Chapter V: The Bernese Oberland From End to End 113

The Oberland circuit--My appointment with Arnold
Lunn--An Anglo-Swiss piece of work--An unbelieving
public--Switzerland and Britain--Geographical--Practical--We
start from Beatenberg--The Jungfrau ice-slabs--New
Year’s Day at Kandersteg--In the Gasterenthal--On the
Tschingelfirn--Foehn-effects on the Petersgrat--The Telli
glacier--The Kippel bottle-race--A church door--Theodore
Kalbermatten--The Loetschen pass--Burnt socks--Roped
ski-ing--The Concordia breakfast-table--Why we did not ascend
the Jungfrau--The Concordia huts--The Grünhornlücke--On snow
“lips” and cornices--An afternoon snooze--The Finsteraarhorn
hut--A guideless party--Ascent of the Finsteraarhorn--Our
next pass--A stranded runner--The Grimsel--Home life at
Guttannen--Our sleigh ran to Meiringen--A comparison of winter
and summer work--Memories and visions--Table of levels--How
to form a caravan--The pay of the men--Side-slip and
back-slip--Future railway facilities.

CHAPTER VI

THE AIGUILLE DU CHARDONNET AND THE AIGUILLE DU TOUR 181

The aspect of the Grand Combin--Topography--Weather conditions
for a successful raid--A classification of peaks--The Orny
nivometer--The small snowfall of the High Alps--The shrinkage
of snow--Its insufficiency to feed the glaciers--The Aiguille
du Tour--Ascent of Aiguille du Chardonnet--The St. Bernard
hospice--Helplessness of the dogs--The narrow winter path--The
monks’ hospitality--Their ski--The accident on the Col de
Fenêtre--_Ce n’est pas le ski_.

CHAPTER VII

THE GRAND COMBIN 197

The Panossière hut--Tropical winter heat--Schoolboys and
the Matterhorn--Shall it be rock or snow?--The Combin
de Valsorey--My third ascent of the Grand Combin--The
track home--Col des Avolions--Natural highways of a new
character--Twenty-three thousand feet ascended on ski.

CHAPTER VIII

ACROSS THE PENNINE ALPS ON SKI BY THE “HIGH-LEVEL” ROUTE 206

The “high-level” route--Previous attempts--My itinerary--Marcel
Kurz--The wise old men of Bourg St. Pierre--Maurice
Crettex--Guides with bamboos and laupars!--The snow-clad
cliffs of Sonadon--The Chanrion hut--Sealed-up crevasses--The
nameless pass--Louis Theytaz--The Pigne d’Arolla--The Bertol
hut--Why the Dent Blanche could be ascended--The lady’s
maid’s easy job--The dreadful summer slabs--We push past
two “constables”!--My cane--We bash in her ladyship’s white
bonnet--The Ice-Maid presses gently my finger-tips--The
cornice crashes down--A second night in the Bertol hut--The
Col d’Hérens--An impending tragedy--A milk-pail _versus_
ski--Dr. Koenig and Captain Meade--The real tragedy of
Theytaz’s death--Ropes and crevasses--Mr. Moore’s account--My
comments--The Mischabel range and Monte Rosa.

CHAPTER IX

THE PIZ BERNINA SKI CIRCUIT IN ONE DAY 245

Old snow well padded with new--Christmas Eve in the
Bernina hospice--The alarum rings--Misgivings before
battle--_Crampons_ and sealskins--A causeway of snow--An
outraged glacier--The Disgrazia--A chess-player and a
ski-man--Unroped!--In the twilight--The Tschierva hut--Back to
Pontresina--Hotel limpets--Waiting for imitators.

CHAPTER X

FROM AROSA TO BELLINZONA OVER THE BERNARDINO PASS 256

The Arosa Information Bureau--The hospitality of sanatorium
guests--The allurements of loneliness--Whither the spirit
leads--Avalanche weather--The Spring god and King Frost--The
source of the Rhine--The post sleigh in a winter storm--The
Bernardino pass--Brissago.

CHAPTER XI

GLACIERS--AVALANCHES--MILITARY SKI-ING 264

A legacy from the past--The formation of glaciers and
atmospheric conditions--Forests and glaciers--Our deficient
knowledge--The upper ice and snow reservoirs--What is
the annual snowfall and what becomes of it--How glaciers
may be classed--Mechanical forces at work--Moraines and
_séracs_--Avalanches--Periodic avalanches--Accidental
avalanches--The general causes--The statics of snow--What
happens to winter snow--_Strata_--How steep slopes may be
classed--Excusable ignorance of strangers to the Alps--Those
who write glibly in home magazines--Unsafe slopes--Avalanches
when running across slopes--The probing-stick--Avalanche
runs--Military ski-ing--The St. Gothard and St. Maurice
districts--Military raids in the High Alps--The glaciers as
military highways--Riflemen on foot as against marksmen on ski.

CHAPTER XII

THE MECHANICS OF SKI-BINDINGS 282

The shoe--The original bindings--The modern bindings--The
foot--The hinge in the foot--Different functions of the
toe-strap and heel-band--The parts of the binding--Faulty
fasteners--Sketches of faulty and correct leverage--A schematic
binding--_Critique_ of bindings in use--Suggestions--Cheeks and
plates--A whole blade--Cause of strained feet--Steel wire in
bindings.

CHAPTER XIII

RUDIMENTS OF WINTER MOUNTAINEERING FOR SKI-RUNNERS 294

The new “Alpinism”--A re-statement of elementary
principles--Ski-runners _versus_ summer pedestrians--The
experiences of an eminent physician--How to walk in snow--Put
not your trust in sticks--Keep your rope dry--Stand up on your
feet--Ski-sticks as supports--Winter clothing.