Thurs 17. [17 July 1902] The weather cleared and we got off soon
after 3. Very promising and a lovely sunrise, the light slipping down
the shoulders of the Finsteraarhorn. 3 tedious hours of glacier, then
we started up the steep snow slopes. Awfully hard work, it was 8.30
before we got to the col where we breadfasted and saw heavy clouds
in the west. Started up the arete at 9 - in half an hour the mists came,
and soon after snow. But we went on, stopping at intervals, round
endless gendarmes and over snow slopes, the summit receeding
and receeding [sic] in the mists. I lay down on a rock and went to
sleep at one moment. At about 1, when we were quite near the top,
we found a more or less sheltered place and let ourselves down into
it and lunched and boiled tea, which was very reviving. At 2.15, Ulrich
Heinrich and I went to the top and saw about 30 yards of the arete.
Then we came down, following the arete a little and then straight down
the hill plunging into the mists. The other 2 followed the arete. Snow
very bad, horrid climb. I slipped once and was caught by the rope.
We got down onto the glacier at 5.20, just a little above the ice fall and
had something to eat in the rain. The others had not appeared so we
left Heinrich to wait for them and went on. The snow very heavy. Got
to the hut at 7.45, done. Found 3 nice little German schoolboys there.
The others came in some 3/4 hour later. Found some coffee which
we heated, then made chocolate and had a hearty meal. And so
passed the best night I have ever spent in a hut.