The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1912-12-20
AMERICAN UP
SIR SANFORD,
Howard Palmer Scales lC3 Peak,
1864 Feet HIGH
HIGHEST IN THE SELK|RKS.
Nearly a Hundred Attempts Have
Been Made In the Last Few Years.
All Ice and Snow Work, wish Great
Danger From, High Temperature.

Danger From, High Temperature.
Howard Palmer, secretary of the
American Alpine club, has succeeded in
climbing Mount Sill SanGford, the high
made the ascent of the mountain.
which il, II 1874 feet high. and is prslc-
ticaliy one continuous wall of ice. on
June "a. in company with 7. W. d.
Holway.
No less than eight separate attempts
to scale the icy Businesses of Sir Sand
ford have been made during the last
half dozen years. not counting the sue
cessful expedition. No other peak IN
the Canadian Rockies has such Il re
ord. Only five of the expeditions eve'
reached the base of the mountain. and
aside from the present expedition. only
one, that of Mr.. Culver of Winnipeg
in 1911. actually set foot on the peak
itself.
Although it is among the highest o!
the worlds mountains, it is the glacier
covering its surface which makes
climbing difficult. and in the present
instance the danger was increased ten.
fold by the high temperature, which
melted the snow and produced slusl.
AS IL matter of comparison, it may bt
stated that Mount Washington. in the
White mountains, is G.2D3 feet. and
Pixies Peak. 14.l47 feet. OF course
there are points in the Himalayas and
the Andes which nearly double these
figures.
Like Ascent of the Alps.
With his friend, Mr.. Hoiway, two
men as packers and canoers and Edou-
ard FeuZ, Jr.. and Rudolph Aemmcr
Swiss guides, MIR. Palmer left Golden,
L. c.. on June II, proceeding down the
Columbia river by canoe, as ,n His
previous trip last season. when he
made extensive explorations in tire dis
trict and published Il monograph on
the subject They reached the base of
the Sir Sandford glacier on June y,
after three hard days on Gold river
and Palmer creek. The temperature
was unusually high for the ragiolr-S4
degrees f. in the shade and III in the
sun.
The weather otherwise was fine. Sir
Sanford was unusually bare of SNOW.
disclosing the ice everywhere below
10000 feet. This made the previously
tried routes inaccessible and forced the
expedition into Il path beneath hang
ing glaciers on the westerly side Of the
peak, which SO far has been the only
side offering the slightest chance CT Air
ascent.
Mr. Palmer writes that the as eIlt
was much like that of the Grand Corr
balm in the Alps. The climb consisted
entirely of snow and ice work. The
party. leaving behind the two pack
ers, left camp. 500 feet high and two
miles from the base Of the mountain,
at a. w., and reached the summit ut
II a. IN. AS the snow was now in a
dangerously watery condition. owing
to the bright sunlight. the descent had
to be made ut once. a long traverse of
a cornice which hung on the summit
ridge, fully exposed to the bright rays
of the sun, had to be made. Besides
the danger of crevasses, the chief diff
ficulty was presented by the cornices
overhanging the cliff ridge ON all sides
and the sushy state of the snow.
The camp was regained at 4.30
o'clock the same afternoon. Only a
limited amount OF scientific work could
be accomplished. unfortunately. The
Sir Sanford glaciers surface motion
was again determined, in the hope of
showing a different rate under hot
weather conditions, but after the marks
were set it turned cold, even more so
than at the time of the first determi-
nation and the rate was slower. The
forefoot had retreated about forty feet
since 1911. Many photographs were
taken, however.
Climbed Mount Adamant Too.
Two days later the expedition climb
ed Mount Adamant. 1000 feet high,
northwest Of Sir Sanford. The ascent
of this mountain consisted entirely OF
rock work. but there were ten hours of
continuous climbing before the summit
was reached. on account of extremely
bad weather. After fifteen minutes at
the top the party returned and reached
camp eighteen and one-half hours aft
er the time they had started. Mr.. Pal
mer is writing long account of these
two expeditions for an early bulletin
Of the American Geographical society.
The territory surrounding these two
mountains had remained almost unex-
plored by scientists until recently. al
enough it is entirely surrounded by
we'll defined routes of travel, with the
Canadian Pacific railway on the south
and the Columbus river sweeping
through it's Big Bend on the northwest
and west.
In area the Big Bend region covers
3,4OO square miles. which is entirely
covered by an exceedingly complicated
labyrinth of mountainous spurs and
ridges that may be considered as form
ing the northerly termination of the
Selkirk range. The greater number of
these rise to between 1900 and 5000
feet in altitude. but there are many