Evening star., 1938-07-31
BY BRADFORD WASHBURN,
Harvard Instructor in Geographical
EXploration

BY BRADFORD WASHBURN.
Harvard Instructor in Geographical
Exploration.
CHISTOCHINA Alaska, July 80
lP.-Our small expedition, composed
of Mr., and Mrs, Terrace Moore of
Los Angeles. and myself, returned to
civilization at Chistochina after sue
cessfully carrying the flag of the
National Geographic Society to the
summit of Mount Sanford u6,206
feet). until now the highest unscaled
peak in North America
We made the descent on skis, COW
erlng in l hour and 20 minutes the
5000 feet between the summit and
our camp that it had taken us ia
hours to climb.
Moore and I reached the summit
alone at 9 o'clock the night of July
81, after an unsuccessful attempt on
July l9, when, accompanied by Mrs.
Moore, We reached an altitude of IA
500 feet and were turned back by
heavy snowstorns. Carrying the spe-
cial flag of the National Geographic
Society of Washington. We left Slana,
Alaska, 80 miles north of Mount San
ford, on July T.
We had 10 pack horses and dogs
and a sledge. and approached the
mountain from the north. As we
neared it, We slipped to the west
OF the peak in order to climb from
that side
Route Through Swamps.
Our route of ascent was entirely
planned and was based on a series
OF detailed aerial photographs taken
year ago. The route from Slana
to our base camp on Sheep Creek. at
the foot OF the mountain. was mostly
through lovland swamps and bogs.
Sanford is an extinct volcano and
the country around it to the north
and west is very fiat. entirely under
lain by immense lava flows tanning
outward from the base of the main
mountain mass.
We had great deal of trouble with
the horses in the bogs. but the dogs
navleated even the worst of the
sVamps. pulling their sledee faith
FULLY, even though still MANY miles
from snow
Inc weather was Vretched through
out the trip, with rain or snow at
some time during each of the first
% days Of July.
On July 9, after several DAYS in
the sWamps, We reached Sheep Creek
and established our last timber base
where food for horses could be had.
With Jack Kennedy and Adam San
lord, the latter native Indian. handl-
Ing the horses, we advanced to the
end OF a large, unnamed glacier, how-
ing westward from the mountain. on
the following day.
Dried Fish Decayed.
Moore and I secuted out a route to
the $500 foot altitude on July II and
we were preparing a sledge load of
supplies when we discovered all the
dried hsh brought for dog food had
decayed during the week spent in
the swampy mountain approaches.
We made a speedy descent to the
Sheep Creek camp, IL miles down the
valley, and picked up an emergency
supply OF cornmeal and fuel for cook
ing it. That night. Sanford shot a
large bear that attacked the horses.
The weather was hopeless for high
altitude climbing when we returned
to the glacier next day, and we spent
the following five days carrying two
weeks supplies to an altitude of TO-
600 feet on the northern ridge of
Mount Sanford. 1t was necessary to
pack the supplies on our backs when
snow was too deep or the rise was too
steep for the sledge and dogs
1t was from the 10000 foot altitude
camp that our party of three set out
on July l9 to attempt to reach the
summit over vast ice plateau.
Sledged to 1900 Feet.
Our five dogs sledged light load of
survey apparatus and emergency food
to a height of over $4,000 feet until
fresh snow became so deep that we
were no longer able to break a trail
with snowshoes hard enough to pull
the sled
We unhitched the dogs and contin-
ued our ascent, with them following,
Embarrassed. in our trail, until We
were turned back by high cold wind
and blizzard at an altitude of 14.500
feet, which some believe is the highest
altitude ever attained by sled dogs
We returned to our camp pretty
thoroughly exhausted after IL hours
on the mountain All the next day it
stormed, with fresh snow completely
burying the trail we had broken. Three
uSI tyr,,r 1Nf+ .,Jo
snow every 200 feet. however, pre-
served the exact route for us to follow
on the second try.
The storm ended the morning of
July 21 and Moore and I set out on
skis at 100 that afternoon in an at
tempt to race storm to the summit
before our food supply diminished.
Stayed at Top 25 Minutes.
We succeeded in reaching the top
ct 9 that night and stayed there 25
minutes, taking photographs in a tenn
perature of below Zero with an icy
northeast breeze blowing.
The view over all Eastern Alaska
was stupendous. A magnificent sea
of clouds covered the lowlands and
the smoking peak of Mt. Wrangell. an
1ce-capped, active volcano, was un-
believably spectacular, rising $4,000
feet about 20 miles south of U.S.
We left the summit at 925, Just as
the storm We had been racing was be-
ginning 10 strike, and skied as fast
as possible downward to our camp.
We zigzagged in order to avoid cracks
in the glacier. which slowed us con-
siderably during the descent of the
upper 5000 feet. but below this We
made excellent speed and covered the
whole 5000 feet between the summit
and our camp in hour and 20 min
utes 1t had taken us 7i2 hours on
the way up.
Descended Rapidly.
There was another blizzard that
night, but clouds lifted enough on the
evening of the 22d to permit a rapid