CHAPTER XIII.
SOME CAUCASIAN PASSES.
HAVING recovered from the effects of the two cold nights described at the beginning of the last chapter, we made up our minds to cross on to the basin of the Dych Su glacier and see whether any convenient and easy route could be found thence to the summit of Shkara. At 4.30 a.m. we left our camp and walked up the Bezingi glacier, halting occasionally to examine the face of the mountain. The endless series of hanging glaciers suspended on its cliffs seemed to threaten so much risk and danger on this side, that we were not in any way tempted to modify our plans. We subsequently saw, however (when ascending Dych Tau), that great glacier plateaux were concealed by the foreshortening due to our position, and that, in reality, the ascent may be effected from this side without venturing on to any serac-swept position. But this knowledge was hidden from us as we tramped up the glacier and passed its endless terraces of glacier cliffs on our way to the Bezingi vsek.
Zurfluh suggested keeping along the ridge from
