l6o Sierra Club Bulletin. 



and water. These preparations having been completed, 

 we followed up the little valley where Whitney and 

 I had ascended the day before. The packs were heavy 

 and we moved slowly, stopping frequently to rest. By 

 lo o'clock we reached the snow-tongue pass (about 

 12,200 feet), at the head of the snow-tongue which I have 

 already mentioned. Taking off our sleeping-bag rolls, 

 two of them were started down the snow-tongue. They 

 bounded, plunged, and jumped furiously, and finally 

 landed at the top of a rocky buttress which projected 

 out at the foot of the snow-field six hundred feet below 

 us. A third one was then started. Half-way down the 

 slope it struck upon a rocky island which projected up 

 through the snow and burst open like a sausage, scatter- 

 ing cans, bags of coffee, sugar, and sticks of chocolate in 

 all directions over the snow. It was a difficult task to 

 gather up the fragments, for the field was so steep and 

 frozen that it was impossible to move on it without the use 

 of the rope and ice-ax. On the shores of a little lake 

 near the foot of the snow-tongue we stopped for a hasty 

 lunch. This little lake is located in the bottom of the 

 cirque into which we had descended, and for that reason 

 we named it " Cirque Lake." The pass over which we 

 had come we called " Snow-Tongue Pass." 



Across the immense granite basin which bounds Mt. 

 Humphreys on the west were seen several tiny groups 

 of dwarf pine, in which a camp could be made, but 

 upon reaching that place it was found that a high bluff 

 rising behind completely shut off our view. As we 

 wished to camp within full sight of the mountain, we 

 decided to seek further. Whitney had gone exploring, 

 and presently returned with the news that he had found 



