Page:The Overland Monthly Volume 56 Issue 2.djvu/4

 camp were strenuous days, even though no ascent of the mountain was attempted. With the break of each morning the mountaineers started out on a side trip intended to fit them for the climb to the summit. Over rocks and glaciers they climbed, up mountain and down, wading streams, and returning to the camp at night exhausted with physical weariness, but more than ready with the next day's dawn to start forth on another "hike."

"There was no such thing as disobedience, though sometimes it threatened," said Mr. Curtis. "Those who go with us simply must do as they are told; failure to comply with orders might mean death when crossing the glaciers or ascending steep mountain sides. Therefore obedience is drilled in with vigor when the party is preparing for the climb.

"We endeavored to put the Mountaineers through every possible experience they might later be called upon to face, and even taught the uninitiated to coast down a steep snow slope without danger of tumbling headlong to the bottom. Some of young women objected to this coasting feature; they weren't going to do it—at first; but they did."

Dressed in bloomers, and with alpine-stocks, the women were as well prepared for the climb as their masculine companions when the time set for the ascent arrived. The ten days over, the party was hardened and eager to set foot upon the summit. The executive committee exercised its prerogative of dictatorship, and designated those who were known to be in the best physical shape for the climb. It was disappointing to the others who were left behind, but many felt themselves unequal to the task and voluntarily resigned themselves to await the return of the larger party.

The first day the sixty-two, carrying packs of provisions, sleeping bags and other light equipment, made temporary camp that night above the 9,000 foot level, within sight of the dome. Next morning at daybreak everything was ready for the final dash.

Across the glaciers, and up, up, up the heights the thin brown line made its way, Indian file. As the ascent grew more and more precipitous, it was necessary to have steps cut in the snow and ice. Six picked and experienced mountain climbers were chosen for the advance guard; each hewed out forty steps, then made way for a fresh man. In this manner the party reached

Mountaineers crossing Carbon Glacier.