Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the south-west, Mont Chetif and the Crammont appear quite close with their pointed, rocky summits, showing here and there a wreath of fresh snow on the edges of the highest rocks. Beyond Mont Cormet to the south is seen the grand glacier-covered Rutor, whilst a little farther to the east rise the snow-clad slender Grivola, the broad St. Pierre, and the lordly Grand Paradis. One looks over a sea of summits, over floating glaciers suspended as it were in mid-air instead of being borne in strong and powerful arms, whilst to the right, where the Mont de la Saxe slopes towards the Val Ferrex, stands, lord of all? the Saul of mountains?the great and mighty Mont Blanc. From this summit on which we stand, the finest view of this grand peak?or rather series of peaks?is to be obtained. One is so close here that one looks almost into the glaciers, yet one is sufficiently far away not to lose their grandeur by being too near. From the Grandes Jorasses, and the Aiguille du Geant descend glaciers which appear of no mean size when seen from here, whilst on this side of the Black Aiguille, the Q-lacier de Brenva comes down from the main peak, and beyond it the Glacier de Miage. How insignificant these all look from the valley below ! What surpassing grandeur they present from here ! The Glacier de Brenva appears to sweep all before it, its neve extending widely from side to side between the mighty rock arms that enfold its babyhood near the summit of Mont Blanc. Rocks and precipices offer no bar to its progress. Ledges of rock are swept bare of impediment, and the snow-ice takes their place. Snow-wreaths curl in fantastic shapes and look as if frozen hard into solid rock in all their beauty and purity. There, in graceful folds, they are held up banner-like by pinnacles of blackest rocks or …
