406 The National Geographic Magazine 



there is the further possibility of diffi- 

 culty in getting to this position. 



Mount Drum is lower than either 

 Mount Sanford or Mount Blackburn by 

 more than 4,000 feet. Its base is more 

 accessible than that of any of the other 

 peaks, as it stands out in the Copper 

 River Valley well to the west of its com- 

 panions. The air-line distance from 

 Copper Center to the summit is less than 

 25 miles, and the lowest point in the 

 divide connecting it with the Mount 

 Sanford-Wrangell pile is about 5,000 

 feet ; hence one may travel entirely 

 around the mountain by way of the 

 Dadina and Sanford River valleys with- 

 out having to make any difficult climbs. 



But this little 12,000-foot peak ap- 

 pears to be one of the hardest of the 

 group to scale. It is really but the 

 skeleton of a mountain, having been so 

 eaten away by the Nadina drainage 

 that its summit is only a sharp crescent- 

 shaped ridge, surrounding the amphi- 

 theater in which Nadina glacier heads. 

 The prospectors of the region speak of 

 it appropriately as the ' ' shell. ' ' Other 

 drainage than that of the Nadina has 

 been active, so that all of its faces are 

 steep, and the ice masses which hang on 

 them are greatly crevassed. It is these 

 which present the difficulties. If Drum 

 were free from glaciers it would be 

 merely interesting as a rock climb. As 

 it is, the only route to the summit which 

 appears to be at all practicable is that 

 by the ridge between the Nadina and 

 Klawasina glaciers. Pack animals may 

 be taken 5 or 6 miles above the foot of 

 Nadina glacier, and camp established 

 on a little flat just west of the glacier, 

 within an air-line distance of less than 

 5 miles from the summit. B3' climb- 

 ing westward, up the valley of a little 

 brook, the ridge in question may be 

 reached at between 6,000 and 7,000 

 feet, and, so far as may be judged from 

 below, its ascent will not prove difficult 

 up to 10,000 feet. Beyond that it is 

 very narrow, the ice overhangs, is cre- 

 vassed, and probably unsafe, but care- 



ful mountaineers may be able to make 

 their way over it to the summit. 



Snider' s Peak — Little Drum, it is 

 sometimes called — lies just south of the 

 main peak. It is 8,300 feet high, and 

 although sheathed in ice on its north 

 slope, is free from it on the south and 

 very precipitous. 



IMPORTANT GLACIERS OF THE GROUP 



Several of the important glaciers of 

 the mountain group have already been 

 mentioned incidentally. The whole 

 central mountain mass above 7,000 feet 

 is a neve field above which project oc- 

 casional points, too sharp to permit the 

 accumulation of snow. From this cen- 

 tral snow-field Alpine glaciers drain in 

 all directions down canyon-like valleys 

 which the glaciers themselves have 

 moulded. As the divide between the 

 northward and the southward flowing 

 streams lies nearer the southern line of 

 the group, and so near the southern line 

 of the high area in which snow accumu- 

 lates, it follows that the greatest glaciers 

 flow to the north. The largest of these 

 are the Nabesna and Chisana, ice streams 

 45 and 30 miles long respectively and 

 the sources of the two great branches 

 of the Tanana River. 



Kennicott glacier on the south side 

 of the range, draining the slopes of 

 Mounts Blackburn and Regal, is prob- 

 ably the third of the ice streams in 

 magnitude. Then follow a host of 

 smaller glaciers — Nizina, Kuskulana, 

 Copper, Nadina, Jacksina — all sources 

 of streams of the same name and none 

 of them less than 10 miles in length. 

 The glaciers of the Alps are few in 

 number and insignificant in size, by 

 comparison. 



From each of these glaciers flows a 

 turbulent river. Usually, as it issues 

 from beneath the ice foot, the stream 

 spreads out over a wide flood plain, 

 built up of coarse material, upon which 

 it constantly shifts its numerous chan- 

 nels. After a course which varies from 

 a few to many miles over such a flood 



