TRAMPS ACROSS GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLL\Mi;iA 



477 



MOUNT KILPATRICK (10,624 FEUT), FIRST ASCENDED IN I909 BY MESSRS E. W. D. 

 HOLWAY, E. K. BUTTERS, AND HOWARD PALMER (SEE PAGE 473) 



the discovery of a moraine almost hidden 

 under winter snow. Descending its curv- 

 ing crest, in half an hour we found our- 

 selves at the foot of the ice-fall on the 

 great level reaches of the upper Battle 

 Glacier. 



The sun had now set for us, though 

 it was but 4 o'clock, burying the glacier 

 as well as the valley below in deep 

 shadow. Only Grand Mountain and the 

 peaks in its chain were still bathed in 

 bright sunlight. Haste was indeed im- 

 perative were we to camp before night- 

 fall in the gloomy depression three miles 

 below. Accordingly after only a mo- 

 ment's halt we shouldered our burdens 

 and resumed our way. The next two 

 hours passed in a monotonous grind, first 

 through the slush of the glacier and then 

 over the sharp stones of a great medial 

 moraine which appeared to afiford the 

 Quickest road to the vallev. On our left 

 the other branch of the glacier, emerging 



from a dark defile, joined ours, the two 

 forming the mile-wide stream of Battle 

 Glacier, shaped like a huge letter Y. 



Dusk was upon us as we approached 

 the crest of the high terminal moraine 

 which had hitherto concealed the valley's 

 depths where we hoped to camp. For 

 the last four miles our route had lain 

 through a forlorn waste of ice. snow, 

 and jagged rocks. A few sparse patche? 

 of green grass did indeed clothe the 

 slopes to the left here and there, but they 

 onlv served to emphasize the barrenness 

 by contrast. Not even a marmot's whis- 

 tle had cheered us with its shrill note. 



Unless our surroundings changed very 

 considerably in the next hour, a night on 

 the sharp stones of the moraine, with 

 nothing to eat but crackers, chocolate, 

 and dried fruit, was all we could look 

 forward to. Accordingly it was not sur- 

 prising that we hurried rather anxiously 

 up the rocky slope toward the top. 



