Inspection of Pike's Peak in its Winter Season. 199 



scribe. Nearly every year lives are lost in these terrible avalanches, 

 and death generally occurs from suffocation. The Sergeant admitted 

 that it was extremely dangerous and that breaking the crust, as 

 we passed along, might start a slide which, of course, meant cer- 

 tain death. The depth of snow he estimated at from forty to sixty feet 

 over the turtle back, and it was therefore easy to see that, in case of a 

 slide, the enormous mass would embrace thousands of tons weight 

 and progress with irresistible force. I finally decided that go we 

 must. It was like a frail bark casting off from the land upon a 

 tempestuous and dangerous sea. It required over two hours to cross, 

 but it seemed more like two days. At times we sank into the snow 

 and would have disappeared beneath the surface had we not ex- 

 tended our arms, on either side, and buoyed up the body by press- 

 ing on the unbroken snow. Again, the surface would be found 

 frozen sufficiently to bear our weight, but so icy that we had to cut 

 places for our feet from one step to another. To have made one slip 

 in crossing this treacherous place would have carried us down the 

 mountain side to absolute destruction. Once, while floundering in 

 the snow, we felt a pressure against our bodies from the mass above 

 us, accompanied by peculiar cracking sounds that, to the Sergeant's 

 practised ear, gave indications of a " snowslide." It was a moment 

 of supreme peril and our fears were greatly aroused. The Sergeant 

 advised absolute quiet and to remain motionless until every sign of a 

 " slide " had subsided. It was a display of excellent discretion, for it 

 afterward appeared plainly evident that, had we not stopped as we 

 did, a fearful avalanche would have been occasioned. 



Upon clearing Windy Point we came upon a sheltered side of the 

 Peak, where the snow was quite thin, the rocks showing plainly 

 through it. Here we lay down to rest because of almost complete 

 exhaustion. But the Sergeant said that only a few moments could be 

 spared for this recreation as the hardest part of the journey was yet 

 before us. This statement was particularly depressing, in view of the 

 fact that we had now reached the 12,000-foot level, and there remained 

 but about 2,000 feet to scale. It was not accomplished, however, be- 

 fore I realized the truth of his assertion and in such a way as to 

 leave an ineffaceable record on my memory. I now began to feel the 

 fffect of the rarified air. At first I smiled at the novel results, then 

 became astonished, later alarmed, and finally almost recklessly indif- 

 ferent as to my fate. To move twenty steps completely exhausted 

 me and I would sink upon the ground quite unable to control myself. 

 1 was also getting benumbed with the dreadful cold, and we soon 



