noon
`` We started early and at first found the glacier rough but safe . Walters had insisted on two guides ; prospectors , used to the rocks , who now and then took a tourist party out . The glacier brought us up some height , but after a time the surface began to be broken by big crevasses . We spent two hours picking our way across and at noon saw we must find another route . The slope on the right would take us off our line ; on the left there were high , icy rocks that would puzzle a member of the Alpine club . '' `` We sat down and examined the mountain with the glasses . Above the crags , a snowfield ran up to the foot of the last sharp ridge , but we did not see how we could reach it .