2-913-858 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Monte Rosa, from the North - Mont Blanc, distant 45 Miles, 1854. 'Zumstein Spitze; Hochste Spitze; Nord End...upon the authority of M. de Saussure, an altitude of 15,760 English feet is given to Monte Rosa...The summit is very remarkable. It is not compact rock, but consists of a number of huge and irregular stones...They seem to be partly mountain limestone, and partly micaceous and quartose schist, interspersed with a large quantity of talc and slate. The cone is a very steep reck, about 400 feet in height: its hollows and crevices being filled with hard and slippery ice...We reached the summit [and] planted a red flag upon the pole, in addition to Mr. Smyth's shirt, which we left still floating in the breeze'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.