MOUNT RAINIER 



approaches to it, utterly impassable. The climb pre- 

 sented no special difficulties other than the extreme 

 fatigue incident to climbing steep snow slopes, espe- 

 cially while attached to a life line, and the delays neces- 

 sitated by frequently turning and retracing our steps 

 in order to get around wide crevasses. 



Once while crossing a steep snow slope diagonally, 

 and having a wide crevasse below us, Ainsworth, who 

 was next to the rear of the line, lost his footing and slid 

 down the slope on his back. Unfortunately, at that 

 instant, Williams, who was at the rear of the line, 

 removed his alpenstock from the snow, was overturned 

 by the pull on the line, and shot headfirst down the 

 slope and disappeared over the brink of the crevasse. 

 A strong pull came on the members of the party who 

 were in advance, but our alpenstocks held fast, and 

 before assistance could be extended to the man dan- 

 gling in midair, he climbed the taut rope and stood 

 unhurt among us once more. The only serious result of 

 the accident was the loss of an alpenstock. 



Pressing on toward the dark rim of rock that we 

 could now and then catch glimpses of at the head of 

 the snow slopes and which we knew to be the outer 

 portion of the summit crater, we crossed many frail 

 snow bridges and climbed precipitous slopes, in some of 

 which steps had to be cut. As we neared the summit 

 we met a strong westerly gale that chilled us and be- 

 numbed our fingers. At length, weary and faint on 

 account of the rarity of the air, we gained the lower 

 portion of the rim of stones marking the position of 

 the crater. While my companions rested for a few 

 moments in the shelter of the rocks, I pressed on up 

 the rugged slope and gained the top of the rim. 



The stones exposed at the summit are bare of snow, 

 possibly on account of the heat from below, and are 

 rounded and their exposed surfaces polished. The 

 smooth, black bowlders shine in the sunlight much 

 the same as the sand-burnished stones in desert regions. 



174 



