|
Alcesti de Righi Diary Entry Sunday, 3 September 1905
3rd, September. The Doctor [Jules Jacot Guillarmod] and myself [Alcesti de Righi] pass a pretty bad night, his back being painful and my ribs and knee ditto, ditto. The party with Nangar start at about 6 o'clock, sliding some of the things down the slope from Camp V. These come down with a rush, and pull up close to the side where the avalanche stopped. The rest is shouldered and brought down by them. The heliograph and cinematograph both have to be brought down ; the former now useless, the latter never used.
Practically all reaches camp by 11 o'clock, and then Mr. Crowley, 9 coolies, the 3 Kashmeeris and Bahadur Singh leave us and at 12 o'clock the Doctor, Reymond [Charles-Adolphe Reymond], and a party of coolies start off to find our lost comrades. They easily find the spot by the piece of severed cord, and after two hours' digging find the foot of Bahadur Lama and close by the leg of poor Mr. Pache [Alexis Pache]. As it is now late 5 o'clock they cannot do more this evening, so they all start back for camp, and arrive just before darkness falls. The snow, they say, is deep above the two men, about 5 to 6 feet, and more underneath, so that the avalanche must have been a fairly large one.
The evening is again a fine one, not such a grand one, though, as the one of the 1st not a cloud anywhere, the air wonderfully clear, every peak stands boldly out like a silent sentinel against the sky lighted up by the now setting sun, whose yellow rays, reflected by the myriad facets of the eternal snows seem to strike on a mass of gold. Kinchinjunga towers above us defiant, satisfied with the heavy toll it has taken, truly a sight never to be forgotten. As night approaches the air becomes colder, and soon drives us to seek shelter inside of our sleeping bags, a mighty change from the noon day heat. The thermometer to-night falls to 5 degrees below zero centigrade.
|