Oct. 12, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
459 
other, and the main camp in the center, we found 
ourselves hidden in the heart of the mountains 
well surrounded by evergreen forests which pro¬ 
tected 11s from the wind and the cold. 
No time was lost in setting about the busi¬ 
ness of the next ten days—that of climbing 
mountains. Storm Mountain, a ridge of which 
overlooked the camp to the east, was the one 
selected for the graduating parties, and a large 
number set out to make it the first day. It 
proved to be a strenuous climb, taking from four¬ 
teen to sixteen hours. There was nothing very 
interesting about it to the skilled climber, but 
almost any mountain is a rather thrilling ex¬ 
perience to the tenderfoot who has never used 
an Alpenstock before and likes to have room to 
put down his whole foot and not merely his 
heel or his toe. The sensations of one’s first 
high climb are, like those of the first view from 
a mountaintop, not to be entered into by the 
simple process of reading the printed page. You 
must undergo the almost heart-breaking fatigue 
which vanishes, as if by magic, after a ten- 
minute rest; you must have watched cannily for 
steady footholds and become accustomed to the 
feeling of shale slipping from under your feet 
and falling with what seems hideous noise; you 
must have experienced the sheer terror which 
comes as you first crawl from one narrow ledge 
to another with nothing except your own nerve 
and steady head to save you from a fall down 
a steep, rocky mountainside, stretching hundreds 
of feet below. Not until you have entered into 
all these—which our friends also catalogue 
among our hardships, but which we know to 
have been pleasures—can you understand at all 
the sheer joy of achievement which comes with 
the knowledge that you have actually climbed 
a mile into the air. Those who have gone com¬ 
fortably in an elevator to the top of the Singer 
tower feel that they have been up into space 
quite a distance, but a mile in the air is seven 
times as high, and it was from that height 
that we finally gazed down from the peak of 
Storm Mountain at the camp in the valley 
below. 
Attired and booted for a long day on the 
mountains we had answered the roll call at 6130 
that morning, and four people following each 
guide—this constituting a rope in mountaineer¬ 
ing language—we had set out with many a merry 
quip on the conquest of Storm. Five minutes 
later found us climbing through timber, guilt¬ 
less of any trail up the side of a mountain, grow¬ 
ing steeper every minute. The merry quips 
ceased; we had better use for all the breath we 
could find. Slowly and steadily we climbed over 
1,500 feet, stopping once in a while to catch a 
breath, till we finally came out on the mountain 
side above the timber line. Then came a drop 
of 500 feet, really easy, but to us terrifying, it 
looked so steep. Once we had mastered the 
trick of putting the Alpenstock in behind and 
digging our heels in, the seemingly dangerous 
descent became interesting and exciting, and we 
soon were resting on a beautiful Alpine meadow 
at the outlet of the lakes. Then on the strength 
of a sandwich we started on the real climb. 
Crossing a field of giant boulders for half a 
mile we struck the moraine, and then worked 
our way up 3,000 feet of shale and scree, till 
we struck the difficult and dangerous ascent 
which meets the climber at the last stage of 
every peak. Winding up narrow ledges, clamb¬ 
ering up a chimney, crossing a sheet of ice on a 
steep slope, and learning to make use of every 
little foothold, we came after an hour’s stiff 
climb on the ridge, which led to the summit. 
A long steady pull as easy and tiresome as climb¬ 
ing stairs brought us to the cairn and to the 
dignity of active membership in the club. Then 
we had the reward of our labors, for over 150 
peaks were in view, and the wonders of the 
scene were beyond description. The day was 
too far advanced to permit any lingering, so we 
started on the downward journey, gaining con¬ 
fidence as one after another of the difficult places 
were passed. We raced with the dark through 
the woods till happy in heart, but almost ex¬ 
hausted, we saw the flames of the camp-fire and 
knew our first adventure safely over. Despite 
the strenuousness of the trip, both men and 
women were full of ambition, and in all fifty- 
eigbt names were during the camp added to the 
roll of active members, bringing the club mem¬ 
bership up almost to 900. 
To the west of camp were Boom Mountain 
and Mt. Whyntper, neither quite 10,000 feet. The 
only party which climbed the first mountain re¬ 
ported it as being so easy that no further in¬ 
terest was taken in it. Mt. Whymper proved 
more interesting, two ascents being necessary be¬ 
fore the true peak was made. Until this camp 
it had been supposed that Edward Whymper, the 
great English Alpinist, who was the first to con¬ 
quer the Matterhorn, and who died just last year, 
had never climbed this mountain which is named 
in his honor. There was great interest in camp, 
therefore, when the first party ascending it 
brought back word that in a cairn at the top 
they had found a square of white cotton bearing 
the names of Whymper and the two guides with 
whom he had made the climb in the summer of 
1902. 
For the experienced members the climb of 
the year was Mt. Ball, five miles to the south¬ 
east of camp. It was almost 11,000 feet high and 
had only once been climbed—by J. D. Patterson, 
a veteran Canadian climber and vice-president of 
the club. None but experienced members went 
on this trip, and none of those even who were 
not in good condition, for the expedition entailed 
sleeping in the open for two nights, and conse¬ 
quently the carrying of blankets and of provis¬ 
ions sufficient for three days. Even with these 
precautions it was not until the third attempt 
that a successful ascent was achieved. 
Second only in interest to the Nit. Ball ex¬ 
peditions were the trips made to the Ten Peako. 
In order to make these possible, a small camp 
was established twelve miles away in Prospec 
tor’s Valley. The trip to that camp required 
most of one day; the second day was devoted to 
climbs on some one of the peaks, and the third 
day the parties returned to the main camp either 
by way of the easy twelve-mile trail or by a 
much more picturesque route which took them 
through Boom Lake Pass and around that beau¬ 
tiful little mountain lake into the Vermillion 
Valley. In this way three of that wonderful 
(Continued on page 473.) 
TONGUE OF GREAT GLACIER BEHIND TEN PEAKS—MT. LITTLE IN BACKGROUND. 
BEGINNING ASCENT OF THE ICE FIELD. 
