Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-03-16

| ice-clad reaches climbers travel in
pairs. One will secure a firm foot
hold in the ice while the other at the
end of a 40-foot rope will venture
| farther up. If he falls the rope will
hold him and if he succeeds in climb
ing to the end of the rope he secures
a firm foot grip and his partner works
his way up a bit.
The most interesting phase OF the
landscape is the multitude of glaciers
that stretch out in unending beauty,
and the large number and various for
nations of the glaciers gave ample
opportunity to the party for study.
The glaciers reach down below the
snow line, sometimes $500 feet below.
They are of pasty texture and move
about Is inches in day in the mid
die and even more slowly along the
sides. They look much like streams
in some respects as they eddy about
between the precipitous banks.
There are all kinds of weather mag
Unable in the Selkirks and it runs TO
extremes, too. During the winter there
is fall of % to 40 feet of snow, and
it is we'll along in the summer before
the snow disappears from the sides of
the peaks. 1t never leaves the tops
of them. The weather in summer is
very changeable. Palmer says that
he has seen days when there would
be half dozen severe downpours of
rain, with an entire clear expanse of
blue sky appearing between each pre-
cipitation
The entire country is a series of
abrupt rises and falls, with deep "
shaped valleys and A-shaped peaks.
and many of the cliffs are impossible.
AS one blazes his way slowly through
the unpenetrated land all that he
hears are the voices of nature, the
water roaring through a canyon below
him, the musical trickling of a noun
tain stream as it glistens on it's way
down some peakside like a little
| stream of oil, the cracking of the
| glaciers or the sudden crash of fall
ing serack, or great body of ice. Ey
all of these the traveller is Impressed
either with the simple beauty or the
imposing grandeur of nature, and it is
hard to turn ones back upon it and
face the abode of civilization again.
Black bears and grizzlies haunt the
realm, the former being quite common.
They can be seen from the railway
trains that pass through Glazier. Birds
are often seen at 1000 feet up. At q
height greater than 5000 feet, how.
ever, the adventurer is pretty nearly
alone with the peak tops by day and
the stars by night, for animals are
not frequently found above the snow
line.
In the party there were five pack.
ers, cooks and woodchoppers. The
woodsmen went ahead to clear the
trail and the packers carried packs
each weighing from so to rs pounds,
containing supplies. An aluminium
cooking outfit was carried and the
party slept under a tent seven by nine
feet made Of silk and weighing only
ten pounds.
The menu was made up from the
supply Of bacon, beans, tea, -four,
dried fruits and pea meal. The last is
what is used in the German army and
when made into soup is very nutri.
tious. a large supply of sugar was
carried, also, for this is extremely
nutritious. Sugar is used plentifully
in about everything, particularly in
the tea. The beans are rebaked and
eaten in large quantities. In the morn
ing there was meal consisting of a
heavy round Of beans, fapjacks and
tea. At night there was pea soup and
fiapjacks and dried fruit There was
not much variation to this bill of
fare, but in that country and atmos-
phere anything tastes good
| The party camped on the side of
Mount Sanford for six days, while the
accommodating was in progress, the
highest camp being at 5000 feet. Only
| five days were consumed in returning
to the base camp, whereas IL days
were taken in coming.
The shoes worn by the climbers
were specially made for the wear to
which they were subjected. Each
weighed three pounds and was rein
forced on the bottom and sides with
steel. The rope used by the climbers
Is of braided linen, is flexible and
| does not kink when it is wet.
After the return from the trip to
Mount Sanford, Prof. Parker left the
party and the Boston man Joined the
instructors trip through the Purity
range, and made ascents of several
peaks that never had felt the foot of
Il