Page 84 - Life of Gertrude Bell

7* GERTRUDE BELL
unconfined. In August she told Florence, *1 am established for a
day or two in this enchanting spot (Roscnlaui in the Obcrland),
having been driven out of the higher mountains by a heavy snow-
fall on Monday, which renders the big things impossible ... Here
there is a fascinating little rock range, which can be done in
almost any weather.’ Before tackling those fascinating little
rocks she met an English family and they spent a lively afternoon
playing cricket to the amusement of their European companions,
with fir-tree branches for stumps, and large butterfly nets handy
to fish out the balls when they went into the river. Early in
September she wrote to her father from the same area:

I am now going to give you a history of my adventures.
Friday: we set out before dawn, the mists lying low every­
where ... We cast round and finally decided on a place where
the rock wall was extremely smooth, but worn by a number of
tiny water channels. These gave one a sort of handhold and
foothold. Just after we started it began to snow a little. The
first ioo feet were very difficult and took us three-quarters of
an hour. The rock was excessively smooth and in one place
there was a wall some 6 ft high where Ulrich had to stand on
Heinrich’s shoulder. Above this ioo feet it went comparatively I
easily and in an hour we found ourselves in a delightful cave,
so deep that it sheltered us from the rain and sleet... Here we
breakfasted ... The next bit was easy ... but presendy we
found ourselves on the wrong side of a smooth arete which
gave us no hold at all. We came down a bit, found a possible
traverse and got over with some difficulty ... We know that
neither the N. nor the S. side of the Gemse Sattel, as we have
called it, has been done. Indeed the S. side may be impossible,
but I don’t think it is ... the experts may be mistaken.

Two days later, after being held up by snowfalls they tackled
another peak, the Klein Engelhorn. ‘It looked most encouraging,
the lower third was composed of quite smooth perpendicular
rocks.’ They completed a difficult traverse to take them above
smooth and precipitous rocks and ‘here we were on an awfully
! i
steep place under the overhanging place’. First Ulrich tried to
climb up the overhang by standing on Heinrich’s shoulders.
Then Gertrude clambered up on to Heinrich and Ulrich on to
Gertrude. Tt wasn’t high enough! I lifted myself still a little