informs me that he and his brothers went along the ridge between the Hörnli and the peak until they came to the point where the ascending angle is considerably increased. This place is marked on Dufour's map of Switzerland 3298 mètres (10,820 feet). They were then obliged to bear a little to the left to get on to the face of the mountain, and, afterwards, they turned to the right, and ascended about 700 feet further, keeping as nearly as was practicable to the crest of the ridge, but, occasionally, bearing a little to the left—that is, more on to the face of the mountain. The brothers started from Zermatt, and did not sleep out. Clouds, a high wind, and want of time, were the causes which prevented these daring gentlemen from going further. Thus, their highest point was under 12,000 feet.
The third attempt upon the mountain was made towards the end of August 1860, by Mr. Vaughan Hawkins,[1] from the side of the Val Tournanche. A vivid account of his expedition has been published by him in Vacation Tourists,[2] and it has been referred to several times by Professor Tyndall in the numerous papers he has contributed to Alpine literature. I will dismiss it, therefore, as briefly as possible.
Mr. Hawkins had inspected the mountain in 1859, with the guide J. J. Bennen, and he had formed the opinion that the south-west ridge[3] would lead to the summit. He engaged J. Jacques Carrel, who was concerned in the first attempts, and, accompanied by Bennen (and by Professor Tyndall, whom he had invited to take part in the expedition), he started for the gap between the little and the great peak.[4]
- ↑ Mr. Hawkins was unaware that any attempts had been made before his own, and spoke of it as the first.
- ↑ Macmillan, 1861.
- ↑ This ridge is seen on the left of the large engraving accompanying this chapter; and if the reader consults this view, the explanatory outlines, and the maps, he will be able to form a fair idea of the points which were attained on this and on the subsequent attempts.
- ↑ Since this time the small peak has received the name Tete du Lion. The gap is now called the Col du Lion; the glacier at its base, the Glacier du Lion; and the gully which connects them, the Couloir du Lion.
