The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-07-28
A Tenderfoot on Summit of Rainier

the Callahan Zinc-Lead com.
T pany, accompanied by Mrs. Bore
, and two children, arrived last sun
day and are visiting at the home OF
Mr. and Mrs. c. w. Newton at the
! Callahan mine. Mr.. Borg came here
from the coast and will spend the re-
! mainder of a months vacation in this
district, part of which will be spent
/ camping on the North Fork While
on the coast Mr. Borg visited Rainier
national park. where, yielding to the
overtures of his adventurous Is
year-old son. he climbed to the sum
NIT of Mount Rainier. barring Mount
Whitney in California, the highest
peak in the United States. It was a
thrilling experience and is described
in realistic style by Mr.. Borg in the
following narrative:
Story of the Trip.
when l left Hackensack for my
vacation in the west, l had no idea of
attempting any mountain climbing
stunts. Upon our arrival at Seattle,
Wash. we decided that our western
Trip WOulQ lOl ne GOllRiGlG ulllCSc VIC
visited Mount Rainier National Park
and therefore made our plans accord
ingly. We left Seattle on the morn
ing of July 10 and motored 125 miles
to the park arriving that evening and
Registered at Paradise Inn, which is
located at an altitude of $500 feet in
/ Paradise valley The scene which
a surprise to say the least, for we
found approximately 10 feet of snow
surrounding the inn and made our
first entrance through a tunnel in the
snow drift. After dinner the chief
ranger delivered an illustrated lecture
on the natural beauties Of the park
closing his lecture with a short talk
relative to the climb to the summit
This aroused the spirit of adventure
in my son Donald to a point where
he expressed a very strong ambition
to attempt the climb to the summit,
providing the summit guide would
permit a boy of his age to make the
trip. After consultation with Hans
Fuhrer the famous Swiss mountain
climbing guide employed by the Raj
nier National Park company and re-
ceiving his assurance that Donald
could probably survive the expert
ence, I decided to crafty the boys
ambition, but upon telling his mother
of my intention, l met with great OPP
position from this side of the house.
After considerable discussion she fin
ally agreed to give her consent to
having the boy make the trip provid-
ing, however, that I would accompany
him. l did not enthuse much over
this, but being willing to try any
thing once enrolled both Donald
and myself for the Emile climb to
the top of Mt. Rainier Had my fore
sight been as good as my hindsight,
l would have hesitated a long time
before making any rash promises.
Alpine Climbing Outfit.
after enrolling in the official gov
eminent book together with Donald !
and five others, we all had to sign le-
gal releases to protect the park man
agement in case of accident, and the |
summit party was then ready to re-
ceive its equipment, which was rent
ed at a cost of $3.50 per person. We
were equipped as follows: Heavy lea
Their mountain boots, soles studded
with one-half-inch steel call1s. heavy
wooden socks, khaki breeches, flannel
shirt, heavy mackinaw coat wooden
cap and smoked goggles. After ar
raging ourselves in these outlandish
togs we had our faces, necks and ears
painted with white grease paint to
prevent the suns glare from blister
ing them. and then had our boots
Of neatsfoot oil and paraffine We were &;
next handed our steel pointed alpin-
stocks, a pair of heavy double wooden ,
and lined up for our instruc- !
ions relative to the climb. The in {
structions were substantially as fol- {
Ows: Don't talk while walking. save I
your breath. Always step in the {
same footprints made by the leader (
md be sure to plant your stick firm {
Y in the ice before making each step, r
md above all retain your hold on the I
'ope, which is secured to the should {
RS of the guide At 300 p. m. on q
he goth we finally started on our la {
POROUS journey to the summit. t
A Ngiht in cloudIand. a
THE first days journey of about L
niles in which we assembled 1900 feet t
vas made in 616 hours and though {
cry fatiguing. was not Of danger v
,us nature, and we arrived safely at a
,ur destination at $3.50 p. m. all in v
,ut happy in the knowledge that we
lad covered the first stage of our O
rip. During the last three hours of v
he climb we encountered what the n
enderfoot thought was a dense fog, a
nut our guide informed US that we u
we're in 'cloudland.' When the moon v
ose that evening we were treated to n
wonderful sight. A full moon shown +
n an ocean of clouds as far as the
we could see and the sight was one
ong to be remembered. We were all t
90 tired to eat, but our efficient guide s
rewed some hot tea, after drinking d
rI,soI, NO xrrarf 70 bod r,,f not 70 =