, with his usual energy, deliberately chose the steepest and most difficult route up the pinnacles which rose one above the other from the crest of the ridge—and expected me to follow with a similar blithe abandon. My most vivid memory of this part of the ridge is of a tower small below and big above (which could have been avoided

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Seite 82 von 257

course. Presently, when we judged ourselves to be beneath, the pass, we bore to the right. The slopes rose gently into the mist. Up them we trudged. Hope bloomed. We could not be far from the pass : the map showed 80

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suffered severely and his face was rapidly assuming the concavities and convexities of a lunar landscape. This important duty performed, we strolled up the hard frozen surface of the glacier to the pass where we breakfasted. It was another glorious morning. We were beginning to take fine weather for granted, an assumption I have never before made in the Alps. Scarcely a cloud was to be seen, and in the south-west rose the great peaks of the Bernina, brilliantly distinct against the Italian hazes. Close

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Seite 165 von 257

Spitze is 11,440 feet, and as we intended to traverse from the Hochferner Spitze to the Hochfeiler, 11,560 feet, and descend to the Schlegeisen Glacier by a complicated and steep route to the north, it was essential to start early. We were awakened at 2 next morning, to find a thunderstorm in progress and rain falling. But it was only a desultory storm, and we rose at 3, breakfasted, and at 4.20 left the hut just as it was getting light. The sky was clear, but there was a moistness and heaviness

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Mitterkar Glacier. We trudged up this over hard-frozen snow. Ahead of us rose the Wild- spitze. In the twilight the buttress we hoped to climb and the sickle-shaped snow-ridge above it loomed coldly distinct. It was a calm, windless morning. The hills were in our blood, the very noise the frozen snow made as it yielded beneath our feet whispered a message of delight. Sometimes the mountaineer sets forth dutifully, almost unwillingly, and it is only later, when his sluggish blood has been freed

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Seite 151 von 257

was to be seen the slab formation peculiar to these mountains, and on the slabs winter snow was still lying in consolidated sheets, which might prove dangerously insecure and slide off en masse if disturbed. There was one long and narrow tongue of snow adhering to the ridge of particularly treacherous appearance. Above the snow the ridge rose steeply. Some difficult climbing 149

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Seite 118 von 257

OVER TYROLESE HILLS was not a pleasant retreat. More than once the wind rose to such a strength that for minutes at a time we were unable to move a step. Visibility was reduced to a yard or so by the driving snow, and as the ridge is somewhat indefinite we were not always certain that we were on the right route. It was with con siderable relief that we found ourselves at the Müller Hut. The hut was deserted and in a woebegone condition. After the War it had been handed over to Italy and the

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Seite 125 von 257

THE STUBAI ALPS crest. Thenceforward the ridge was an easy scramble. There was no need for the rope, and we climbed leisurely over the sun-warmed rocks, thankful at having escaped the Üblental Glacier, which lay hot and glaring a short distance below. For some way the ridge rose little. Then it steep ened and we promised ourselves some genuine rock climbing. We had scarcely done so when we came to a well-scratched path, festooned with wire ropes, secured by great iron spikes driven brutally

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grass was uncut. The evening was serenely still and the hill tops golden as we walked uphill exchanging greetings with the haymakers who were returning from their day's labours. For some distance the path rose little, but presently we came to a level place where the valley divided and afterwards ascended more steeply. Here on a wide meadow-land, within sight of a high waterfall that poured from a neighbouring crag, stood a little gasthaus, so simple and unpretentious it might have grown there

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Seite 234 von 257

OVER TYROLESE HILLS and we were glad to recommence clambering up the ridge. A short distance above our breakfast place the ridge rose in a vertical step. This had caused Bell and me considerable difficulty in 1922 owing to the snow and ice on the rocks. It was now a very different proposition. Nevertheless, there was one awkward place where it was necessary to edge along a narrow ' mantelpiece ' and from it pull up over an outward- bulging rock. The climbing below had done little to warm

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and above it rose the abrupt peak of the Glockturm. There was also a little to the west of the ridge connecting the Riffljoch with the Glockturm, a sharp, rocky pinnacle, the Riffljochturm, 10,610 feet. This little peak looked as though it might provide us with a sporting rock climb and we determined to attempt the ascent of it in addition to the Glockturm. Sun and mist had now established an equilibrium of forces. The day was sunny, but enough mist remained to spoil our view of the more distant

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Seite 30 von 257

slabs. Then it rose in a sheer pitch. We had to cross to the rocks on the far side. Two steps in the ice sufficed for the crossing. These brought me—I was leading—to the foot of a rock wall which we decided to climb direct and so escape from the couloir, which was a channel for any stones that might fall from some loose-looking crags above. This wall was steep but not in the least difficult, yet I made heavy weather of it. I was in that untrained condition when not only do limbs and muscles lack

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Seite 45 von 257