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Sierra Club Bulletin, 



midday, when we lunched on cold mush and prunes and 

 then worked again till the cool shade of late afternoon 

 overtook us. At this time a considerable stretch of snow 

 still remained, but it looked as though the animals could 

 get down over it. 



After a few minutes' rest, spent in gazing up the steep 

 white slope half-covered by a jagged-edged shadow, 

 whose edge ran up the middle of the pass, lined by our 

 trail, flanked by jagged brown granite pinnacles, and 

 crowned by the dark blue alpine sky, we started the hard 

 job of dragging and carrying our goods to the bottom, 

 for the animals would have all they could do to manage 

 themselves. The kyaks we dragged along the trail, be- 

 cause it was easier than carrying them, and it helped to 

 pack the now softened snow. Our clothes-bags we tied 

 up tightly and rolled over the top. Immediately, charmed 

 by gravity, they seemed to become animate, and with 

 great leaps sped along until they reached the level and 

 were ordinary clothes-bags again. This work necessi- 

 tated each man going up and down the pass — a vertical 

 distance of about seven hundred feet — three times, which 

 well-nigh exhausted us all. 



With our outfit packed safely on the rocks at the bot- 

 tom, we turned our attention to the last and most diffi- 

 cult undertaking. All day long our minds had looked 

 forward in nervous apprehension to taking the animals 

 down the trail. The events of the day had not made us 

 optimistic, and with our bones aching and our skins burn- 

 ing we looked for the worst. On reaching the top we 

 saw the poor horses with their heads hung low and their 

 ears in noncommittal attitudes, the very pictures of dejec- 

 tion. Our hearts went out to them, for we knew they 



