And so at four o’clock we turned downwards. For
men in good condition it would have been easy to
complete the ascent, for the mountain is not really a
difficult one by this route. But we had been climbing
G URLA MANDHATA FROM GURLA MANDHATA
GLACIER
Note the fretted appearance of the eeraos, probably due to excessive evaporation
caused by the extreme dryness of the atmosphere
for two days on short commons, and had spent two
nights without any proper covering. I was utterly
exhausted and Alexis, not yet recovered from his headache,
was in little better case. For Henri it must be
said that he was not only willing to go on, but very
much disappointed at my refusal to do so. I quite
believe that he would have gone to the top alone.
In three hours we quitted the glacier and took to the
moraine on its right bank. Here we finished our last
scraps of food and had a couple of hours’ sleep. Then
down over endless moraine and still downwards beside
the glacier stream till at four o’clock in the afternoon
we reached our camping-place of the 21st. Here we
expected to find our coolies, but they were nowhere
to be seen, and as our camp, with food and rifles, was
some four or five thousand feet above us on the great
western spur, we pushed on to Baidak, and thence to
Sekung, a camping-place, which we reached at half-past
nine that night, thinking all the time what we would
order for dinner when we got there.
We had spent a week on the mountain, and after
a good deal of hardship had only succeeded in finding
out the proper line of attack. People often ask what
is the charm of mountaineering. Sir Martin Conway
has endeavoured to answer the question,* and I have no
desire to enter into competition with him. If mountaineering
is such a poor game as many people make out,
why is it that climbers are always looking forward to
their next campaign instead of giving it up and taking
to croquet ?
* AipS>>» chap. i.