Pioneering in the Southern Selkirks 



245 



traverse of the glacier. We had decided that our most prac- 

 ticable route would be to follow the glacier's highest arm and 

 swing over to the ridge of rock beyond. And so it proved, for 

 the eastern ridge, which we tried, was inaccessible. Before at- 

 tempting the steep snow-climbing just below the bergschrund 

 we roped ourselves together, for many treacherous crevasses 

 lay hidden beneath the snow. With little difficulty, however^ 

 we gained the ridge, and after a short scramble among loose 

 rocks and overhanging ledges found an easy way over the neve 

 and the upper slopes of shale to the summit. There we held a 

 joyful celebration of our victory, ceremoniously christened the 

 peak Mt. Bruce, and built a great cairn in which to deposit our 

 record. The names registered were E. W. Harnden, Lulie 

 Nettleton, Dave Brown, and Marion R. Parsons. From aneroid 

 readings, later corrected at Windermere, we estimated Bruce to 

 be about 11,250 feet, some 6,000 feet above our camp. Mt. 

 Farnham, ten miles to eastward, was estimated by Captain and 

 Mrs. A. H. MacCarthy of Wilmer, who made its first ascent 

 only a few weeks before our climb, to be 11,090 feet. A third 

 peak of the region that we judged to be well over eleven thou- 

 sand has not yet been climbed. 



One disappointment awaited us — a smoky atmosphere made 

 it impossible to get any photographic record of the wonderful 

 summit panorama. We were able, however, to get compass 

 bearings on the principal peaks and gain a very good general 

 idea of the almost unexplored region about us. The most im- 

 pressive feature was the enormous expanse of ice, miles and 

 miles of white fields gleaming behind the ruddy smoke veil like 

 sunset glories half hidden in fog. The Starbird Glacier, that 

 filled a basin eight to ten miles wide, was but one of many. 

 On the north of Bruce the snow cornice that formed the actual 

 summit, crowned a wonderful icy precipice whose avalanches 

 fed the North Fork Glacier. East of Bruce the low North 

 Fork Divide was entirely crowned by the Starbird Glacier, 

 which flowed in a horseshoe bend into two watersheds. And 

 each of the countless peaks along the range, most of them 

 unclimbed and even unnamed, bore its shining burden of ice 

 and snow. 



