112 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Marsh has become quite cheerful. The barometer is 

 steady, and the barometric pains in his foot have ceased. 

 Both indicate a speedy ending of the storm. 



I can scarcely see my lines because of the water on 

 the page. So I shall just push the pencil through it. 

 The page will dry later. 



This afternoon we went up the palisade to inspect the 

 trail. Lone Pine Pass, where our route crosses the 

 range at 13,000 feet, was faintly distinguishable in the 

 clouds from where we stood above Mirror Lake. Across 

 the amphitheatre arose majestic Crag Winchell, which 

 broods over our camp. 



Monday Noon, March 6. 



Breakfast has just been eaten. Two inches of snow 

 fell last night. The wind is still blowing moderately from 

 the east. Masses of cloud are still passing. The mini- 

 mum thermometer registered 12° F. above zero last 

 night. 



It was, therefore, no colder than at the altitude of 

 13,000 feet last July, when Marsh was constructing the 

 trail. Zero temperature in a sub-tropical climate is cer- 

 tainly low enough, and Mount Whitney lies between two 

 warm valleys. 



The barometer remains steady at 10,400 feet. 



The snow seems to be so dry that the cold does not 

 make it pack readily. Its drift, moreover, is considerable. 

 We can make the ascent unless warm weather starts the 

 snow slopes to moving or makes them insecure. 



I saw an eagle this morning as I lay in bed, soaring 

 round the brow of Crag Winchell. Pie soon alighted 

 there. He seems to have his eyrie on the crag. Marsh 

 saw him soaring there two days ago, when we were at 

 Lone Pine Lake. 



My lips are very yellow and sore with blisters. I have 

 tried court plaster, but unsuccessfully. I wish we had 

 some tomatoes or other vegetables. We are saving our 

 canned beans for the dash up Whitney. 



