The High Mountain Route. 



13 



up on the Main Crest again, just to the south of the 

 summit of Mount Abbott. The view in every direction 

 was glorious, — the terrible drop-off of the eastern slope 

 with the desert ranges of the Great Basin on one side, 

 and the wilderness of practically unexplored Sierras on 

 the other. I set up my camera, and took a round of 

 pictures, for a single glance along the crest to the north 

 made it evident that this was probably the nearest that 

 any of us would get to the summit of Mount Abbott. 

 Then we worked along the most awful knife-edge imag- 

 inable for fifty yards ; that was enough. Huge blocks as 

 large as houses were balanced on the thin edge, and deep 

 chasms gashed it down like the teeth of a saw. A 

 glance was enough for me ; I went back to the top of the 

 chimney and lay down in the warm sunshine, while wait- 

 ing for Hutchinson, who had gone a little further, and 

 was examining the summit with his glasses. It was no 

 use. We started down again, and made our way with- 

 out trouble to the base of the mountain. 



It was still early in the day. W e would not give up 

 till every side of the mountain had been examined, so 

 we worked along the base of the western cliff till directly 

 below the summit. Here the wall was somewhat more 

 broken, and offered good rock climbing. Higher up the 

 way narrowed to a chimney, but still the footing was 

 good. We took plenty of time and gradually worked up 

 to within 100 feet of the top. Then the rope was brought 

 into play, and, after two or three ugly places, we finally 

 climbed over the edge once more, this time at the extreme 

 summit, and Mount Abbott was conquered. 



There was no sign of any sort to show that the moun- 

 tain had previously been ascended, in fact, I think it cer- 

 tain that no mountaineer had ever before been nearer 

 than the peak of the Seven Gables, six miles to the 

 southwest. We built a good, solid monument, and left 

 therein a record of the ascent. We rested on the top an 

 hour, when the lateness of the hour warned us to make 

 all haste. 



