half past nine in the morning
He led quickly and with great judgment or knowledge -- Pierre Delouvain at the end of the rope wondered whether it was judgment or knowledge -- and suddenly Walter Hine found himself standing on the crest with Garratt Skinner , and looking down the other side upon a glacier far below , which flows from the Mur de la Côte on the summit ridge of Mont Blanc into the Brenva glacier . `` That 's famous , '' cried Garratt Skinner , looking once more at his watch . He did not say that they had lost yet another hour upon the face of the buttress . It was now half past nine in the morning . `` We are twelve thousand feet up , Wallie , '' and he swung to his left , and led the party up the ridge of the buttress . As they went along this ridge , Wallie Hine 's courage rose . It was narrow but not steep , nor was it ice .