The Ascent of the North Palisades. 17 



lowed ! One who has not been in a similar position can 

 never realize our feelings as foot by foot the upward path 

 was won, and nearer and nearer came the tiny rounded 

 cap above. Again we entered a chimney, and again came 

 through in safety. Now we were in a sort of sloping 

 bowl directly below the top. To go straight up was not 

 to be thought of, as the caplike summit almost overhung 

 on that side. We worked up toward the knife-edge just 

 to the south, and instantly the stupendous panorama of 

 precipice, glacier, and desert burst upon us. We were on 

 the main ridge between the impassable notch of yesterday 

 and the top. Even there — even twenty feet below the 

 top we almost failed. The knife-edge was composed of 

 thin blocks standing up on edge, from six to eight feet 

 apart, and equally high. These had to be climbed over 

 one by one, by letting down at arm's-length between two 

 and pulling up over the thin edge of the next. At 1 1 130 

 we crawled out upon the crown, victorious at last, after 

 nearly two thousand feet of difficult rock-climbing. 



The panorama is nearly the same as that from Mt. 

 Sill, with the exception of the basin of the main Middle 

 Fork, which lay, a lake-dotted plateau scored with canons, 

 at our very feet. On the other side the course of the 

 Palisade Glacier could be followed farther down than 

 from Sill, and the crest to the north was better shown. 

 The knife-edge to the north of the summit was frightfully 

 gashed, making an ascent from that side wholly out of 

 the question. An approach from the east might be possi- 

 ble, though very doubtful. We had already satisfied 

 ourselves that the southern knife-edge was beyond our 

 powers, so the route up the western front seems to be 

 the only feasible one. 



