The Ascent of the North Palisades. 1 1 



marveled at its wonderful setting. About its head was a 

 miglity array of snow-clad peaks, now flashing in the 

 rays of the setting sun. It was far more pleasant to enjoy 

 this view than to think of the difficult day ahead and of 

 those left behind in camp so far away. 



We were up again by dawn the morning of the 24th. 

 After considerable trouble with our primitive stove, we 

 finally got breakfast, and, shouldering camera, plane- 

 table, and lunch, took our way up Glacier Brook, deter- 

 mined to work into the great amphitheater, try the North 

 Palisade from the southeast, and if unsuccessful to ascend 

 Mt. Sill. After an hour's climb over talus-piles, meadows, 

 glaciated slopes, and snow, we obtained a glimpse of the 

 ragged western front of our mountain through a gap in 

 the northern wall of the canon. Soon this was lost sight 

 of ; the canon turned in behind the Palisade ridge, and we 

 were at the entrance to the amphitheater. The slope of 

 Sill plunged down into it rather precipitously from the 

 east, and was bare of snow, with the exception of three 

 long stripes just below the summit. The side toward the 

 Palisade ridge was, to our surprise, not so precipitous, nor 

 was it rough toward the head on the cross-divide between 

 the peaks. The floor, western side, and head was covered 

 with a continuous field of snow, changing into ice at the 

 lower end. We climbed over pile after pile of great talus 

 fragments, and gladly took to the snow at the earliest 

 opportunity. At first it was hard and comparatively 

 smooth, but higher up it became indescribably rough. 

 The unequal melting of the snow cut the whole mass up 

 into a labyrinth of great knife-blades, which were some- 

 times four feet high and two or three feet apart. We were 

 forced to step from blade to blade, balancing on the sharp 



