The Alaska sourdough., 1911-09-26
(Contineu from Page One)

mushing through the soft surface snow for two miles we began the ascent again, still on the snow reaching an elevation of 4,000 feet at three in the afternoon. We soon found ourselves on kind of glacial divide, smooth rounded ridge of ice flowing on the left down the valley whence we had come to the Gastineau channel and on the right to the Taku inlet.
 Now the gray object of our climb stood fully revealed before us, not half mile distant. Some mountains are climbed to look off from, and see the surrounding country. It was enough to approach this mountain and look into it's bare, beetling face Its south ern side rose sheeny gray in the sun light 700 feet straight up from the snow. Not vestige of either snow or vegitation could be seen on it's bare head, not moving creature nor sound of life anywhere as far as the eye could range. On every side only rocks and snow, rocks and snow with just glimpse of the blue of Taku inlet to the east and the blue sky over head
 We went straight on up the steep snow slope, crossing once the solitary tracks of a mountain sheep, on to the rocky wall through which we saw a notch by which we hoped to get around the precipice and perhaps to the top The snow had melted away from the racky face of the mountain leav- ing deep wide space except at this notch where bridge of snow most op portunely carried us over. We strug gled up the narrow notch and found ourselves on rocky ridge but few feet wide of broken boulders piled in gigantic confusion, and at the back a dizzy discent of not less than 800 feet sheer away to the snow fields below. We look ed aloft and there stood our peak five hundred feet above our heads accessible only by narrow ridge of loose lying rocks shelving off to the precipice to the rear and stopping at the precipiee in front.
 We stopped to consider. It was in the afternoon, we were ten miles from camp, the miles of glacier with it's jagged descent, the jungle to pierce and then nearly five miles of trail through the woods. I never saw peak that seemed to say so sedGctiyely "Come climb me,' but with that per i'ous ledge to traverse, ~ e knew it was a s:ren song and resolutely but re- gl2tfully turn e1 our backs upon 1t. We were roped together, but what climbers started for one of those pre- cipices. We lunched there at 4000 feet and took some pictures, but most of all mental pictures of that vast desolation. Near at hand on every side were great fields of ice, snow cov- cred, rising between endless ridges of rocks. Far away were towering peaks higher than ours and equally steep; four to the northward standing close like four fingers, two standing like twin trees perfectly round to the north west; near the upper sources of Men denhall glacier a sharp sawtooth range; near at hand peak nearly as tall as ours on the opposite side of Lemon creek glacier. To the east the noun tains of the Taku and far to the south our near neighbors on the channel. Particularly plain were the outlines of the top of Sheep creek mountains, the forehead of the old mans race being just visible.
 We did not stay long to look but crawled down the notch across our bridge and began a long sloping tract down the snow field, not sound but our own footsteps and sometimes the fall of melting snow into some deep e~o.-,cc W. tho tracks that