Notable Mountaineering in ipos- 45 



We passed the camp at the base of Whitney where 

 Langley carried on his experiments and tackled the flank 

 of the mountain. The ascent, while toilsome, was not 

 dangerous nor difficult, and we made frequent short halts 

 to enjoy the magnificent alpine scenery. By 8:45 we 

 stood on the top of the highest mountain summit in the 

 United States proper. The others kept coming up, until, 

 numbering one hundred and three, it was the largest 

 party ever assembled at one time on a California moun- 

 tain-top. We looked out over the great valley to the 

 eastward and the Inyo Range beyond, and plainly dis- 

 tinguished Lone Pine and the meandering green lines of 

 the river and irrigating systems nearly eleven thousand 

 feet below us. To the southward we saw the end of the 

 Sierra where it breaks off intO' foot-hills and the lower 

 ridges; to the westward in the clear morning light the 

 Kaweahs and the Sawtooth Range, serrated and snow- 

 flecked. But it was to the northward the grandest view 

 lay, — peak after peak and crag after crag, the highest 

 Sierra in all their nobility and grandeur. Near, and per- 

 haps most striking of all, was Mt. Williamson, its almost 

 perpendicular side ridged and fluted in rich dark reds 

 and browns, its summit dentated, and apparently defying 

 all attempts at climbing. 



Seven of the advance party, however, under the guid- 

 ance of the untiring mountaineer, Le Conte, had con- 

 quered it after much toil and hardship. As we gazed 

 at its forbidding mien one of us remarked, " Well, day 

 after to-morrow some of us will stand on that rugged 

 peak," only to be greeted with questioning smiles. 



But several of us had long determined that the ascent 

 of Williamson was to be the feature of our summer, and 



