Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain RangesCollie, Norman
History
Climbing on the Himalaya and Other Mountain Ranges
Collie, Norman
Himalaya Mountains; Mountaineering
Our route lay up a deep gully partly filled with snow, on the left of
the peak, which led us on to a small snow-field behind the summit. On
the way up this gully a splendid view of the pinnacle ridge, in front
of the top of the mountain, was obtained. A more formidable series of
rock towers I have never seen. From the snow-field to the highest point
is easy climbing. The top consists of some flat slabs of rock, but the
eastern edge is most sensational, and is best investigated by lying on
one's stomach before looking over, for it drops sheer for many hundreds
of feet. A small stone let fall from the outstretched hand is almost
out of sight before it hits the vertical side of the mountain.
A more ideal summit for a cairn could hardly be imagined; moreover,
there were plenty of loose stones, so Hogrenning was set to build one
worthy of the mountain. He produced one seven feet high, and big enough
to proclaim to all interested the fact that somebody at least had
scaled that impossible looking rock pinnacle Gjeitgaljar.
On the next day we broke up our camp, putting on board the steamer
_Röst_ all our baggage; but it was not till late on the day following
that we arrived back again at Svolvaer, for the _Röst_ had to call at
all the small hamlets on the outer islands, almost as far down as the
end of Moskenesö. We stopped just short of the historic Maelström, but
had we gone further the Maelström would not have been seen, for we
voyaged through summer seas.
Hastings now left us in order to go to the Lyngen peninsula, whilst
Woolley, Priestman, and I went to Digermulen on the Raftsund.
From there, that most extraordinary fjord, the Trold Fjord was visited,
and we also walked up to the Troldfjordvatn. This mountain tarn,
hidden away amongst the mountains and flanked with dark and forbidding
precipices, has a beauty all its own, and in some respects reminds one
of Loch Coruisk.
At its head is a small glacier, whose snout, occasionally breaking off,
produces icebergs. The precipices along its shore fall sheer into its
dark waters, and the surrounding peaks are wild and savage, but its
sides lack the wonderful soft-coloured clothing of the heather, and the
rocks are not of such rich hues as the gabbro of Skye. Perhaps I may
be wrong, yet it seemed to me that the mountains themselves are not so
graceful, neither are the long curving lines so fine as those that can
be seen amongst the Coolin from the shores of Coruisk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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