i66 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



On the cliff to our right were the places from which the 

 huge cubes and parallelograms of granite had broken 

 off, and in the bottom of the gorge were the fallen masses. 

 The loosened blocks on the western wall, which was some- 

 what inclined, although cracked, broken, and misplaced, 

 still remained approximately in their original positions. 



After crossing a snow-field, which was frozen hard, 

 a small shelf was reached, the last level place on the 

 mountain, and from here commenced the final ascent of 

 the gorge. Almost immediately we came upon the same 

 large smooth, polished granite slope which had baffled 

 Messrs. Le Conte and Cory. It formed the bottom of 

 the gorge, and sloped upward for a distance of thirty 

 feet as steep as a cathedral roof. To add to its difficulties, 

 it was completely covered with a thin layer of ice, about 

 a quarter of an inch thick. A single trial of walking on 

 it was enough, for we immediately went tobogganing to 

 its foot. We tried it on all fours, but this was impos- 

 sible. Finally, to the right was found a tiny rocky chute 

 between this icy granite slope and the eastern wall of the 

 gorge. Up this for ten or fifteen feet I climbed, and 

 here, being blocked by a large boulder, it terminated; 

 but from this point, running off diagonally to the left, 

 there was a tiny cleavage- joint in the granite slab. The 

 nails in my shoes would cling to this as I reclined on my 

 hands, face downward, against the frozen surface. In 

 this way I worked crosswise over the slope and up to 

 the broken cliffs above. Once there, it was an easy matter 

 to reach the top of the boulder which had blocked the 

 tiny chimney. Soon all of us were over this difficulty. 

 Upward we went, clambering over boulders, hands and 

 feet both in constant use. The chute was frequently 



