36 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



the wall that lay before us, rising some two thousand 

 feet, and after considerable discussion, we chose the 

 middle possibility, a chimney which reached the top at 

 what appeared its lowest point. That was a thoroughly 

 delectable chimney — for a few minutes. Then it petered 

 out into a narrow slide cut in the surrounding rock, and 

 covered with gravel and debris barely sticking at the 

 angle of rest, and ready to form innumerable miniature 

 land-slides as our feet disturbed the general equilibrium. 

 So we gave up the chimney and took to rock-work on its 

 flanks. For two hours we labored upward, often retrac- 

 ing our steps when a false move had brought us to impas- 

 sible places, and always hampered by the condition of the 

 rock, which was extremely rotten and untrustworthy. 



Finally, however, we gained the summit and were 

 doubly rewarded; first, by the magnificent view, and, 

 secondly, by the discovery that our fears of a precipitous 

 drop on the other side were ungrounded, for a snow-slide 

 offered means of descent. Incidentally, we later dis- 

 covered that the route chosen was the only possible one, 

 for at no other place on the Kern-Kaweah side of the 

 divide was there any chance whatever for descent. The 

 view was truly inspiring, and probably doubly appre- 

 ciated because of the difficulty attending its enjoyment. 

 Below us, to the west, lay Nine Lake Basin, now darkly 

 shadowed, and stretching away from it to the south the 

 deep-cut canon of the Big Arroyo; over the strangely 

 fashioned skyline of the Great Western Divide we caught 

 glimpses of the wooded country beyond and, farther yet, 

 of the hazy reaches of the San Joaquin Valley. The 

 valley of the Kern-Kaweah stretched towards the east, 

 at first a broad, seemingly almost level field of rock, dotted 

 with tiny lakes and patches of snow, and in the distance 

 narrowing into a more distinct canon. Beyond was the 

 endless sea of snow-capped peaks, with Whitney and its 

 neighbors rising loftily, and above all was the California 

 sky of deHcate blue. Altogether a wondrous view and 

 long to be remembered. 



