The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-07-19

paSe; such an altitude was then to make; so many obstacles doubtless to overcome or outhanll, that we reached to make an early start and were call ed out of our beds by two o'clock in the morning. It was cold and dry lunch we found set out to console us for the loss of half the nights sleep and the creepy chill of morning. More of the same diet, gradually pounded and erumbleed together in transit, was our fare through the day, and even with climbers appetite made eating purely d work of necessity and mercy. But with motion came warmth. The sky was propitiously clear, the stars seemed to dart waves of briEliancy through the deep blue. Only along the crests of the very highest peaks few light clouds nestled-double assurance, Sarbach, our Swiss guide, said of con- tinued fair weather. The white, stream, ing IlliCiiliWaet, the voice of the voice of the valley, sung louder than ever in the surrounding stiffness. In the Wood- path the red shafts of tall cedars rose to double height in the gloom Now and then startled bird chirped or flew off in the thicket The white bells of the rhododendron shook out deli cate perfume with the dew which we
 brushed off as we passed.
 When this wood path emerges into
 the open itexposes to view the long valley of the Asulkan, one of the mo- blest avenues ever thrust into the heart of mountains-a vast, deep and lofty nave of natural cathedral, but on what a scale; with what space and reach and eminence of inclosing altitu- des; The note of tender beauty was not wanting. Like mosaics in min- ister floor, there were thick clustering flowers along the stream and on it's every sand bar and island. These blossoms seemed to transform the in- tensity an dexuberance of energy, everywhere running to waste is melting ice-rushing stream, falling cataract, crumbling rock, roaring avalanche, in- to hue and tint so vivid and brilliant as to startle and thrill.
 Little of all this we saw on that passage up the valley Our eyes were
 blinded by interlacing branches and the wet leaves of the tail hellebore, or closely busted in search of footing,
 Most sweet it is with uplifted eye. To pace the ground, if path be there or none,
 While a fair region round the tra- weller lies,
 Which he forbears again to look upon
 are doubtless lovely lines, but writ ten by a poet who never knew the woes of progress amid the luxuriant undergrowth of the selkirks.
 We soon found that we had used up more than the time allotted to reach the head of the valley before getting half way, and much more than the al-
 lotted energy. In the desperate hope that tbe other bank would furnish bet ter ging we effected a perilous cross ing. Those who were not wet in the l crossing soon became so as we found- cred among tho alders, masking pools and side streams in which we were now Ientangled. When surveying our cours the day before we had marked many possible lines of ascent, but never oc- cured to us that we should have to try a certain steep, wooded ridge but to this we were now driven. 1t was a saddening and wisenng experience for a tenderfoot from over seas. Even
 sarbach, whose courtesy rarely al- lowed him even to look disparagement
 upon any feature of our mountains,
 seemed homesick for the beaten paths
 that tamely lead to every Swiss climb,
 The expressions, visible and audible
 of our English companion were much
 more frequent and unrestrained. By
 the time we had scrambled up that
 thousand feet 1t was o'clock, and we
 had not yet reached any of the ex- pected difficulties of the climb Worse than this so much heart and power
 of seep were gone that we began to re-
 sign ourselves to very modest achieve
 ment.
 l We took fresh life, however, when we Iemerged into the tonic of the upland air. We were in vast amphitheatre,
 floored by litter of great powders, walled about by glaciers, overhung by
 cornices of ice and snow. The pallor of
 the early dawn was beginning to brighten with the flush of day, and q Iruddy hue began to creep over the
 swells of cold gray snow Here by a
 stream fed from the snows above and failing below us in cascades we duti- fully took our lunch.
 We had next toreach a col or saddle
 of the range, from which we hoped to find a way up the cone of the peak. There was litle that was eventfu in
 this stage of the ascent. We moved lroped together all the way, and found enough difficulty in the network of Ierevasses to test judgement and give Eexcellent practice in working together
 on snow.
 The sight which greeted our eyes as
 we came over the crest of the col was a sudden exposure from a. dizzy height lof Q glorious prospect. Far, far below
 was the white expanse of Lily glacier
 and neve; beyond the complex mass lof Mount Bonny draining it's snows through many glistening streams into
 the depth of the Loop Valley For
 some of us, at least it was the first glimpse of that wider outspread of
 shining peaks and ranges reaching on
 every side to the utmost bound of vis- lion.
 But what chiefly gave us pause was the instant perception that thus far
 and no farther in that direction could We go. There was no hope of reach-