An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, AlaskaRussell, Israel C. (Cook)
History
An Expedition to Mount St. Elias, Alaska
Russell, Israel C. (Cook)
Alaska -- Description and travel; Saint Elias, Mount (Alaska and Yukon)
Camp 14 was on a sharp crest of limestone, conglomerate, and shale
belonging to the Pinnacle system, which was not over ten feet broad
where our tent was pitched. East of our tent there was a broad, upward
sloping snow-plain banked against the precipitous base of a hill about
a thousand feet high. At the edge of the snow, within three feet of
our tent, there was a pond {137} of clear water, seemingly placed
there for our special use. The western edge of our tent was at the
margin of a cliff about a hundred feet high, overlooking the Seward
glacier. We held this camp for several days and reöccupied it on our
return from St. Elias.
SUMMIT OF PINNACLE PASS CLIFFS.
From Camp 14 Crumback returned to Blossom island, and Stamy took his
place. Word from Christie assured me that supplies would be advanced
to Blossom island, and that our cache on the Marvine glacier would be
renewed. Stamy's arrival was especially welcome for the reason that he
brought letters from dear ones far away, which had been forwarded from
Sitka by a trading schooner that chanced to visit Yakutat bay.
While the camp hands were busy in bringing up fresh supplies, Kerr and
I occupied two stations on the summit of the Pinnacle pass cliffs. One
of these was on a butte at the western end of the ridge and just above
our camp; the other was on the crest of the main line of cliffs almost
directly above Pinnacle pass, at an elevation of 5,000 feet. Each of
the stations embraced magnificent views, extending from the outer
margin of the Malaspina glacier to the crest of the St. Elias range.
The station on the butte near camp was occupied several times, and
proved to be a most convenient and commanding point for study of the
geography, geology, and distribution of glacier over a wide area. On
account of the splendid view obtained from the top we named it _Point
Glorious_. Its elevation is 3,500 feet.
One of the days on which we occupied Point Glorious was especially
remarkable on account of the clearness and freshness of the air and
the sharpness with which each peak and snow-crest stood out against
the deep-blue heavens. We left our camp early in the morning, and
spent several hours on the summit. On our way up we found several
large patches of Alpine flowers and, under a tussock of moss, a soft,
warm nest just abandoned by a mother ptarmigan with her brood of
little ones. One hundred feet higher we came to the borders of the
snow-field which covered all of the upper slopes except a narrow crest
of sandstone at the top.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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