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that if there is a break-through the anchor man may grasp the lower part of the pole for a self-arrest. The route should lie at right angles to the crevasse system so that no two skiers will be over the same crevasse. This suggestion assumes that the skier will perceive or know the direction of the crevasses; the assumption is optimistic indeed when the glacier is heavily snow-covered and its edges cannot be seen. If occasional large crevasses are open, they will provide a clue. Otherwise it must be deduced—and hoped—that the crevasses are perpendicular to the direction of flow of the glacier at its center where that flow is most rapid, and curve progressively farther upstream the nearer they are to the edges, where the flow is least rapid. Each man then follows the leader's tracks to avoid excessive cutting of the snow surface and to take advantage of snow cover that has at least demonstrated it will hold somebody. The speed of descents should be governed by that of the poorest skier; turns should be made by all men on the rope at the same time, on signal of the first man, so that the rope can be kept properly taut. A rope that is intermittently slack and taut will protect the skier too little and too much. |
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