The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-08-17
First American (onquerors Of fMiqhty Sf. Elias Recount
 Ardours of Historic Ascent


 luggage that covered a four-foot square in the Baranof Hotel lobby, four young men, the last of the Mt. St. Elias climing expedition, re- turned to Juneau this week, tired but brilliantly successful. They, and their four companions now in the States, and Anchorage, are the first Americans ever to set foot on the pinnacle of 18,008-foot Mt St. Elias.
 On the 18th day of July, l9 days after reaching the base of Mt. St. Elias, they had planted the Amer ican flag at the summit of Alas kas second highest mountain. The going had not been too tough" and the weather remarkably good;' but the mountaineers, all members of the Harvard Mountaineer Club and the American Alpine Club, are not recommending the trek up the glacial sides of the towering peak as a side-line for summer tourists.
 CARRY TON AND HALF
 Leaving Yakutat with approx imately ton and a half of equip nent and supplies, the party car ried skies, snow-shoes, sleds, Army test material, food, etc Unlike the Duke d Abruzzi and his party, the first, and only group before the Harvard Mountaineers to reach Mt. St. Elias formidable apex. the party carried no luxury items. When the Duke made the trip early in the century, he carried along iron bed steads, feather pillows. and 100 porters and guides. The Duke ap- preached the mountain from the Canadian side, The American group went up along the Ameri- can side, symbolically enough. Soon after reaching Juneau two of the four new arrivals left for Glacier Bay. where they will make a study of glacier recession for the American Geographic Society. They were Maynard M. Miller, lead CT of the party, and William R. Lat ady. In Juneau are Dee Molenaar and Cornelius K" Molenaar, brothers, who Thursday recounted the full tale of the St. Elias climb to members of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce at the organizations regular luncheon meeting. The first three of the group to return here were MT. and Mrs. A. J. Kaufman (she is the only woman in the group, and Will jam L. Putnam.
 The attitude of the newly-return- ed mountaineers toward the dra- matic climb was modest. Prodded by drama-hungry reporter who had never even climbed Chicken Ridge, however, they narrated the following tale:
 MET DUKES GUIDE After leaving Juneau June 12, the expedition went to Yakutat by plane. Greeted there royalty" by the city fathers and general pub lie, the party found itself surround ed by enthusiastic we'll -wishers. To Yakutat the kingly Mt. St. Elias is a point of personal pride, and the climbers were furnished trans portation, gear, special invitations to , dippo,. infroIIotiopc atc u,itt h hospitable aplomb. In that village the mountaineers met an old Indian guide who had packed for the Duke of Abruzzi party, and were intro duoed to John Sorenson of the Libby Canning Company, who pro- vided them with a pleasant stay in Yakutat.
 Another Yakutat resident the four mountaineers mentioned par ticularly was the Rev. Stanley Ben- son, whose hospitality and warm hearted greetings are well remem- bered.
 Then, after four days of getting their packs arranged and taking care of other preparations, they were off to Icy Bay from Yakutat, in a 40-foot boat.
 Through 60 miles of rough icy water, often dotted with ice floes, the climbers admit "the going was | tough" At one point the skiff was lost and the party had to re- 1 trace the route, locate the skiff, and secure it once again to the boat TRUDGE ACROSS ICE FIELDS
 Once ashore, the group set up Camp No. with tents and emer- gency provisions and started the trudge across the 21 miles of ice fields to the base of Mt. St. Elias.
 Loaded with maximum weight packs, the mOuntaineers were fore ed to leap across wide crevasses in the ice, and once to ford a glacier stream Two of the men walked up two miles to shallow spot in the stream, waded across in chilly