Storm Bour^d or\ Mt. B^ker 
Remarkable Experience of a Research Expe¬ 
dition in Cloudland 
By CHAR.LES FINLEY EASTON 
T he elder Pliny, impelled by a passionate 
desire to investigate the causes of an 
eruption of Vesuvius, lost his life at 
Stabiae, where he was suffocated by vapors 
from the A’olcano. It seems that there is some 
certain penalty which nature attaches for every 
pleasure enjoyed, to be either suffered iu in¬ 
stalments or paid by ourselves or our posterity 
in a lump sum sooner or later. This is no 
truer of the instincts and passions than it is of 
our ambitions and achievements, the gratifi¬ 
cation of the one or the realization of the 
other exacts both vital expenditure and phys¬ 
ical hazard. To put it briefly, it is dangerous 
to live at all. 
An expedition recently organized at Belling¬ 
ham, Wash., to make a study of the formation, 
age, and conditions of the volcanic region of 
Mt. Baker, through violent storms and unusual 
hardships, came near paying the price of their 
lives for their zeal in exploration and research. 
Making the ascent of Mt. Baker is difficult at 
the best, yet this stupendous volcanic cone with 
its two hundred square miles of ice fields, has 
been repeatedly climbed, since its first ascent by 
E. ,T. Coleman, in 1868, with no record of more 
than minor mishaps. 
The altitude by United States Geological 
Survey is 10,827 feet, or a trifle over two miles, 
the upper half being a continuous series of 
glaciers radiating from the summit outward 
and downward to timberline, nine in number, 
from three to eight miles in extent, and fairly 
well defined by broken ridges of protruding 
lava. It has two craters and e.xhibits more 
signs of life than any of the other five volcanic 
peaks on the Pacific Coast, and, owing probably 
to the temperature of the under-lying rock 
formation, the glacial movement of the ice 
fields is more rapid, and, as a result, they are 
marvelously fissured by innumerable yawning 
crevasses. 
Owing to the humid climate of the Puget 
Sound country for nine months of the year, 
except at short intervals, Mt. Baker is lost to 
view in cloudland. On this account it would 
be utterly foolhardy to attempt the ascent of 
this mountain at any season of the year but 
the mid-summer months, and at any time the 
risk of storms is one element of danger. 
It is usual for parties who wish to climb it to 
establish camp at timberline, whence the trip up 
and return can be made the same day, having 
the steps cut and trail made on the way up for 
use in coming back again. 
Under the most favorable conditions the 
CUTTING STEPS AND CROSSING ICE BRIDGES. 
Photograph by L. A. Sprague. 
mountain climbers are often baffled by immense 
crevasses in the ice fields which open up at 
any time and increase hourly in size, cros- 
cutting the route selected. One-half the at¬ 
tempts made last summer resulted in failure. 
Four trials were made by the Mazama Club, in 
1906, before the summit was reached. The 
Mountaineers Club last year reached an altitude 
of 8,000 feet one day and was forced, by gather-, 
ing storm clouds, to retrace steps, but a couple 
of days later about forty men and women of 
the club, after a strenuous effort, reached the 
summit in nine hours climbing up the snow 
fields and safely returned to camp in five hours 
more. 
The trip from timberline to the summit and 
back to camp consumes so much time and re¬ 
quires so much energy that, as a rule, there is 
little inclination to make any careful investiga¬ 
tion. d'he climbing takes most of one's atten¬ 
tion. The necessity of protecting the eyes with 
some sort of goggles or smoked glasses, and 
the amusing business of coating the face and 
lips widi cosmetics to save them from cracking 
and peeling, by smearing on grease paint, char¬ 
coal and cold cream as one would butter his 
bread; the novel experience on the ice steeps 
with calked shoes, life-line and the alpenstock: a 
little hurried scenery which flit? from your 
memory like views on the ribbon of a kineto- 
scope; a few souvenir snap shots; and the in¬ 
cidents and inspirations which come to all alike 
and make the game worth the ammunition are 
about the -sum total that any one can expect 
from such headlong expeditions. 
I was with, the Mazamas two years ago, when 
they explored the northeast side of the volcano 
and discovered its largest crater, but there was 
scant attention given to the-matter at the time 
in the hurry-scurry to get to the summit. There 
were some changes in the configuration of the 
mountain on its northwestern slope, that year, 
also, due to avalanches of rock and ice started 
by the tremor from the San Francisco earth¬ 
quake. The south and southwest slopes were 
still unexplored. Besides, there were no 
authentic maps of the immediate region, al¬ 
though the government had established the 
boundaries of the Western Washington Forest 
Reserve, in which the mountain is situated, and 
the agricultural and much of the timber lands 
adjacent were surveyed. These facts and some 
promising mineral resources, as well as many 
other features of interest and importance, 
seemed to warrant an expedition planned along 
different lines from the usual outing. 
With these things in mind, a parH headed 
by myself and accompanied by L. A. Sprague, 
as photographer, R. B. Hess and Martin H. 
Easton, set out to cross the mountain by easy 
stages, going up the west side with the neces¬ 
sary bedding and camp supplies to remain a day 
