Crossing the Valdez Glacier. — Abercrombie . 353 
fog the panorama of the fifth bench, which was composed of 
huge ice cHfifs, through which the wind shrieked and moaned 
in a most weird and unearthly manner, at an extremely high 
rate of speed. 
During all this time the march had been confined to the 
center of the glacier. A course to the right was now chosen, 
and we struck ofT for the mountain on the right of the pass, 
with a view of avoiding the fifth bench and striking the snow- 
slides on the right-hand side of the pass. This is the point 
where so much stock was lost early in the season from 
avalanches. A number of snowslides were reached which 
were packed as hard as ice, and over which the expedition 
traveled a number of miles, until the foot of the summit was 
reached. 
This summit is where the glacier comes ofif the top of the 
mountain and is an abrupt descent of about 1,100 feet in the 
mile, or about one in five. The efifort required to climb this 
pitch can be realized, in a measure, when it is understood 
that to make twenty yards of the ascent at once taxed the 
wind and energy of the strongest mountain climber. The 
four animals and five men ahead on the trail resembled small 
birds following each other as one looked at them far above 
in the fog. Halting at intervals of 5 or 10 yards, the 
summit was finally reached. The wind was blowing a hurri- 
cane through the pass into the interior, accompanied by gusts 
of sleet and snow, which, freezing as fast as they struck, 
coated men and beasts with an armor of ice. At this point, 
having a lighter load than the others, I found myself in the 
lead. I halted to wait for the rest of the party, but soon found 
that if I did not keep moving I would freeze. My horse also 
suffered severely from the cold. The wind was terrific. In 
vain I tried to catch some landmark to guide me in laying 
my course through the pass. If I made a mistake and left 
the pass by one of the feeders that came in from the higher 
peaks on each side, the remark of Private Bence of the day 
previous would be verified. 
To stand still was impossible. The only thing left to do 
w^as» to simply drift with the l^lizzard, and this I did. Fortu- 
nately 'for the expedition, the point at which the summit was 
reached was exactly in the middle of the pass, and whenever 
an attempt was made to veer either to the right or left from 
