Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-23

Miss Peck Reaches Sum-
nit Of Mt. Huascaran.
Climbs 10 Altitude Of $4,000
Feet Above The Sea.
Slips Over Edge Of Fissure But
Escapes Death.

New York. Dec. 22.-Fresh from B
| triumphant tour of the Peruvian An
des. during which she scaled the sum.
NIT Of Mount Huascaran, king of the
Andes. one of the highest peaks in the
world. Miss Annie S. Peck Of Provi-
dence. r. L.. arrived here today aboard
the steamer Allianca from Cristobal
MISS Peck; Succe sSful ascent of Huas-
caran Was the elimination of two trips
which She made to South America fol
tnat purpose and its accomplishment
required two attempts on her last trip.
ON Aug. "a last. she outstripped her
hardened guides and nearly reached
the crest of the lofty mountain but
was compelled to descend, owing to
the illness of the guides. Two weeks
later she set out on her final attempt
ana on Sept. reached the summit. the
height of which is estimated at from
$4,000 to 10000 feet. Returning to Lima
she was personally congratulated by
President LeSuia and a gold medal
was presented to her by the Peruvian
government
In speaking of her perilouS trip up
Mount Huascaran, Miss Peck ascrihed
much OF her success to the two Swiss
guides who accompanied her 1T was
thanks to the experience of these two
men. aided by what l myself had
gained in scaling the high SUBMITS of
the Alps and a number of detached
peaks in the Andes and Rockies" said
Miss Peck, that l succeeded in reach
ing the 24,00O-feet altitude which
marks the summit of Huascaran. This
height, l believe. surpasses that reach
ed by any one before me. Heretofore
the record had been held by w w.
Graham. whose ascent of one of the
Himalaya peaks is set down as 23,S00
feet. am confident that went beyond
this height by at least 200 feet and pos
sibly by even thousand feet One of
my guides Rudolph Taugwalder, lost
his gloves ON the way up and had both
hands frozen and since had to have one
hand amputated.
I'VE reached the summit Sept and
the following night, as we were maxi
ing our way down, Taugwald, for
as leading. slipped and carried me with
him over the edge of fssure. The 9TH
er GUIDE, Gabriel Zum Taugwald. for
tunately for us, had seen the mlSStep
and had braced himself with his alpen-
stock so that when the rope that bound
us all together yanlled taut he re
gained sufficient purchase in the ice not
to be carried off his feet by our com
bined weight. He called down to us in
structions to dig ourselves footholdS
that would tighten the strain both on
the rore and himself and gradually
pulled Us both back to him. 1t was the
closest call | ever had"
In tho attempt to scale Huascarstn.
made by Miss Peck last August. the
party was compelled to camp on the
ice for nine days. On this occasion the
same guide who on the second and sue
icessful attempt had imperlled tn"
by falling down crevasse.
was taken i'll with mountain sick
ness" which Miss Peck says is in ev-
ery respect similar to seasickness and
the ascent had to be abandoned after
height of $4,000 feet had been reached
Miss Peck, who is nearing 30 years.
and whose physique is anything but
Amazonian, gives solid lungs and a
sound heart as the greatest considera-
ton of the mountain climber.
Il have demonstrated" said she.
"that muscles and great physical
are not Indispensable