Edward Whymper

“ The eye roams over a multitude of objects (each, perhaps, grand individually) , and, distracted by an embarrassment of riches, wanders from one to another, erasing by the contemplation of the next the effect that was produced by the last; and when those happy moments are over, which always fly with too great rapidity, the summit is left with an impression that is seldom durable, because it is usually vague. ”

“ At 4 a.m. we left his Monte Rosa Hotel, and were soon pushing our way through the thickets of grey alder that skirt the path up the exquisite little valley which leads to the Z'muttgletscher [20] Nothing can seem or be more inaccessible than the Matterhorn upon this side; and even in cold blood one holds the breath when looking at its stupendous cliffs. There are but few equal to them in size in the Alps, and there are none which can more truly be termed precipices. ”

“ If ever the surface of the earth was as true as if it had been turned out from a lathe, it was certainly not so when the great glaciers—whose poor remnants we now see in the Alps—began to stretch far away from the mountains on to the lowlands of Switzerland and on to the plain of Piedmont,—unless geology is a lie. ”

“ The desolate, outside pines of the Z'mutt forests, stripped of their bark, and blanched by the weather, are a fit foreground to a scene that can hardly be surpassed in solemn grandeur. It is a subject worthy of the pencil of a great painter, and one which would tax the powers of the very greatest. ”

“ There remains to be considered the friction of the ice itself against the rock-bed. This, too, must diminish as the surfaces over which the glacier passes become smoother and flatter. The more thoroughly parallel the bottom of the glacier and the bed-rock are to each other, the less friction will there be, and the less abrasion.
There is therefore good reason to believe that not only is the depth of rock removed from any given place less and less year by year, but that the total amount of matter removed by the glacier constantly diminishes. ”

“ Higher up the glacier the mountain is less savage in appearance, but it is not less impracticable; and, three hours later, when we arrived at the island of rock, called the Stockje (which marks the end of the Z'muttgletscher proper, and which separates its higher feeder, the Stockgletscher, from its lower but greater one, the Tiefenmatten) , Carrel himself, one of the least demonstrative of men, could not refrain from expressing wonder at the steepness of its faces, and at the audacity that had prompted us to camp upon the south-west ridge ”

“ If geological reasoning is not a delusion and a snare, age upon age had passed away before this took place; rocks had crumbled into dust, and their particles had been re-arranged; lightning had struck the peaks; frost had cleft their ridges; avalanches had swept their slopes; earthquakes had fissured the soil; and torrents had transported the débris far and wide,—had eaten into the clefts, had scored the slopes, and had deepened the fissures for an indefinite length of time. ”

“ It is obvious, as the rocks which are being operated upon by the glacier become more and more smooth, that the supply from the first of these sources must constantly diminish. It is equally certain that when the rock-bed has lost many of its asperities, and the glacier—so to speak—fits more closely to it, the matter which falls from above has greater difficulty in getting between the ice and the rock-bed. ”

“ That is to say, if a glacier 1000 feet thick, moving down a valley at the rate of 300 feet per annum, is able to remove a depth of one inch from the whole of those portions of the surfaces that it touches, in the course of one year, the amount that it will remove in the course of the next (assuming that the depth of 1000 feet is maintained, and the rate of motion is the same) will not be one inch, but will be something less; because the power employed will be distributed over a greater area. ”

“ The summit of the Col de Yalpelline is about 11,650 feet above the sea. The pass is the easiest one in the Alps of this height, and (if the best route is followed) it may be crossed during fine weather, and under favourable circumstances, without cutting a single step. It may be added, at the same time, that if one does not take the best route, the pass may become one of first-rate difficulty. Much time and trouble will be saved by strictly adhering to the left bank (eastern side) of the Zardesan glacier. ”

“ All who know are agreed that centuries, nay, thousands of years, pass away, and still the roches moutonnées retain their form.
In regard to the action of the glacier, when it is in full life and activity, all are not so agreed. But when one finds evidence that glaciers which existed through vast periods of time did nothing more than round pre-existing weathered forms, dress rough and uneven surfaces, and did not even entirely destroy the destructive work of the older and greater powers: while those powers were at the same time delving into the rocks which the glaciers were not covering ”

“ It is commonly said amongst Alpine tourists that goat flesh represents mutton, and mule does service for beef and chamois. I reserve my own opinion upon this point until it has been shown what becomes of all the dead mules. But I may say, I hope, without wounding the susceptibilities of my acquaintances among the Italian innkeepers, that it would tend to smoothen their intercourse with their guests if requests for solid food were less frequently regarded as criminal. ”

“ The prevailing forms which result from glacier-action are more or less convex. Ultimately, all angles and almost all curves are obliterated, and large areas of flat surfaces are produced. This perfection of abrasion is rarely found, except in such localities as have sustained a grinding much more severe than that which has occurred in the Alps ”

“ A little bridge, apparently frail, spans the torrent just above the entrance to this gorge, and from it one perceives, being fashioned in the rocks below, concavities similar to those to which reference has just been made. The torrent is seen hurrying forwards. Not everywhere. In some places the water strikes projecting angles, and, thrown back by them, remains almost stationary, eddying round and round: in others, obstructions fling it up in fountains, which play perpetually on the tender surfaces of overhanging masses ”

“ By obliterating the inequalities of the rock, and, consequently, by reducing the area of the surfaces which are exposed to the atmosphere to a minimum, the glacier, when it retires, leaves the rock in the best possible condition to withstand the attacks of heat, cold, and water. ”

“ A mule when going up or down hill always moves with a jerky action, and in consequence of this the ladders hit my mule severe blows between its ears and in its flanks. The beast, not knowing what strange creature it had on its back, naturally tossed its head and threw out its legs, and this, of course, only made the blows that it received more severe. ”

“ If you would see the 'aspects of destruction,' you must come still closer, and climb its cliffs and ridges, or mount to the plateau of the Matterhorngletscher, which is cut up and ploughed up by these missiles, and strewn on the surface with their smaller fragments; the larger masses, falling with tremendous velocity, plunge into the snow and are lost to sight. ”

“ Carrel then saw the north and north-west sides of the mountain for the first time, and was more firmly persuaded than ever, that an ascent was possible only from the direction of Breil. Three years afterwards I was traversing the same spot with the guide Franz Biener, when all at once a puff of wind brought to us a very bad smell; and, on looking about, we discovered a dead chamois half-way up the southern cliffs of the Stockje. ”

“ One, continuing to the east, over the moraines themselves, the débris above them, and a large snow-bed still higher up, to a kind of col or depression to the south of the peak, from whence an easy ridge led towards the summit. The other, over a shrunken glacier on our north-east (now, perhaps, not in existence) , which led to a well-marked col on the north of the peak, from whence a less easy ridge rose directly to the highest point. ”

“ Dr. Tyndall's words are, "The ridge was here split by a deep cleft which separated it from the final precipice, and the case became more hopeless as we came more near." The Professor adds, "The mountain is 14,800 feet high, and 14,600 feet had been accomplished." He greatly deceived himself; by the barometric measurements of Signor Giordano the notch is no less than 800 feet below the summit. The guide Walter (Dr. Tyndall says) said it was impossible to proceed, and the Carrels, appealed to for their opinion (this is their own account) , gave as an answer, "We are porters, ask your guides." ”

“ Bound the whole of its northern side it does not terminate in the usual manner by gentle slopes, but comes to a sudden end at the top of the steep rocks which lie betwixt it and the Z'muttgletscher; and seldom does an hour pass without a huge slice breaking away, and falling with dreadful uproar on to the slopes below, where it is re-compacted. ”

“ In all cases concavities are being produced. Projecting angles are rounded, it is true, and are more or less convex, but they are overlooked on account of the prevalence of concave forms.
Cause and effect help each other here. ”

“ The reverse is the case with the bird's-eye panoramic views from the great peaks, which sometimes embrace a hundred miles in nearly every direction. The eye is confounded by the crowd of details, and unable to distinguish the relative importance of the objects which are seen. ”