THE MOUNTAINEER 69 



Storm Bound on Mount Olympus 



By ASAHEL CURTIS, Chairman Outing Committee 



THE attempt of the first party of ]\Iouiitaiiieers to reach the summit of 

 JMoLint Olympus tlirough a driviug rain and snow storm, with the 

 storm clouds sweeping around the peak, was splendid even in its 

 failure. It was the culmination of an outing remarkable for the number of 

 ascents made, and was undertaken in the storm, only because there was no 

 further time in which to do it. No ordinary storm would have prevented 

 the ascent, even then, for the spirit of the party was splendid, but it was 

 impossible to make one's way up the vast snow-fields facing the thirty-mile 

 gale that was blowing, the fury of which can be judged from the fact that 

 it was found later that a foot of snow fell on the sunnnit during the 

 storm. 



The ascent was attempted from a temporary camp in the Queets valley, 

 about eight miles from the main camp, to which the party had moved on 

 the 9th of August. At dawn on the 10th clouds were clinging to the summits 

 and often rolled down into the valleys, but a little later the weather ap- 

 peared to be clearing and the distant summits of Queets, Meany and Noyes 

 came into view. It was determined to make an attempt, at least, and if the 

 storm broke away to push on to the summit. The party moved out from 

 camp in company formation seemingly very cheerful and happy despite the 

 cold raw morning and the poor prospect of success. Passing the base of the 

 Humes glacier and swinging over a point of rock to avoid the broken ice 

 along its face they dropped down on the ice on the right or northern bank. 

 The mist had changed to a rain, a cold wind was blowing and the situation 

 was anything but pleasant. Ahead for two miles, steadily ascending, the 

 Humes glacier stretched away toward the main bulk of the mountain, now 

 lost in the clouds. The ice-field seemed like a great road-way, walled in as 

 it was by cliffs of slate. There was no danger of loosing the way, for all 

 the snow at the base of the cliffs was smooth, unbroken by crevasses, while 

 as a guide, on the left lay the main glacier with its dark, forbidding surface 

 broken and impossible. Over this roadway the party made its way rapidly, 

 the cold being an incentive to action. Only a few were troubled by the 

 altitude, causing a difficulty in breathing, but this delayed the main party, 

 for all must advance together. Because of the rock cliffs in the rear no 

 one could be sent back, and no one could be left along the way. 



Half way up the Humes glacier the rain clianged to flurries of snow, 

 swept along by a stiff' wind. Still hoping against fate, the advance con- 

 tinued. At the head of the glacier the snow-field rose at a steep angle, 

 hiding the mountain beyond. Once out from the protection of this snow- 

 ridge, exposed to the full fury of the gale and everyone's hopes sank. 

 Advancing still in company formation the party came out on the very edge 

 of the snow-field, which here falls away to the great Iloh glacier at such a 

 steej) angle that its slojie caniu)t be seen from the crest. Seven hundred 

 feet below, now hidden by the storm, the glacier wound away to the niu-th- 

 ward. Through the ])ass at its head a thirty-mile gale was blowing, wliirling 

 the snow along as it fell. The distant cliffs of llie main mountain were lost 

 to view. The party appeared suspended in the heavens on the edge of 

 some great cloud, with a white desolate world forming out of the chaos. 



