The Ascent of the North Palisades. 15 



sore legs and arms, Moffitt, Hutchinson, and I struck 

 back up the canon again just after sunrise. When 

 opposite the break in the western side, we cUmbed 

 from ledge to ledge, and finally reached the notch 

 which Hutchinson had investigated the day before. 

 We could now see the whole profile of the great 

 mountain, consisting of crags and precipices piled up 

 for two thousand feet above a vast talus-field along its 

 base. Evidently the first move was to cross this field 

 and reach a point opposite the summit, whence any chim- 

 neys that might exist could be examined. This was a 

 great consumer of time, for the blocks fallen from the 

 mountain were of immense size and often the spaces be- 

 tween were filled with soft snow. By 8 130 the field was 

 crossed, and we now saw the entrance of a great chute, 

 or chimney, twenty or thirty feet w^de in places, which 

 cleft the western precipice from crest to base. This was 

 evidently the same which terminated in the impassable 

 notch at the top, and which had been the cause of all our 

 trouble the day before. It was useless to follow it all the 

 way up, even if accessible, for we knew that it would be 

 impossible to climb out of the notch in any case. The 

 rest of the front seemed blank, so there was no choice 

 but to start up and look for a point above where the 

 chute could be abandoned on the left-hand side. 



At first the climbing was over loose material, tedious 

 but not difficult. Then we struck the rocky bottom of the 

 gorge, and the trouble began. In some places snow- 

 banks were encountered — not so steep but that toe-holds 

 could be kicked out. The containing walls for some dis- 

 tance were inaccessible, till finally we came to a point 

 where a crack ran up the left side, and immediately above 



