The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1910-08-11
LARGEST PARTY
CLIMBS MT. HOOD
DIR. NlCHOL HAS NARROW ESCAPE
Misses Footing and Takes a Long Slide
Into CreyaSSe in Trying
to Descend Alone.

The largest party which ever made
the ascent of Mt. Hood scaled the
peak Sunday. Twenty-four men, most
of them from Hood River, made the
trip to the top of the snow covered
mountain and came back down again
with only one slight mishap, serious
only in its possibilities, to mar the
pleasure of the day for the climbers.
During the descent, DIR. w. S.
Nichol missed his footing on the
glacier and slid down the steep
mountain side about 700 feet striking
pile of rock and bouncing over into
the crevasse. He was coming down
alone and after he had reached the
end of the ''life line" 1850 feet from
the summit, he slipped near the
upper crevasse" and was unable to
hold himself. The other members of
the party, who saw him dashing down
the mountain with express train
speed, were petrified with horror of
the consequences and when he struck
the jagged rocks and was fairly
tossed over them into the crevasse
out of sight they concluded that he
must have been killed. A. l..
Crocker was the nearest to DR..
Nichol and made for the point of
rock as rapidly as possible. Before he
could reach the spot where DR.. Nichol
had fallen from sight the man who had
taken the long slide stuck his head up
and climbed out of the fissure in the
glacier. The escape from being
dashed to pieces or having his body
smashed to pulp was little less than
a miracle and as it is DR.. Nichol is
with decorations about the head,
bruises about his body and sprains in
his limbs. He was able to walk down
the mountain with slight assistance
from the members of the party. DR..
Nichol is large man weighing about
300 pounds and while he was bit
handicapped by his size and shape in
saving himself, the fact that he is so
fleshy probably accounts for the fact
that he escaped with no broken bones.
DR.. Nichol made the ascent of the
mountain with surprising ease.
The members of the party who
climbed the mountain thus earned the
right to membership to the Mazama
Club were; H. X. Davenport, Charles
A. Moseley, o. j. Tilleson, G. A.
Broadie, A. l.. Crocker, Ralph r.
Ellis, James E. Montgomery, Robert
j. Mckay, G. Crawford Lennon,
James Lennon, Charles l.. Wheeler,
v. G. Brock, Lawrence X. Kelley,
Mason Baldwin, DIR. s. u. .Sleichter, DR..
w. S. Nichol, Roy Dean H. II. Had
lock, w. E. Ainslee, A. j. Nelson, of
Hood River; r. E. Gingrich, of Port
land W. j. Bricker and X. M. Hamil-
ton, of Spokane; and Leeds Bronson,
of Hamilton, Ohio.
The party went up the mountain side
as far as Cloud Capp Inn Saturday and
camped near the Inn. Provisions and
blankets were taken along and the
men rolled up for the night around an
immense camp fire, being able to see
more stars at a closer range than they
were accustomed to. Few of the
party were able to get much sleep and
before three O'Clock bugle call was
shouted and they arose to devour
breakfast. Day was breaking and it
was about 4'oclock when the crowd got
away from the camp and started for
the climb of the big hill. They were
shod with calks in their soles and all
carried alpenstocks. Faces had been
blackened with burnt cork to avoid
sunburn and a few of the fellows
were Wierd looking in actors grease
paint which gave better results than
the cork Everybody carried a couple
of sandwiches and little chocolate
to help on the way up. The long hard
drag of four miles from the Inn up
Coopers Spur to the snow line is the
worst part of the climb and it was not
long until the climbers tried to step on
the solid rocks which did not slip
under them in the sandy surface of the
mountain. Had it not been for the
exquisite sunrise which could be seen
as the crowd plodded up through the
sand and over the rocks, the work
would have been much harder to do.
When one leaves the trees about the
Inn and sees the old mountain up
above it looks smaller than it does
from the lower valley. Seeing it at
such close range gives it a touch of un-
reality which is heightened by the
delicate colors which play about the
peak during the sunrise. Sunday
morning there was smoky haze
which obscured the sun until it was
well above the horizon and then when
it did appear it was first red ball
rising from behind the curtain of
smoke. The old mountain was gray
when the first sun rays touched and 1t
gradually frightened through several
golden shades until the sun was wholly
above the smoke screen and the snow
came out with the dazzling white
which absorbs the eye until one
scarcely remembers how the rest of
the mountain looked.
1t is hard to decsribe and it has not
been described even to convey the
writer's impressions while the other
members Of the party probably saw
something entirely different. 1t seems
almost a libel on Nature to say that
the unfolding picture which came with
the sunrise made one think OF the
stage. 1t was so unlike anything we
are accustomed TO that one believes
that the curtain has just been silently
raised and that the electricians
must be busy behind the scenes
turning the different rays on
canvas mountain. One is ready and
waiting for some great orchestra to
peal forth and watching for the actors
to come creeping out from among
the rocks to group themselves down
stage and sing the opening chorus of
grand opera. But there is no sound.
The other members Of your party
come up out of the canyon of Tilly
Jane creek a half mile ahead of you
and you believe the actors have
come before their cue. However the
sun comes up swiftly and you have
Jagged to watch the picture until sud
denly the full light is thrown on the
mountain, and it again becomes real.
The beauty of the sunrise is gone
and the next morning it will be
different, but you remember it all the
,,o,, 80, +ba rnountain Ynllr wonder