Ascent of Red Peak 



29 



repartee with the squirrels, the j' ays, the water ouzels and 

 finally the Clark crows, who announced my arrival above 

 the timber line with rather unnecessary vigor, I did not 

 reach the limit of vegetation in the cirque under the south 

 face of Red Peak till noon. Here at about 10,000 feet 

 elevation I lunched, took a rest, and was amused to notice 

 a new character watching me. His nose was blunt, his 

 ears short and his tail resembling that of a prairie dog 

 or a beaver. He studied me with such consuming interest 

 — now lying down, now standing erect on his hind legs, 

 that I came to the conclusion that this mountain beaver ( ?) 

 was collecting material for a book on "Mountain Climbers 

 That I Have Met." 



Remembering that Twin Peaks in San Francisco are 

 900 feet high, I estimated that it was about 500 feet more 

 to the top of Red Peak from where I lunched at the 

 source of Red Creek. It turned out to be the hardest 500 

 feet of mountain that I had yet ascended. My experience 

 was midway between going up steep stairs and climbing 

 a ladder, for I had to use my hands as well as my feet 

 many times. This Red Peak, whose monumented top I 

 saw for the first time from the saddle between it and 

 Gray Peak at two o'clock, ought to have been called Red 

 Knife-edge. The highest peak is located on one of three 

 knife-edges or aretes radiating from a common center. 

 This knife-edge, moreover, is not composed of enduring 

 material like solid granite, but seems as if made of loose 

 pieces cemented with a substance which time dissolves or 

 which yields readily to the splitting action of the frost. 

 On the north face the rock has disintegrated until there is 

 a nearly vertical precipice three or four hundred feet high. 

 On the south and west exposures the surface is as nearly 

 vertical as the angle of repose will permit rock talus to be. 



I did not reach the top till two-thirty, but found the 

 view, which is always considered to be the mountain 

 climber's ample reward, fully up to expectations, especially 

 across the canon of the Merced toward Mounts Lyell and 

 Ritter. The atmosphere was clear and the sunshiny day 



