Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-07-23
CLIMB FOR MISS PECK
viii Try Again to Scale Mount
Huascaran, In Peru.
THIS TIME WITH EXPERT HELP
Woman Mountain Climber Will Start
on Perilous Journey With Two Swiss
Guides and a Native Soaler - Be-
lieves Peak Is Highest In America.

on Perilous Journey With Two Swiss
Guides and a Native Soaler - Be-
Ieves Peak Is Highest In America.
After tedious rest of two years,
with not a single adventure in them,
the desire to fill her lungs with the
rare atmosphere and to expose herself
to the biting winds of the mountain
top has again seized Miss Annie 5.
Peck the champion woman mountain
scaler. In the Clarendon hotel ut New
York the other night she announced
that once more she Will climb the
frosty sides of Mount Huascaran
Peru, which she regards as the high
est peak on the American continent
She failed to reach the top two years
ago because she was handicapped by
native guides, who drank all her al
cohol when she was asleep and other
wise hampered her in her ascent. rms
time she is to have guides from Swift
2erland who have no taste for pure al
cohol and who know what assistance
Il woman mountain scaler needs, says
the New York Press. The man who is
to furnish the guides has assured Miss
Peck she need have no fear for her
alcohol this time. 1t might be explain
ed that the only use Miss Peck has
for that liquid is for fuel wherewith
to keep warm and cook on the noun
tains. One native guide she will take,
but he will be in such a minority that
f,a 81 I,aI ont
until the pinnacle of the mountain is
reached.
Before next autumn Miss Peck hopes
to stand ON the topmost peak of Huas-
caran and look down upon all Peru
and then come back and tell all about
the sensation in magazines and lee
lures. None has yet reached the top
of this formidable peak, so far as is
known, and if Miss Peck succeeds she
will indeed be the champion American
mountain scaler, not barring even
the men. Having done that, she will
rest content unless perchance 1t should
be discovered that Mount Huascaran
is not the highest peak on the con
tinent. Miss Peck will not rest until
she has conquered any mountain that
dares rear its head farther above the
sea level than Huascaran.
Miss Peck and two Swiss guides will
soon sail for Colon from New York
city; thence she will cross the isthmus
and go down the west coast until she
reaches Samanco; then she will cross
the Black range and rest for several
days at a silver mine 1900 feet above
the sea level to let her lungs become
accustomed to the altitude. When she
has been there long enough to forget
about the altitude she will descend to
Yungay, which is at the foot of Huas-
caran. After increasing her equipment
by one native guide she will begin the
ascent.
when / made the other attempt to
climb Huascaran." said the climber the
other night, "I took four guides and
two tents. This time l will have only
three guides, and l will take with
me instruments to measure the cold,
the moisture and the exact height of
the mountain when l reach the top.
will also have camera to take pan
Oramic views of the surrounding coun-
try and lower peaks"
Miss Peck says she has a trained
eye for measuring the height of noun
tGfns. When she makes a guess she
finds it is pretty nearly correct, she
says. She estimates Huascaran to be
between $4,000 and 24,0O0 feet above
the sea level. At any rate she thinks
it Is so high that when she reaches the
top she will have broken the worlds
record, now held by the Englishman
w. w. Graham. who asccnded to n
height of 23.S00 feet in the Himalayas
many Years ago, In her last attempt
to reach the peak Of Mount Huascaran
she attained a height Of 1850 feet
At that time the mountain was scanned
with dangerous crcvasses.
"Of course the feat will he attended
by great dangers" exclaimed Miss
Peck, we will have to wear masks
to protect our faces from the weather
ana smoked glasses TO protect our eyes
from the bright sun When we reach
the ice and snow of the paa1- We win
have TO use ropes and ice axes: then ]
viii chow quantities of the leaves from
which cocaine is uEtracto7 Ii oc.s as
a stiuulaut ON such q long tramp The
natives use it much as the Americans
do tobacco. It is harmful as a habit
but helpful stimulant when sparn-ly
used"
Miss Peck has gone to Washington
to make arrangements with federal OF
iicials for gathering information about
the country and the mountain she is to
climb.