Scrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860–69 · Chapter
XIX: The First Passage of the Col de Talèfre explained
Whymper recounts the first crossing of the Col de Talèfre on July 3, 1865, a new pass between the Aiguille de Triolet and the Aiguille de Talèfre, offering a quicker route from Chamounix to Courmayeur than the Col du Géant.
What happens
Whymper recounts the first crossing of the Col de Talèfre on July 3, 1865, a new pass between the Aiguille de Triolet and the Aiguille de Talèfre, offering a quicker route from Chamounix to Courmayeur than the Col du Géant. The party navigated snow cascades, glissaded down avalanche debris, and completed the crossing in under ten hours.
Themes in this chapter
Exploration and Discovery
Whymper identifies and successfully crosses a new pass, the Col de Talèfre, improving upon the known Col du Géant.
Danger and Mortality
The descent involves dodging snow cascades that could knock climbers over, highlighting the constant risk.
Scientific Observation
Whymper notes the elevation (11,650 feet) and compares it to the Col du Géant, demonstrating careful measurement.
Characters to notice
- Edward Whymper
Narrator and leader of the first passage of the Col de Talèfre.
- Mr. Adams-Reilly
Companion during the 1864 reconnaissance that identified the potential pass.
- Rev. Charles Hudson
Mentioned as part of a party crossing the Col du Géant on the same day.
Key passages
“The person who discovered the Col du Géant must have been a shrewd mountaineer.”
Whoever first found the Col du Géant was a skilled climber.
Whymper acknowledges the skill of earlier explorers while introducing his own discovery.
“Glissading is a very pleasant employment when it is accomplished successfully, and I have never seen a place where it can be more safely indulged in than the snowy valley on the right bank of the Glacier de Triolet.”
Glissading is enjoyable when done right, and the snowy valley on the right bank of the Glacier de Triolet is the safest spot for it.
Whymper humorously describes the joys and perils of glissading.