THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



'a SINGIvE MATTli;RHORN-LIKE; SUMMIT TOWERED IN EONELY SPEENDOR 



(see page 483) 



The scene which greeted us was in- 

 deed one of wildest grandeur. Two hun- 

 dred feet below us a raging torrent 

 foamed out from beneath the glacier, 

 racing into a narrow gorge with a thun- 

 derous roar. Lower down it emerged, 

 and we could follow its course for per- 

 haps a mile further winding between 

 banks densely overgrown . with alders. 

 There the valley widened out and its 

 gradients became gentler, but of forest 

 there was hardly a patch. Alders and 

 steep grassy slopes were the rule. Nearer, 

 on either hand, its sides slanted abruptly 

 back in rough rock-piles, breaking into 

 cliffs higher up, where ice fringed the 

 skyline and sharp summits stood out 

 black against the evening sky. 



It was a rather disheartening outlook 

 for a hungry party with nothing but 

 green wood in sight for miles. But we 

 couldn't be worse off than where we 

 were on the glacier, so we prepared to 

 push further down the gorge on the 

 chance that something better would ap- 

 pear. 



Just then what was our surprise to see 



on a ridge of the moraine not 200 feet 

 away a fine yearling grizzly bear. He- 

 had been traveling in our direction, but 

 out of sight below the moraine, and his- 

 astonishment at finding himself suddenly 

 face to face with three strange creatures, 

 was ludicrous to behold. He stopped 

 short, looked us over for a full minute,, 

 then gave a deep "hoo wuif" and, turn- 

 ing around, disappeared. Regretting" 

 that our cameras were tightly strapped- 

 up in our packs, we continued our way 

 down into the gorge. 



We had progressed hardly a hundred- 

 feet when, above us on the mountain 

 side, lo, another grizzly was sighted, this- 

 time a full-grown mother bear with a 

 cub. She was nosing about in the alder- 

 bushes apparently unaware of our pres- 

 ence, and looking for all the world like- 

 a contentedly grazing cow. 



With no arms but our ice-axes and nO' 

 trees nearer than 5 miles, it did not seem 

 wise to disturb the brute or to give her 

 any reason for desiring to make our ac- 

 quaintance, so we slid down the slippery- 

 forefoot of the glacier to the edge of th? 



