This is the season when the mountaineer once more takes down his
Norfolk jacket, his nailed boots, and his ice-axe, and prepares to
face the perils that may lurk for him above the snowline.
Strictly speaking--from the point of view of the expert who knows and
does everything that an expert ought to know and do--mountaineering
has two dangers only. There is the danger of bad weather, and there is
the danger of the falling stone. But every climber is not an expert,
and even of experts it may be said that _nemo horis omnibus sapit_. So
that there are all sorts of dangers to be reckoned with, and foremost
among them is the avalanche.
Everybody knows--vaguely, if not precisely--what an avalanche is.
Masses of snow accumulate in winter on the mountain slopes. In spring
the warmth loosens their coherence, and they fall into the valleys,
sweeping away or burying everything in their track. It is bad for the
mountaineer, if he happens to be in the way of one.
Says the editor of the volume devoted to mountaineering, in the
Badminton Library: "The simple rule with regard to all forms of
avalanche is to avoid their track, and all that is necessary in the
majority of instances is to recognize the marks on the snow surfaces
that denote their cause, and to steer clear of them."