484 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEERITORIES. 



progress from this elevated stand-point with great interest, now and 

 then jnmpiug upon a rock to get a better view. They reminded us 

 very much of some of the ilhistrations in the school geographies. A 

 little farther on we came to a large steep snow-bank, up which we 

 climbed with difficulty, cutting notches in the snow for foot-holds. At 

 the upper end of this we came to what was much worse, very steep 

 and dangerous rock-walls. From this point to the summit the stone 

 is crj'stallized into vertical blocks, broken up so as to be very insecure. 

 Near the beginning of this part we came to a notch in the narrow 

 ridge which was tilled in by a great stone, with its upper part wedge- 

 shaped. On the east was a fall, very nearly vertical, of two or 

 three hundred feet, termiuating below in the steep snow-bank already 

 mentioned. On the west was a precipice many hundreds of feet in 

 height. Over this wedge we had to pass by straddling it and sliding 

 ourselves carefully across. The whole distance was not more than ten 

 or fifteen feet. It seemed very much like crawling along the comb of 

 the roof of a very high house. Just beyond arose a steep rock-wall of 

 loose shelving rock, up which we climbed with great difficulty, from the 

 fact that all the rocks were loose; and even the largest could not be 

 surely depended on. Eeachiug the summit of this we had to walk for 

 forty or titty yards aloug the sharp ridge over loose blocks of stone 

 standing on their ends. The ridge was so sharp that we had to follow 

 the center. On either side the slopes were so nearly vertical that if a 

 person should once slip there would be nothing to stop his descent for 

 many hundred feet, and in some places a thousand feet or more. All 

 the stones were so loose that we could feel them move under our feet. 

 For a part of the distance we had to walk straight, without anything to 

 lay our hands on. At one point in paTticular, we had to leap across a 

 break in the ridge where a stone had fallen out, trusting to Providence 

 for ihe firmness of the new foot-hold. This was at an elevation of 

 nearly 14,200 feet. We came very near giving up here; but we could 

 just get a glimpse of the main peak a little farther on, and the tempta- 

 tion .was too strong for us. After getting over this very dangerous part, 

 we came to a deep crevasse which cut across the ridge, and succeeded, 

 with great difficulty, in getting down to the bottom of it. A thin 

 coating of ice over many of the stones, remaining from a recent hail- 

 storm, added greatly to the danger of the climb. Thence we had to 

 climb around the edge of a bluff, which we found a very dangerous un- 

 dertaking. Once over this we climbed out of the crevasse without 

 difficulty and gained the longed-for summit. We found it composed 

 ot the same rock as I have described, crystallized in vertical prisms, 

 but crumbling away. Beyond a space probably eight or ten feet square, 

 we could not pass without the very greatest danger of being precipitated 

 over the terrible blutts surrounding us on nearly all sides. We could 

 scarcely find space enough for a monument, with room enough to pass 

 around it. We did, however, leave a small monument of loose stones 

 to mark this station, (station o5.) The thermometer stood at 33° Fahren- 

 heit, which, with a steady- breeze from the west, did not add to our com- 

 fort, especially as we had to confine our movements to such a small 

 area. While we were up here clouds began to come from the northeast 

 directly toward us and against the wind, apparently moved by an under- 

 current, as they were below us. We could trace distinctly the track of 

 the slight snow which fell the last night, by its marks on the peaks of 

 the great mass. This peak was a spler.did point for a station, giving 

 the key to the drainage and topography for miles around. To the east 

 and north the San Miguel and its tributaries appeared to us, from our 



