RECREA TION. 



■43 



the hard snow and ice, and in our right 

 hands we carried alpenstocks. 



For 3,500 feet we climbed over rocks 

 and snow and were enveloped in heavy- 

 clouds. At last we rose above them and 

 saw still above us, and to our left, the 

 glistening form of Peak Success. Be- 

 tween us and the peak was the Nes- 

 qually glacier, a perfect chaos of seamed, 

 crevassed and corrugated ice. At points 

 it was upheaved and ruptured in violent 

 fashion, and mammoth blocks of ice 

 stood on end, edgewise, and in every 

 conceivable position. 



and see the debris strewn by the ava- 

 lanches from above, and the yawning 

 crevasses, the deep fissures in the ice, 

 that cut across it. A false step in 

 places, and one would soon be lying 

 down in these cold, gloomy depths. 



The sun has gone down when, at an ele- 

 vation of 1 1,500 feet we bivouac, on a nar- 

 row rock ledge for the night. Although 

 in midsummer, the night was bitter cold. 

 We had great difficulty in keeping warm 

 with the few blankets we could carry with 

 us. With the first cold gray glintings 

 of sunlight, which came across the main 



UPPER GIBRALTAR ROCK. 



Late in the afternoon, after an appar- 

 ently endless tramp over an ascending 

 ice plain, a mile and more wide and 

 reaching from the Nesqually to the 

 Cowlitz glaciers, the foot of the Cow- 

 litz Cleaver rises over us. A great wedge 

 of volcanic rock, steep and precipitous, 

 is forced up between these two glaciers, 

 and forms the most toilsome part of the 

 ascent. In places it is extremely dan- 

 gerous. Slowly and with care we pick 

 our way among the sharp rocks. We 

 look down on the Nesqually glacier 



Cascades from the east, we are up and 

 making ready for the assault on the peak 

 itself. Thus far it has been mere child's 

 play, save only the climb up the Cleaver, 

 but now the real work is at hand. 



Two hours are consumed in making 

 preparations and in eating a cold — yes, 

 a mighty cold, breakfast, seeing that most 

 of it is frozen — when at 6.30 a. m., of the 

 8th, the march is resumed. 



The route is partly over the rocks 

 and partly on the hard, slippery nevt 

 ice at the head of the Cowlitz glacier. 



