TR.UIPS ACROSS GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 473 



massif of Mount Kilpatrick (10,624 

 feet), first ascended in 1909 by E. W. D. 

 Holway, F. K. Butters, and H. Palmer. 

 To the left, barely visible over the col 

 at the valley's head, rises Mount Wheeler 

 (11,023 feet), second only to Mount 

 Dawson among the monarch s of the 

 southern Selkirks. 



Next to the west come four nameless 

 peaks, and then the range terminates 

 in the majestic mass of Mount Purity, 

 perhaps the most striking peak of all. 

 Seen from the upper slopes of the 

 Bishops Range, this silvery spire, with 

 its graceful aretes, symmetrical but- 

 tresses, and unique snow curtain lighted 

 by the afternoon sun and outlined against 

 a sky of deepest blue, forms a picture 

 never to be forgotten. 



battle; range and battle; glacier 



Beyond the Purity Range to the south 

 the country is practically a terra incog- 

 nita. A strip averaging about four miles 

 wide along the range is shown on the 

 government map, but the data for this 

 was obtained from distant photographs 

 taken on the summits of Mounts Wheeler 

 and Purity, and as far as we could learn 

 no one had actually crossed the range 

 to explore the district in detail. Below 

 this strip the map was blank except for 

 the words "Battle Range" in heavy type. 



Since our first view of this region from 

 the Purity Range it has interested us, 

 and we had desired to accept the covert, 

 though none the less alluring, challenge 

 of the map, but previously to July, 1909. 

 conditions had prevented our doing so. 

 That month, however, found our party 

 of three encamped on the flanks of the 

 Bishops Range, all preparations com- 

 pleted for a visit to the virgin valley of 

 the Battle glaciers. 



The chief difficulty in our undertaking 

 was to find a way down the southerly 

 slopes of the Purity Range, for from 

 Mount Kilpatrick these appeared to form 

 a continuous wall of practically sheer 

 cliffs along that side. The northerly 

 slopes, on the contrary, looked accessible 

 evervwhere, so we selected the deepest 

 notch in the skvline for our first trial. 



This cut the range near the middle and 

 could be reached with facility from our 

 camp. It took a morning's hard work 

 to solve the maze of crevasses in the 

 intervening feeder of the Black Glacier, 

 but toward 2 : 30 p. m. we pushed into 

 the col. 



One hasty glance over showed that we 

 liad probably found a pass, for a steep 

 finger of snow reached up from the fur- 

 ther glacier right to our feet, bridging 

 the rock wall in the neatest manner pos- 

 sible. Still, the entire route of descent 

 was not visible, and a crest in the glacier 

 below suggested the beginning of an ice- 

 fall likely to form a serious if not in- 

 superable obstacle, but we unanimously 

 decided to risk it notwithstanding. 



The view of the deep valley of Battle 

 Creek was grand beyond description. On 

 either hand rose rocky walls fringed with 

 hanging glaciers, while below them in 

 the valley wound another, the huge P>at- 

 tle Glacier, four miles from source to 

 tip. Across the valley in the background 

 soared the nameless black peaks of the 

 Battle Range in formidable array. Sharp 

 ridges of nearly equal height walled in 

 high glacier basins, below which black, 

 rocky slopes, shining with moisture, 

 pitched steeply into the valley. 



The most elevated point seemed to rise 

 at the right, where a single rounded sum- 

 mit pierced the sky at an altitude not far 

 from 11,000 feet. From its shoulders 

 the snow fell away to the largest glacier 

 in the group. All this formed an allur- 

 ing, although somewhat forbidding, pros- 

 pect. 



We returned to camp and a day or two 

 later again made the col, this time labor- 

 ing under 40-pound packs. \\'ith .scarcely 

 a pause we plunged down the snow to 

 the glacier and began a winding march 

 between its crevasses. As we had feared, 

 the crest seen from above concealed a 

 huge ice-fall. 



The glacier was gashed from side to 

 side for fully 2.000 feet down. Surely 

 our way was not there. Carefully fol- 

 lowing the edge, we turned to our left 

 and made for the margin of the stream, 

 where at length we were rewarded by 



