94 THE MT ST ELI AS EXPEDITION OF 



known of on American peaks, and was carried out like a mili- 

 tary maneuver. Perfect discipline and harmony prevailed, the 

 ten Italians leading the way, while Major Ingraham and his ten 

 packers conducted a transport service that never failed in 

 promptly passing on, by the chain of ' camps extending to the 

 foot of the Newton glacier, the ample store of provisions landed 

 at the seashore. There was not the slightest dela}^ nor hitch in 

 any of the arrangements, and from the time Prince Luigi left 

 Turin until he returned to London everything moved like mil- 

 itary maneuvers at an annual review. It was indeed but a 

 promenade to the top of Mt St Elias and back again — a prom- 

 enade over the ice and snow that had daunted and defeated 

 four expeditions before that year and a fifth expedition but a 

 fortnight before Prince Luigi landed on the forest-covered edge 

 of the Malaspina glacier. 



Starting from the seacoast on the morning of June 24 and 

 alwaj^s preceding the party to choose the way and determine the 

 places for halts and camps. Prince Luigi led his men across 

 Malaspina's forest, and on the sixth day reached the edge of 

 clear ice, where the four extra Indian packers were sent back to 

 Yakutat and the sleds made ready for use. They were then 492 

 feet above the sea, the real climb began, and for all the rest of 

 the way their route lay over snow and ice — Mt St Elias pre- 

 senting the longest snow climb anywhere in the world. 



Beginning their alpine work on the 1st of July, allowing one 

 day's rest on the Fourth that the Americans might celebrate 

 Independence Day, Prince Luigi piloted them across the Malas- 

 pina and Seward glaciers to the point near Pinnacle pass where 

 he found the cairn and tent fragments left by Prof. Russell in 

 1890. At that point Major Ingraham and the American pack- 

 ers were left behind to carry on independently the work of pass- 

 ing provisions up from the coast and victualling the route as far 

 as the upper Newton glacier, where the Italian guides then took 

 charge of the packs. The Prince proceeded across the Seward 

 and on up the Agassiz and Newton glaciers toward that same 

 ridge on the north side of St Elias from which Prof. Russell es- 

 sayed the summit in 1891. They encountered rain, fog, mist, 

 and snow for all the early part of the climb, dragging the sleds 

 over slush and soft snow in which they often sank to their hips. 

 Of the thirteen days spent in toilsomely ascending the Newton 

 glacier only three were tolerably clear, and Dr Filippo says: 

 " During these the panorama was really enchanting, with its 



