Fri. Aug 1. [1 August 1902] At 3 the moon rose and we longed for the
sun, but the clouds blew up and the dawn came in a grey mist of snow.
At 4 we started - extraordinary quantity of snow on the rocks. Awfully
difficult climbing - more than a man cd do, said Ulrich. The chimney
was a teazer. We each dropped down it in turn, Heinrich falling first
and getting up onto a rock a little to one side to hold us. Ulrich terrified
- he called out, "Heinrich, Heinrich! ich bin verloren!" and fell off as we
had done. We eat a little at the luncheon place[?]. Then awfully
difficult at the iced bit. Ulrich and I got together where we cd not stand
or he hold me. I fixed the extra rope but cd not hold on to it and called
out to H. I was going to fall. In another minute we were both headlong
down the couloir. Ulrich put the point of the axe in a crack and held us
all up. I came to my feet directly I felt the rope, caught Heinrich and
the axes and we cut ourselves up. He said he wd not have believed
he cd have held us up there. The wind and cold were bitter - we
shivered all day. The snow rose round us in clouds and we saw the
birth of avalanches. Snow rivers ran down the couloirs. We used the
extra rope all the way. My hair was iced. At length we got down by the
edge of the couloir and crossed onto the original arete, we had
followed down one to the right of it. Here we eat a scrap, it was 5.30 or
6. We then had an easy time onto the glacier which we reached at 8
in pouring rain and guessed well at the schrund which we crossed.
Tried in vain to light a lantern - every match was wet. Tried to go on -
Heinrich fell into the snow up to his neck. So we laid our axes down
on the snow and sat on them. U. and I put our feet into a sack. H gave
me the other to lean on. My shoulders ached and ached but I lay
down, put a wet handkerchief over my face and went to sleep in the
wind and the rain. Mists over the glacier.