Chapter II. 
It would be a waste of words to discuss the necessity of 
taking Alpine guides on an expedition of which climbing 
was to form the essential feature. Furthermore, as there 
was every reason to expect that, in the course of the 
AT A RAILWAY ST.\TIOX. 
exploration of a mountain range whose summits had been 
estimated by previous travellers at heights varying from 
16,000 to over 20,000 feet, prolonged sojourns above the snow- 
limit would be necessary, the expedition had to be furnished 
with the needful equipment for glacier camps, more or less 
on the lines followed in the ascent of Mt. St. Elias in Alaska. 
This involved the necessity of taking out European porters as 
well as guides, for it was impossible to count upon the 
services of the natives beyond the foot of the glaciers. 
The guides chosen for the expedition were Joseph Petigax, 
the intelligent and devoted companion of the Duke in the Alps, 
in Alaska, and on the Polar Expedition, and Cesar Ollier. 
Both of these guides, as well as the porters, Joseph Brocherel 
and Laurent Petigax, were from Courmayeur, in the Valley 
30 
