MOUNT RAINIER 



front, as it melted and relaxed its hold upon them. Mr. 

 Van Trump was hit by a small one, and another struck 

 his staff from his hands. Abandoning the rock, then, 

 at the earliest practicable point, we ascended directly 

 up the ice, cutting steps for a short distance, until we 

 reached ice so corrugated, or drawn up in sharp pin- 

 nacles, as to afford a foothold. These folds or pinnacles 

 were about two or three feet high, and half as thick, and 

 stood close together. It was like a very violent chop 

 sea, only the waves were sharper. Up this safe footing 

 we climbed rapidly, the side of the mountain becoming 

 less and less steep, and the ice waves smaller and more 

 regular, and, after ascending about three hundred yards, 

 stood fairly upon the broad dome of mighty Takhoma. 

 It rose before us like a broad, gently swelling headland 

 of dazzling white, topped with black, where the rocky 

 summit projected above the neve. Ascending diago- 

 nally towards the left, we continued our course. The 

 snow was hard and firm under foot, crisp and light for 

 an inch or two, but solidified into ice a foot or less 

 beneath the surface. The whole field was covered 

 with the ice-waves already described, and intersected 

 by a number of crevasses which we crossed at narrow 

 places without difficulty. About half-way up the slope, 

 we encountered one from eight to twenty feet wide and 

 of profound depth. The most beautiful vivid emerald- 

 green color seemed to fill the abyss, the reflection of the 

 bright sunlight from side to side of its pure ice walls. 

 The upper side or wall of the crevasse was some twelve 

 feet above the lower, and in places overhung it, as 

 though the snow-field on the lower side had bodily 

 settled down a dozen feet. Throwing a bight of the 

 rope around a projecting pinnacle on the upper side, 

 we climbed up, hand over hand, and thus effected a 

 crossing. We were now obliged to travel slowly, with 

 frequent rests. In that rare atmosphere, after taking 

 seventy or eighty steps, our breath would be gone, our 

 muscles grew tired and strained, and we experienced all 



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