The Portland daily press., 1895-02-26

of special interest. They were Messrs.
Gorhan, Dana, SIP. Dodge, Thomas K.
Gale. D. Harrington, r. B. Lawrence. F.
o. wright. and a MIR. Parker, who is a
most enthusiastic mountain CLINT Der, who
elm bed Mount Washington all alone,
last March, and who has also elm bed
NJ Blanc and Mt. Shasta.
There is a climb of three miles up Moat
Mountain from the point where the
team is lett. They first went up a log
glng road, for short distance, where
1t was not necessary to use their snow
shoes, which, however, they soon had to
put on, after leaving the road.
On top of the main dome of Moat
Mountain there is bible or cone that
look like good-sized haystack from
the valley, but which is, really, small
mountain in itself.
Before they had reached the top of the
dome they got out of the woods and into
the land of rocks and blueberries in
summer, but hurricanes and icy crust in
winter. They were obliged to abandon
their snow-shoes and proceed on their
feet sometimes hands and feet) over
this ice crust.
Before they reached the base of the
cone, Mr.. Lawrence, who wore mecca
sins, was obliged to give up the attempt
to reach the top, because they slipped
SO badly on the Ice. Ibis demonstrated
the superiority of the overshoes to moe =
casins.
Mr.. Dana started on the expedition
with ordinary shoes and rnhbers. After
leaving the snow-snoes he was obliged
to leave the rubbers. because there were
patches and drifts of soft snow betw cen
the bare, Icy knobs, through which they
| fioundered up to their waists, and thus
he found it impossi BILE to keep on the
rubbers. He proceeded up the cone
with those small leather shoes, and was
the second one to reach the top, though
his feet had become numb, and he was
Obliged to beat them with his staff to
keep them from freezing.
Mr.. Parker, who has climbed Mount
| Blanc and Mount Shasta, reached the
| top first, but was aided by having creep
ers on his shoes, that gave him good
| hold of the ice. He was just two hours
and fifty five minutes making the three
| miles from the bottom to the top. MIR.
Dana was just three hours, and the 9TH
er four were Immediately after him.
| The last part of the climb of the ICY
cone was made on all tours, because
| the wind was so strong that they dared
| not stand against it, and when they
reached the few square feet of land on
the top they could not stand against it,
but slid across on hands and knees and
| took shelter behind large boulder on
|
bright Sunshine for a few minutes. The
thermometer, that one of them carried,
indicated only four degrees above zero,
| and they estimated that sthe wind was
blowing from so to 60 miles an hour.
| The descent of the icy cone was fright
fully exciting. They slid over patches
OF ice twenty and thirty feet wide, and
plunged into gullies full of deep snow.
| By the time they had begun to descend
all of them had suffered nip from Jack
| Frost. One man had tue top of his ear
| touched right through his thick fur cap.
Another man, who had accustomed him =
| self to have his ears unprotected i'll any
weather in BoSton'S streets, thought that
he could do SO on top OF Moat Mountain.
But that biting hurricane had frozen
one of them white before he knew it.,
and on his arrival at the hotel in Frye
burg it was necessary to summon a doc
tor. BY the next morning the ear was
| as large as his hand. Another of the par
ty had small white spot on each side
of his nose when they reached the bot
tom. and another had frozen the end of
his little finger. Luckily, Mr.. Dana's
slightly protected feet were not frozen.
Mr.. Parker. though he reached the top
first, gave out when almost at the place
where the team was left, ana felt so
faint that his companions supported
him. A little whiskey revived him. He
is man of slight physique, but remen-
dous enthusiasm and indcm liable will
He intends to climb Mount Washington
alone, by way of Tuckerman's Ravine,
some time this week.
While it took most of them a little
over three hours to go up, they were
only one hour and forty-five minutes
coming down.
With the exception of the man who
| froze his ear, so badly. none of them
were the worse for this unusual trip and
extreme exertioa and exposure.