CHAPTER XIV.
THE ASCENT OF THE DENT BLANCHE.
"God help thee, Trav'ller, on thy journey far;
The wind is bitter keen,—the snow o'erlays
The hidden pits, and dang'rous hollow-ways,
And darkness will involve thee.—No kind star
To-night will guide thee." . . .
H. Kieke White.
Croz and Biener did not return until past 5 a.m. on June 17, and we then set out at once for Zermatt, intending to cross the Col d'Hérens. But we did not proceed far before the attractions of the Dent Blanche were felt to be irresistible, and we turned aside up the steep lateral glacier which descends along its south-western face.
The Dent Blanche is a mountain that is little known except 
LESLIE STEPHEN.to the climbing fraternity. It was, and is, reputed to be one of the most difficult mountains in the Alps. Many attempts were made to scale it before its ascent was accomplished. Even Leslie Stephen himself, fleetest of foot of the whole Alpine brotherhood, once upon a time returned discomfited from it.
It was not climbed until 1862; but in that year Mr. T. S. Kennedy, with Mr. Wigram, and the guides Jean B. Croz[1] and Kronig, managed to conquer it. They had a hard fight though before they gained
- ↑ The brother of my guide Michel Croz.
