The High Mountain Route. 



II 



and more, and soon became a knife-edge of the Main 

 Crest. Still we climbed along it, now descending slightly, 

 till finally a little spire was reached and beyond was im- 

 possible. Directly in front the knife-edge dropped off 

 abruptly 500 feet into a notch, and on the other side 

 was a clear cliff of 1,000 feet: the north face of Mount 

 Abbott. A more absolute failure could not be imagined. 

 We could not cross the chasm without wings, and could 

 not even descend from our mountain by any other route 

 than the one chosen for the ascent! We did not linger 

 long. Though the scene was superb, it hurt to look at it. 

 We ate our lunch at the end of the knife-edge, and started 

 back. The snow was softer on the return, and we were 

 enabled to slide down and shoot the snow bridge in 

 safety. It was a long, weary tramp back to camp through 

 snow softened by the hot sun, and lower down through 

 the thick brush of the canon side. Arrived in camp at 

 4:30, there was still time to move to better feed, so we 

 hurried on the packs in about an hour and pushed five 

 miles down Mono Creek to a beautiful little meadow at 

 the mouth of the Second Recess. 



It was hard, very hard, to get up next morning, so we 

 were lazy and did not get off till 8. There seemed to 

 be no way to cross from Mono to Bear Creek by any of 

 the great recesses, and we therefore tramped on down 

 Mono Creek to pick up the main trail which crosses the 

 divide further to the west. In Vermilion Valley we 

 found the flat overrun with cattle, but saw no herders. 

 Thunder caps commenced to gather at 9, and by noon it 

 began to rain. We crossed Mono Creek by a good ford, 

 and climbed the divide to the south. We missed the Bear 

 Creek trail at first, but pushed on up the ridge, hoping 

 to intersect it. About 3 in the afternoon a furious thun- 

 derstorm broke, but it lasted only a few minutes, and 

 soon after we had made connection with the Bear Creek 

 trail. By evening the top of the divide was reached 

 and we camped at a small meadow just below the sum- 

 mit. During most of the night it rained, but we slept 

 soundly under our rubber blankets. 



