h- Rope leader belays his party; pitch in rock safeguards him. 



Starting from the summit, it oozes its way down to a cliff and 

 breaks off in colossal chunks that fall a thousand feet. At the 

 base of the cliff the smashed glacier collects itself, melts together 

 again, and continues on down. 



We had to "rope up" and ascend sheer rock walls away from 

 the falling ice. Most of the ledges were wide enough to allow for 

 walking and breathing simultaneously, but there was a narrow 

 place called "Fat Man's Misery" where we clung to rock face only 

 with fingernails and toes and didn't dare breathe too deeply. 

 When we got beyond the spot, Johnny heaved a boulder over the 

 rocky prominence that hid us from the cliffs below. Conversation 

 stopped while we waited for the crash. It didn't come. The 

 silence grew bigger. Finally we thought we'd explode, and then 

 a faint crash sifted up to us from far below. We went on in 

 silence for a long time. 



After eleven hours of almost equally nerve-wracking activity, 

 we reached Mt. Shuksan's summit. The sun, a wet ball of fire, was 

 just dropping behind Mt. Baker. A mountain treacherous 

 enough in daytime can become the very embodiment of terror 

 by night, and we lost no time turning back. Just above "Fat 

 Man's Misery" we called a halt because a misstep could mean 

 disaster. 



The boulders that had protected us from the sun earlier now 

 sheltered us very little from the icy winds. It was the coldest 

 night that any of us had ever experienced. Our wet mittens and 

 socks froze solid and the chattering of our teeth was transmitted 

 unabated to our toes. Finally our feet grew numb. We chucked 

 our boots off and stuck fourteen assorted feet into three available 

 knapsacks. I don't know whether I gave off any heat to my 

 huddled companions, but I know they gave off very little to me. 

 Down below, the lights of Mt. Baker Lodge twinkled frigidly. 



As dawn first pinked the sky, we were up, beating our solidly- 

 frozen boots against the rocks to limber them enough to put on. 

 Soon we were descending the rocky cliffs below and by the time 

 we were crossing the lower glacier the sun was hot on our backs. 

 In the upper end of our valley we breakfasted on blueberries and 

 in another hour were sound asleep in our tents at base camp. 



r- Climbers search for a route around the massive ice cliff. 55 



