Chapter VIII. 



heard as they crash down into the valley. The rocky 

 Inittresses ol' Elena and Savoia Peaks, and the precipitous 

 clifis of the north face of Mount Baker, overtopped towards 

 the east by Moore and Wollaston Peaks, are especially grand. 



After skirting the foot of the south-west ridge of Mt. Speke, 

 they pursued their way nearly on a level under the western 

 cliif, keeping high and not far from the glacier. This glacier 

 lias withdrawn recently, leaving a long fringe of rocks and 

 moraine detritus, under which a few senecios and groujjs of 

 helichrysmn have taken root. 



A little further on, the tent was pitched on a narrow 

 strip of land between two oval lakes and the margin of the 

 Speke Glacier. This is Camp V, at a height of 14,682 feet 

 above the sea-level, immediately under Vittorio Emanuele 

 Peak. There were only a few senecios at this point, and 

 the natives sought for shelter lower down, A\here there was 

 abundance of wood. The sky Avas clear overhead, l)ut round 

 the peaks and in the valleys lingered fogs, which hid the 

 greater part of the landscape. A little fiu'ther and lower 

 down was a third lake, somewhat larger than the tAvo which 

 were near the camp. 



On the next day, first climbing the rocks and then up the 

 glacier, following an easy western ridge, without once using the 

 rope, in a little more than an hoiu' they reached the summit of 

 Vittorio Emanuele Peak, 16,080 feet above the sea-level. It was 

 6.30 in the morning and they were already sunounded by dense 

 fog. They I'emained nearly eight liovu's on the summit in vain 

 expectation of an opening in the fog, wliich never came. There 

 was a light, variable wind, and every now and then a snowfall, 

 changing occasionally into bi^ief and violent showers of hail. 

 At one time they were enveloped in a cloud so charged with 



234 



