ADVENTURES ON THE
ROOF OF THE WORLD

BY
MRS AUBREY LE BLOND
(Mrs MAIN)

AUTHOR OF
“MY HOME IN THE ALPS,” “TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE,” ETC.

ILLUSTRATED



LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1904


(All rights reserved.)

TO

J O S E P H   I M B O D E N

MY GUIDE AND FRIEND FOR TWENTY YEARS,

I dedicate

THESE RECORDS OF A PASTIME IN WHICH I OWE

MY SHARE TO HIS SKILL, COURAGE, AND

HELPFUL COMPANIONSHIP.

PREFACE

“DEAR HEART,” said Tommy, when Mr Barlow had finished his narrative, “what a number of accidents people are subject to in this world!”

“It is very true,” answered Mr Barlow, “but as that is the case, it is necessary to improve ourselves in every possible manner, so that we may be able to struggle against them.”

Thus quoted, from Sandford and Merton, a president of the Alpine Club. The following True Tales from the Hills, if they serve to emphasise not only the perils of mountaineering but the means by which they can be lessened, will have accomplished the aim of their editor.

This book is not intended for the climber. To him most of the tales will be familiar in the volumes on the shelves of his library or on the lips of his companions during restful hours in the Alps. But the non-climber rarely sees The Alpine Journal and the less popular books on mountaineering, nor would he probably care to search in their pages for narratives likely to interest him.

To seek out tales of adventure easily intelligible to the non-climber, to edit them in popular form, to point out the lessons which most adventures can teach to those who may climb themselves one day, has occupied many pleasant hours, rendered doubly so by the feeling that I shall again come into touch with the readers who gave so kindly a greeting to my True Tales of Mountain Adventure. In that work I tried to explain the principles of mountaineering and something of the nature of glaciers and avalanches. Those chapters will, I think, be found helpful by non-climbers who read the present volume.

For much kindly advice and help in compiling this work I am indebted to Mr Henry Mayhew, of the British Museum, and to Mr Clinton Dent. Mrs Maund has enabled me to quote from a striking article by her late husband. Sir W. Martin Conway, Sir H. Seymour King, Messrs Tuckett, G. E. Foster, Cecil Slingsby, Harold Spender, and Edward Fitzgerald have been good enough to allow me to make long extracts from their writings. Messrs Newnes have generously permitted me to quote from articles which appeared in their publications, and the editor of The Cornhill has sanctioned my reprinting portions of a paper from his magazine. I am also indebted to the editor of M‘Clure’s Magazine for a similar courtesy.

Mons. A. Campagne, Inspector of Water and Forests (France), allows me to make use of two very interesting photographs from his work on the Valley of Barège. Several friends have lent me photographs for reproduction in this work, and their names appear under each of the illustrations I owe to them. Messrs Spooner have kindly allowed me to use several by the late Mr W. F. Donkin. When not otherwise stated, the photographs are from my own negatives.

I take this opportunity of heartily thanking those climbers, some of them personally unknown to me, whose assistance has rendered this work possible.

E. LE BLOND.

67 The Drive,
BRIGHTON, December 1903.

CONTENTS