Nor did he understand the danger.

There were gullies in which new snow lay in a thin crust over hard ice.

He noticed that in those gullies the steps were cut deep into the ice below, that Garratt Skinner bade him not loiter, and that Pierre Delouvain in front made himself fast and drew in the rope with a particular care when it came to his turn to move.

But he did not know that all that surface snow might peel off in a moment, and swish down the cliffs, sweeping the party from their feet.

There were rounded rocks and slabs with no hold for hand or foot but roughness, roughness in the surface, and here and there a wrinkle.