Glenora Mountain : A Repetition of Muir's Climb, i8yp 159 



had been under test at the Bureau of Standards and was presumably 

 in good order. Upon my return they very kindly tested it again and 

 found it to be in excellent working order. The indicated altitude* 

 was 6144 feet above Glenora, or approximately 6600 feet above sea- 

 level. Six months later the same instrument, carried on foot to the 

 top of Mount Wilson (Pasadena) , indicated about one hundred feet 

 higher than the true height of 5704 feet. Until better data are ob- 

 tained, Muir's estimate must be reduced 500 feet and the height 

 of the mountain, in round numbers, placed at 6500 feet above 

 sea-level. 



One fortunate circumstance compensated, partially at least, for 

 the loss of the view at the summit. During both climbs the weather 

 had been clear on the lower slopes and I was easily able to locate 

 the mountains, one of which I had climbed, surrounding a lake 

 called "Glacier Lake," where we camped for a week. From a point 

 halfway up Glenora Mountain, this mountain, which is twenty or 

 twenty-five miles distant, bears about thirteen degrees east of true 

 (geographic) south. We called it "Almira Mountain," and from its 

 summit, 7700 feet above sea-level, or about 4700 feet above the lake, 

 (the day being exceptionally clear), the view was one of awe-inspir- 

 ing beauty. The immense snow-fields were more billowy and a purer 

 white than I had ever seen in Switzerland. Perhaps it was the effect 

 of contrast, as the exposed rock appeared black where the snow had 

 slipped away in fanlike slides. The same difference in the quantity 

 of snow was to be here observed as exists between the mountains 

 about Lake Louise and those of the Selkirks at Glacier, only to a 

 greater degree. In fact, so great was the profusion of snow and ice, 

 even on the lower mountains, on one of which I stood, that all had 

 the appearance of peaks of great altitude. To the west and north- 

 west, as Muir said,t "More than three hundred miles of closely 

 packed peaks of the great Coast Range, sculptured in the boldest 

 manner imaginable, their naked tops and dividing ridges dark in 

 color, their sides and canons, gorges, and valleys between them 

 loaded with glaciers and snow. From this standpoint I counted up- 

 wards of two hundred glaciers, while dark-centered luminous clouds 

 with fringed edges hovered and crawled over them, now slowly de- 



* The actual readings were: 9 a.m. at Glenora, 745 mm.; 1:30 p.m., 630 mm.; Sum- 

 mit about 3:15 P.M., 596 mm. 6 p.m. (return to Glenora), 744 mm. The altitude scale 

 on this instrument, according to the Bureau, is correct for a temperature gradient which 

 may be considered a good yearly average value for the United States. 



t Loc. cit., p. 93. 



