The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1912-08-01

here TWO and one half years ago two
different doctors said l might have a
mighty hard time getting over the
Rockies" without passing i'm in a
Pullman sleeper and now | have
climbed a mountain peak nearly a
mile higher on my own legs. Didn't |
come back? Yea, verify, for, believe
me. its a mans job. although a few
women make the climb as they do
every mountain that man tackles. If |
had known just how hard it really was
| would not have tackled it at this
time, for | was in poorer physical con-
diriou than at any time for more than
a year, for | hadn't been over my
sciaticus a month, and didn't have any
gymnasium work for over a month, on
account of my bum hip, and during
that time | put on five pounds OF fat
too. (and every pound is several a
mountain climb so you see | was not
fl for any such eXertion. Having
started in on it however, | vas bound
to make it if possible, and | did. One
of our guides made it possible for me
to do it though, by staying right by me
and encouraging me and also giving
me lots of good advice about how to
conserve my wind and strength. 1t
was a great experience and | am very
proud and happy over the matter. The
view was grand, although We didn't
have a perfect day for it was cloudy
on our side, but as we knew hat pref
ty we'll, having just been over it, we
were glad to look over the north and
east sides that we had not seen. Never
believe any one that tells you that
climbing a mountain peak is easy, for
it isn't and it calls for all the strength
one has and for a lot of grit besides.
We were over ten hours going up, but
two hours of that -four miles, was
done" Sunday night when we left our
mountain inn that is on top of the
coast range proper Ct 1000 feet) and
climbed up to the edge Of the timber
line and camped over night so as to be
that much on u way. Monday morn
ing we got up at four o'clock and
thought we started on the last lap at
5 o'clock in the morning after a hard
night, sleeping on the cold wet ground
with snow all around you, with only
a blanket between you and mother
earth. One can't catch cold, for there
are no germs there to give you one,
but you can be mighty uncomfortable.
We climbed steadily until noon,
when we stopped at Crater Rock.
which is warm and so comfortable
and also melts snow SO you can drink.
The crater is still open and We could
smell the gas for three hours before
reaching it, and the glacier here was
melted in two so we could see both
ends of it, and could see how much ice
we had gone owe coming up. We
were now but little over a thousand
feet from the summit, but it was the
hardest and most dangerous part for
We had to cross the pathway of two
slides, where rocks are coming down
at great speed and liable ID crack your
coco, or take you on down. The guides
are very cautious here and keep watch
and warn you of danger. We had to
cross one such zone in relays of eight
in a group and as there were twenty
three of us, besides the guides, it took
time. Just below the summit we had
to cross a crevasse by going down into
it and passing along the side until we
reached a point we could get over,
with the aid of a rope, and then on
up the other (upper) side of the Gre
vase until we could crawl over the
edge onto the snow and ice of the
glacier again. This was the spookiest
place OF the whole trip, especially com.
ing down, for one surely did not like
to slide Yer and down the edge of the
~crevasse, even If he did know just
how deep 1t was, having one yer il
an hour or so before.
It was a great experience and the
greatest of my life in many respects
and l am naturally feeling pretty good