about ten o'clock
This last is an important detail , for there are moments in such an expedition when the least slip is fatal , not only to yourself , but to the whole party with you . Our preparations and those of the guides occupied nearly two hours . About eight o'clock our mules were brought ; and we set out at last for the chalet of the Pierre-Pointue , situated at a height of six thousand five hundred feet , or three thousand above the valley of Chamonix , not far from eight thousand five hundred feet below the summit of Mont Blanc . On reaching the Pierre-Pointue , about ten o'clock , we found there a Spanish tourist , M. N -- , accompanied by two guides and a porter . His principal guide , Paccard , a relative of the Doctor Paccard who made , with Jacques Balmat , the first ascent of Mont Blanc , had already been to the summit eighteen times . M. N -- was also getting himself ready for the ascent . He had travelled much in America , and had crossed the Cordilleras to Quito , passing through snow at the highest points .