THE WORLD'S HIGHEST ALTITUDES 



515 



Photo and copyright by Annie S. Peck 

 HUASCARAN, PERUVIAN ANDES, FROM AN ELEVATION OF ABOUT 10,000 FEET 



tically untrained in alpinism and without 

 guides, had pushed forward almost to 

 within reach of the prize, camping finally 

 at the high point where the Italians 

 passed their last night before success 

 and to which they later gave the name 

 of Russell Col. This climb of Russell 

 would still rank as the most daring feat 

 of American mountaineering had it not 

 recently been surpassed upon a peak yet 

 farther north. 



This distinction must, we believe, be 

 accorded to the ascent of Mount Mc- 

 Kinlev by Dr Frederick A. Cook, of 

 Brooklyn, with a single companion, in 

 1906. The details are thus summarized 

 in Appalachia, though the narrative is 

 given in full by the author in his "To the 

 Top of the Continent." 



"A mountain near to the Arctic Circle rising 

 to an elevation of over 20,000 feet, nearly its 

 entire mass above the snow-line of its region; 

 a wild and difficultly accessible region this, ap- 

 proachable along glacial rivers by a novel ac- 

 cessory for mountaineering, the steam launch, 



and by pack train under unusual disabilities ; 

 two failures to find a line of ascent, compelling 

 the party to desist from present effort and 

 tantamount to the postponement of the enter- 

 prise to another year ; then a party of three 

 men set out for surveying purposes, bearing on 

 their backs their entire outfit for a fortnight : 

 provisions, camp, clothing, and liquid fuel for 

 high altitudes ; this reconnaissance brings them 

 to the summit of a subordinate ridge, from 

 which a natural route to the summit seems 

 open ; two of the party attempt it ; neither is 

 trained in alpine climbing, though the leader is 

 experienced in arctic work; to this they trust,, 

 and with dogged persistence, living upon pem- 

 mican, dispensing with fire save for tea-mak- 

 ing, they toil upward for four days, now build- 

 ing an Esquimaux igloo for the night where a 

 level space will permit, again digging a cavity 

 on the side of a precipitous snow slope and 

 enduring the rigors of the arctic cold, pro- 

 tected only by their sleeping bags — and the 

 Providence that stayed the avalanches that 

 might have overwhelmed them — until the sum- 

 mit is theirs !" 



It may be doubted whether the entire- 

 history of mountaineering affords a more 

 remarkable story of combined audacity 

 and persistency or of strenuous toil and 



