THE WORLD'S HIGHEST ALTITUDES 



495 



yet, lacking in technical skill as alpinists, 

 they usually failed to reach and explore 

 the loftier altitudes of the regions vis- 

 ited; and it was not until toward the 

 close of the sixties of the last century 

 that the pioneers of a more extended and 

 intensive study of the mountain ranges 

 of the world began to turn their attention 

 to remoter fields. 



In 1868 Messrs Freshfield, Tucker, and 

 Moore, of the English Alpine Club, vis- 

 ited the Caucasus and made the first 

 ascent of Elbruz (18,347) at the westerly 

 and of Kasbek (16,546) at the easterly 

 end of the great central chain. They 

 may perhaps be regarded as the pioneers 

 of a different type of mountain explora- 

 tion and certainly as the revealers, if not 

 discoverers, of a new "playground" on 

 the confines of Europe and Asia, destined 

 to witness in the last two decades of the 

 century the coining of experts of differ- 

 ent nationalities, who soon would leave, 

 as in the Alps, no remote valley unvisited 

 and no proud summit unvanquished. 



THE GREATEST RANGES 



A glance at the map of the world 

 shows upon the several continents vast 

 systems of mountain ranges or striking 

 instances of isolated peaks. To note 

 only the principal ones ; we have here 

 upon our Western Hemisphere that belt 

 of varying width, which, rising to mark- 

 edly different altitudes, extends from the 

 Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn — a distance 

 of hardly less than ten thousand miles. 

 In Alaska it attains 18,100 feet in Mount 

 Saint Elias, about 19,000 in Mount 

 Logan, a comparatively near neighbor, 

 and over 20,000 in Mount McKinley, 

 some degrees nearer the Arctic Circle.* 

 In South America, from the Equator 

 southward, it soars yet higher in such 

 giants as Chimborazo, Huascaran, So- 

 rata, and Aconcagua. It is here that the 

 Western Continent reaches its culmi- 

 nating altitudes. 



* That no such lofty peaks as Mounts Brown 

 and Hooker, respectively credited with altitudes 

 of 15,900 and 16,980 feet, are to be found where 

 geographies have for years located them in 

 British America should now be known to all. 



In Asia a similarly irregular, and 

 much interrupted, chain runs in a gen- 

 eral southeasterly direction from near the 

 Black Sea. Beginning with the Cau- 

 casus and passing by way of the Elburz 

 Mountains, several minor ranges, and 

 the Hindu Kush to the mighty Hima- 

 layas, which for a distance of over twelve 

 hundred miles form the northern fron- 

 tier of India, it extends to the sources of 

 the Brahmaputra and the Irawadi ; great 

 spurs like the Kuen Lun Mountains and 

 the trans-Himalayan range, lately ex- 

 plored by Sven Hedin, strike eastward 

 from it. This system has a reach of per- 

 haps 4,000 miles, and in it (is it in Mount 

 Everest, 29,002 feet, or some loftier 

 peak, possibly once or twice caught sight 

 of by men of the Occident ?) we have 

 the crown of the world. Yet farther 

 north, in central Asia, another notable 

 range, very recently explored, must also 

 be mentioned, for in it rise peaks of truly 

 Himalayan proportions — the Tian-Shan 

 Mountains, with Khan Tengri, some 

 23,600 feet in altitude. 



Compared with these great systems, 

 such limited regions as the European 

 Alps sink into insignificance ; and yet for 

 inspiring grandeur and variety and 

 beauty of form, also as a school for the 

 art of climbing on crag and snows, these 

 readily accessible peaks will always re- 

 tain their prestige. 



The vast continent of Africa presents 

 no corresponding mountain system. The 

 Atlas range in the north is of minor im- 

 portance ; for, while its summits surpass 

 13,000 feet, they are devoid of alpine 

 features. Yet almost upon the Equator, 

 east of the median line of the continent 

 and in the neighborhood of the great 

 lakes at the sources of the Nile, a com- 

 plex of snowy peaks, Ruwenzori, and yet 

 farther east and south isolated giants like 

 Kenia and Kilimanjaro, rise to altitudes 

 far surpassing Europe's long boasted 

 "monarch of mountains." Mont Blanc 

 measures 15,781 feet above the sea. 

 Kenia is 18,620 feet; Kilimanjaro, 

 19,680, while nine of the chief summits 

 of Ruwenzori measure between 15,800 

 and 16,815 feet. 



