162 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



which stood against the wall like a buttress, and 

 which the wind and the solar radiation, joined to 

 the steepness of the smooth rock, had kept almost 

 entirely free from snow. Up this I made my way 

 rapidly. Our cautious method of advancing in the 

 outset had spared my strength; and, with the ex- 

 option of a slight disposition to headache, I felt no 

 remains of yesterday's illness. In a few minutes 

 we reached a point where the buttress was over- 

 hanging, and there was no other way of surmount- 

 ing the difficulty than by passing around one side 

 of it, which was the face of a vertical precipice of 

 several hundred feet. 



" Putting hands and feet in the crevices between 

 the blocks, I succeeded in getting over it, and, when 

 I reached the top, found my companions in a small 

 valley below. Descending to them, we continued 

 climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I 

 sprang upon the summit, and another step would 

 have precipitated me into an immense snow-field 

 five hundred feet below. To the edge of this field 

 was a sheer icy precipice ; and then, with a gradual 

 fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until it 

 struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on 

 a narrow crest, about three feet in width, with an 

 inclination of about 20 K 51 E. As soon as I had 

 gratified the first feeling of curiosity, I descended, 



