232 THE WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER YUKON 



rainy that I remained in camp. It was the first bad day 

 experienced up to that time on the trip. 



August 6. The following morning I started before 

 five. During the night heavy frost had whitened the 

 mountains, and the little pools of water were frozen. 

 The sky was perfectly clear, a light wind was blowing from 

 the south, and weather conditions were perfect to start 

 the day. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, I began 

 to ascend a steep, smooth slope, and soon found extreme 

 difficulty in keeping my footing on the slippery ground. 

 I should have waited for the frost to melt, for while wear- 

 ing leather moccasins it was dangerous to climb under 

 those conditions. But with my rifle as a staff I gradu- 

 ally zigzagged upward until reaching the last twenty feet 

 below the crest. That part of the slope was smooth rock 

 and very steep, the slippery surface relieved here and 

 there by loose pieces of stone lodged in cracks and inden- 

 tations of the surface. There I paused for awhile and 

 considered the chances, for up to that point the climb 

 had been trying to my courage. Eagerness to gain the 

 crest spurred me on to attempt it, and after feeling among 

 some of the loose rocks, I thought they were lodged 

 securely. After a step or two it was clear that my mocca- 

 sins would not hold; so, taking them off, I was encour- 

 aged by finding more friction in my socks, and, with rifle 

 slung on my back and clinging with hands and toes, I 

 began to crawl upward. Three thousand feet of slope, 

 sharply inclined and slippery, was below, and one slip, 

 a slight momentum gained, and I would have dashed 

 downward. 



