The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-08-23
AMERICAN Up ~
SIR SANFORD.
Howard Palmer Scales Ice Peak,
1854 Feet High
HIGHEST IN The SELKIRKS.
Nearly a Hundred Attempts Have
Been Made In the Last Few Years.
All Ice and Snow Work, With Great
Danger From High Temperature.

Howard Palmer, secretary of the
American Alpine club, has succeeded in
climbing Mount Sir Sandford, the high
est point in the Selkirks. Mr.. Palmer
made the ascent Of the mountain,
which is II ,634 feet high, and IS prac-
tically 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 a rec
ord. Only FIVE of the expeditions even
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 OF
the worlds mountains, 1t 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 slush.
AS a matter Of comparison, It may be
stated that Mount Washington, in the
White mountains, is 6,293 feet. and
Pixies peak, 14,147 feet. OF course
there are points In the Himalayas and
the Andes which nearly double these
figures.
Like Ascent Of tho Alps
With his friend, Mr.. Holway. two
men as packers and cancers and Bdou-
ard Feuz. Jr., and Rudolph Aemmer,
Swiss guides, Mr.. Palmer left Golden,
B. c., on June IT, proceeding down the
Columbia river by canoe, as on his
previous trip last season. when he
made extensive explorations in the dis
trict and published a monograph on
the subject. They reached the base Of
the Sir Sanford glacier on June %
after three hard days on Gold river
and Palmer creek. The temperature
was unusually high for the region-S4
degrees F. in the shade and IA 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 q path beneath hang
ing glaciers on the westerly side OF the
peak, which so far has been the only
side Offering the slightest chance OF an
ascent
Mr.. Palmer writes that the ascent
was much like that Of the Grand Cour-
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. M, and reached the summit at
II a. m. As the snow was now in a
dangerously watery condition, owing
to the bright sunlight, the descent had
to be made at once. A hong 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 eornices
overhanging the cliff ridge ON all sides
and the slushy state Of the Snow.
The camp was regained at 43C
o'clock the same afternoon. Only q
limited amount Of scientific work could
be accomplished, unfortunately. The
Sir Sandford 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 &c
than at the time Of the first deteymi
nation, and the rate was slower. The
forefoot had retreated about forty feet
since 1911. Many photograph were
taken, however.
Climbed Mount Adamant Too
Two days later the expedition climb
ed Mount Adamant, 1000 feet high
northwest Of Sir Sandford. The ascent
of this mountain consisted entirely Of
rock work, but there were ten hours oi
continuous climbing before the summit
was reached, on account Of extremely
bad weather. After fifteen minutes a
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 Nes'
two expeditions for an early bul. 'tiI
90 the American Geographical sociely.
IThe territory surrounding these tw'
mountains had remained almost unex
plored by scientists until recently, al
though 1t Is entirely surrounded b!
well defined routes of travel, with th'
Canadian Pacific railway on the soun
and the Columbus river sweeping
through its Big Bend on the northwes
and west.
In area the, Big Bend region cover
2,4OO square miles, which, is entirel!
covered by an exceedingly complicatec
labyrinth Of mountainous spurs an'
ridges that may be considered as form
ing the northerly termination Of tn
Selllirlz range, The greater number o