Page:Canadian Alpine Journal I, 2.djvu/43

Rh with the sun or shortly thereafter, made one of a small group around the fire, for the early air was sharp and biting.

Breakfast over, seven responded to the roll-call and the click of the alpenstock announced our departure from camp. We trailed along up the timbered valley on the left bank of the stream rushing madly down from Horseshoe Glacier. Crossing the stream about a mile from camp, just above the Giant's Stairway, over which the water glides in liquid sheets, we came close to the Mitre, a prominent peak overhanging the valley, and so named from its resemblance to a bishop's mitre. Here we commenced our ascent towards the pass between the Mitre and Mt. Aberdeen, working up a rocky slide, of which the lower portion was covered with small brush. We were soon taking a breather on the first bench above, where the snow began. As a matter of practice and precaution the rope was uncoiled, and, while our leader was making the necessary loops, we turned and absorbed the view. Paradise Valley lay before us, a carpet of green, walled in by snow peaks reaching from the glacial amphitheatre at its head down its entire length. Mount Temple raised its snowy dome across the way, with Pinnacle, Eiffel and the other peaks forming a massive semi-circle curving towards where we stood.

The loops adjusted, we started the climb over the snow, and after a rather strenuous pull made the pass and looked down the other slope, which led to Lefroy Glacier and proved much steeper than the route up. Some difficulty had been experienced here on the previous expedition, as the snow then had a hard crust, necessitating a tedious process of step-cutting. We were fortunate, however, as we found the snow in good condition, and, going cautiously at the start, we soon broke rank and slid—first one ahead and then another—until what appeared like a forbidding descent was soon over and we were out on the glacier.