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If the walls of a chimney are too close together to admit a climber, the chimney becomes a crack. This is normally a cleavage of the rock, is not due to erosion, and is exposed to no unusual objective danger. The tendency of an inexpert climber, however, is to try to escape exposure to height by getting every possible bit of his body into the crack. The result is that he all but blocks his progress, and tires himself needlessly. Immediately below the chutes of lower mountains are the talus or debris slopes, often seemingly interminable. They are more stable than moraines, because the rocks have usually fallen and rolled into place, instead of being balanced in place by melting ice. Some blocks do, however, roll when stepped upon. The climber can avoid them by stepping on rocks held in place by other surrounding rocks. He will eventually develop an aplomb that permits him to move swiftly over talus, never pausing on any block long enough to care whether it rolls or not. His self-assurance should not, however, be careless; nor should others follow so closely as to be imperiled by blocks that do roll. |
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