Colby Pass and the Black Kaweah 131 



we had joined the others at the extreme head of the Big Arroyo, 

 about a mile below the Nine Lakes Basin and not more than half a 

 mile south of where the head of Deer Creek breaks through the very 

 low notch in the Great Western Divide to which I have referred. 

 Here we had an alpine camp, in a delightful little grove of trees 

 (elevation 10,300 feet), at a point very near the Black Kaweah. 



The sight of the Black Kaweah had thrilled us again and again 

 as we had circled the peak, and McDuffie, Brown, and I wanted to 

 climb it. 



Mr. Farquhar had viewed the peak from various sides and told 

 us he thought the most feasible line of attack would be by the but- 

 tress and knife-edge running out from the summit toward the west. 

 I had carefully examined this knife-edge with the glasses from the 

 north, at Miner's Pass and Triple Divide Peak, and also, the day 

 before, from the south, when Torrey and I were skirting the southern 

 base. It looked pretty fair, but I must confess there were some deep, 

 ugly gashes in it, which did not appeal to me greatly. From our 

 camp we could see that the top of the western buttress could be 

 reached by some stiff climbing up one of several smooth avalanche- 

 polished grooves. Upon reaching this top we would then have a 

 fairly near view of the summit of the mountain and could decide on 

 our future course. 



The following morning McDuffie, Brown, and I were off at 5 :40, 

 carrying with us for emergency fifty feet of rope. In two hours we 

 were at the top of the buttress. The view of the peak from this point 

 was absolutely appalling — the knife-edge running up to the peak, 

 and the peak itself seamed, cracked, scarred, and broken by weather- 

 ing as on no other mountain we had ever climbed ; the whole ridge 

 appeared to be disintegrating rapidly. McDuffie jestingly said we 

 had better hurry over before it should fall to pieces. 



From our viewpoint, the best possible route appeared to be along 

 the knife-edge; but again we saw the ugly clefts in several places. 

 One in particular appeared on our side to be most uninviting, but 

 the thought that possibly the north side at that place might be suffi- 

 ciently broken to get a foothold led us on. We went up and down, 

 around, across, over, and under boulders and broken slabs of gran- 

 ite, always on the alert to prevent slipping and overbalancing, every 

 muscle tense and ready to respond. Our footsteps followed a most 

 uncertain zigzag course, and had they been plotted would have indi- 



