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THE FIRST VIEW HAD BY CIVILIZED MAN FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PEAKS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.

BY E. A. FITZGERALD,

Author of "Climbs in the New Zealand Alps."

IX days after the ascent of Aconcagua by my guide Zurbriggen, as related in McCLURE'S MAGAZINE for October, I started, with Mr. Stuart Vines, to make another attempt on the mountain. Zurbriggen was temporarily disabled by the hardships he had undergone on Aconcagua, and by an accident sustained in crossing one of the fords in the Horcones Valley, owing to his mule falling with him. I had, therefore, sent him down to Mendoza to recuperate. After two unsuccessful attempts, we reached the high-level camp on Aconcagua, at 18,700 feet, on the 22d of January [1897], in very bad weather.

At these altitudes the digestive organs are not in a state to allow of indulgence in a hearty supper, and we felt a craving for hot food at an early hour on the following morning. It was Vines's first experience at 19,000 feet. He spent a restless night, and on getting up did not seem fit for much. It was impossible to rise early, or when up to move about and do things quickly, so that it was not until nine o'clock that we began to prepare breakfast. Coffee was our staple food, but there was no means of obtaining water except by melting snow and ice.

I undertook to light the fire, no easy task at this altitude, where it requires almost superhuman efforts to induce the wood to ignite. Vines went with a biscuit-tin to

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collect suitable snow and ice for water ten yards away on the other side of the tent, and crouching down by the fire, I gave myself up to the exhausting work of persistently blowing the smouldering wood, thereby filling my lungs, which were craving oxygen, with smoke. I looked up to see what had become of Vines. He stood a few yards from me, apparently doing nothing in particular. The tent being perched on a narrow ledge, under the shelter of a rock, he had to cross the numerous guy-ropes in order to reach the snow. I watched him slowly raise one leg over the first rope, and stop breathless and exhausted. He then wearily dragged the other leg after the first. Thus he proceeded until he reached the snow. It was about ten minutes before he returned, with hardly enough ice and snow in the tin to wet the bottom of the kettle. I noticed during the time I spent at this high camp that the ropes of the tent always needed readjustment. The reason was not far to seek, for we were continually kicking them as we passed, no one having the energy to raise his feet high enough to clear them. Under these

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the snow, Vines and I intended to hold on as long as possible. When the day was too far advanced to make a descent possible, about five o'clock in the afternoon, the snow increased in volume, and the wind rose, causing it to drift. Huddled in our little tent, we anxiously watched the turn of events. We closed the fastenings of the tent, and tried to sleep. But it was not a night for rest. I soon began to realize that we were being buried in the snow, for the corner under the shelter of the rocks where the tent was pitched was filling up with one great snowdrift. At nine o'clock we seri

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circumstances, it is not to be wondered at that we did not get our breakfast until long after ten. It seemed to restore Vines at once to comparative activity, but had a contrary effect upon me, for I was attacked by indigestion, and retired to my sleepingbag for the rest of the morning.

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ously discussed the state of affairs. We must either keep the snow clear of the tent or retreat to the valley. The latter course we feared would be impossible. On such a night we could never find our way down the great exposed slopes of Aconcagua. Vines burrowed his way out of the tent, and with difficulty found and brought in the boots and ice-axes, so that we might be ready for the worst. From time to time we beat upon the roof of the tent, in order to prevent a mass of snow from collecting and crushing it in. Sleep was out of the question. It was a miserable and exciting night, and by morning we were quite worn out. Snow began to fall again at nine o'clock, so we made a bolt for the valley. It was useless to attempt further climbing in such weather.

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Our next start from Inca was, therefore, delayed to February 7th. We reached the 14,000 feet bivouac, at the head of the

SNOW-ROUND AT AN ELEVATION OF 18,700 Horcones Valley, and sent porters up to

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report on the condition of the mountain and the high camp. They came down on the I intended to rest the first day, and if following day with a story that was not possible make the ascent on the next. It encouraging. Owing to continued snowbegan to snow at ten o'clock. It snowed fall, the difficulties to be encountered in the all day. A porter came up during the ascent of the mountain would be greatly morning with some wood and provisions, and increased, and sleeping at the high-level descended late in the afternoon. In spite of camp was becoming more uncomfortable

every day. I started with Vines on the 10th, and on reaching the camp, soon realized that the description given by the porters was only too true. Tent, wood, provisions, and instruments were covered with ice and snow. The few cooking utensils were covered with frozen grease. To thaw these things out and clean them up was no easy task, and the difficulties of preparing hot food, so necessary to us, were greatly increased.

However, on the 12th the weather looked promising, and we determined to prepare for the ascent on the following day, for we were not gaining strength by remaining at this altitude. Lanti came up in the evening, for as he had proved himself less susceptible to the surrounding conditions than the other porters, I wished him to make the ascent with us. He undertook to wake us at an early hour, that we might all have a good breakfast before starting. Unfortunately, we were unable to sleep at night, and as usual made up for it in the morning, so that it was only when the sun came on the tent at 7.30 that Lanti roused us. So slow were our movements, that we did not make a start until after 8.30. Our packs were

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The aspect of the mountain had changed considerably since Zurbriggen's ascent. He had reached the summit almost without putting his foot on snow; now great fields of deep snow spread over the northwestern slopes as far as the eye could see. We trudged over it for an hour, when, at the height of 20,000 feet,

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I was forced to turn back. I begged Vines to go on and make the ascent if possible, taking Lanti with him. He followed practically the same route that had been taken on the previous attempt, clinging to the protection afforded by the base of the cliffs running down from the summit to the north. It was absolutely necessary to keep on the solid rock or hard snow, and avoid as much as possible the soft broken surface caused by the thousands of years of denudation. In ascending by the line of cliffs, they reached at mid-day a spot 21,500 feet high, where, on our first attempt, we had left some provisions and instruments. Here their further passage towards the summit was barred by a precipice, so that they were forced to cross the face of the mountain to the west, in order to reach the couloir ascended by Zurbriggen. In doing this they had to pass over the rotten debris which covered the whole of this side of the mountain. tience and endurance were sorely tried, for they were at an altitude of 22,000 feet, and the fatigue caused by slipping and falling on the unreliable surface was very great. At

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EDITOR'S NOTE. The map on this page is reproduced by permission of the Royal Geographical Society (London).

each step the whole side of the mountain quite invisible, two miles vertically below seemed to give way, and they were con- where he stood. tinually thrown down on their hands and knees. It took them over an hour to cross the slope to the couloir; not that the distance was very great, but they were forced to halt every few minutes. Their legs seemed incapable of working for more than twenty steps at a time, and the difficulty of breathing seemed to increase at each step.

At 2 P.M. the couloir was reached, and after an ascent of some 300 feet, they entered a vast amphitheatre filled with masses of broken red rock. The opposite wall of this was formed by a great arête, which joined the eastern and western peaks of Aconcagua, and ran from one end of the mountain to the other. To the left of them rose a huge bastion of rock on which was the actual summit. To the right, cone-shaped rocks and aiguilles towered into the clouds above. Not a vestige of snow was to be seen within this vast enclosure. They were nearly 22,500 feet above the level of the sea, and in no mood to cope with the frequent petty annoyances which occurred while scrambling over the great rough stones and boulders now blocking the way. almost irresistible desire to turn and descend, and the longing for some stimulating nourishment, seemed to overwhelm them. In halting they found there was only one position for rest and recuperation. The overpowering lassitude that seized their lower limbs after sitting or reclining made this mode of rest out of the question, and instinct soon taught them to stand with legs wide apart, the body thrown far forward, the hands grasping the head of the ice-axe and the forehead resting low on the hands. Ten or a dozen violent respirations brought the breathing back to its normal state, the legs gradually regained power, and they were able to advance a short distance. So they proceeded until, at 4.30, the great arête that joined the eastern and western peaks was reached.

Vines crept to its edge, and looked over the southern wall of Aconcagua. An immense distance separated him from the glacier below, the difference between 23,000 and 13,000 feet. Looking down this dizzy precipice, he saw spurs of the mountain flanking the glacier beneath to the right and left, giving it the appearance of a huge amphitheatre. The sun was now not far off the horizon, and did not penetrate into this vast pit. Great masses of vapor were moving about in it far below; it looked like some giant cauldron, of which the bottom was

But no time was to be lost; it was late, and it was hard to tell how far the actual summit might be. They turned along the arête to the east, until its rotten condition and its steepness compelled them to leave it. As a cliff in front barred the way and shut out the view ahead, the excitement of the climbers became intense. Vines scrambled up the cliff. Once level with its edge, all was made clear. Here was the actual summit right before his eyes, and not twenty yards from him was Zurbriggen's stone man, and the ice-axe planted in its center. A few steps more, and they stood on the summit of Aconcagua in silence, the feeling of triumph too great for words. There was no more need to stand and rest. They flung themselves down by the stone man, crouching close on its leeward side, and Lanti produced the bottle of wine. They neither of them cared for the chilled, sour stuff, and poured it as a libation over the stone man, in order to use the bottle for the record.

THE SUMMIT REACHED A MARVELOUS VIEW.

A square plateau about seventy-five yards across, quite clear of snow, formed the summit of the mountain, inaccessible on all except the western side, where the arête joined it with the western peaks. But for a few clouds that had been coming over towards the mountain all the afternoon and hovering round the southern and western slopes, the sky was clear. Vines was quite overwhelmed by the vastness of the panorama that lay beneath him. Innumerable ranges of mountains stretched away to the east, to the Uspallata plain and the pampas of Argentina. These ran to a great height, maintaining an average of about 13,000 feet, so that it was not possible to see the pampas except far to the north, where a break in the mountains gave a glimpse of the distant plains. Most of those great brown mountains were capped with white, the result of the unusually heavy summer snows. Within ten miles surrounding the base of Aconcagua lay the heads of the Vacas and Horcones valleys, and to the north, the Penitentes Valley, by which Güssfeldt had approached the mountain-wide, bleak wastes of gray stones bounded by red and brown slopes and ending in glacier. Clear above the low clouds lying in the Horcones Valley, stood up the mighty dome of Tupungato. Vines scrutinized its outline carefully. For Aconcagua once con

quered, the scaling of Tupungato would be our especial care. Not far to the north of it rose the ice peaks of Pollera and Navarro, and the lofty glaciers lying beneath the rugged cliffs of Juncal. Nearer still, the Twins and Torlosa on either side guarded the Cumbre Pass over into Chile.

Turning to the north, the eye traveled over vast fields of ice and snow lying at their feet, down the Val Penitentes and the Val Hermosa, to the giant slopes of Mercedario, forty miles away, and far beyond, over innumerable peaks and ridges. All around on these three sides was a sight of which the desolate grandeur defied description. But

face of the ocean between the point of vision and the sun became suffused with a ruddy glow. The shimmering of the light upon the water could be distinctly seen, so that it seemed quite near to them, and it was difficult to believe that the distance was so im

mense.

But the setting sun warned them that it was time to descend unless they would be overcome by night at this great altitude. It was nearly half past six, and should clouds obscure the moon, the descent would be very perilous. Nearly an hour and a half had been spent upon the summit, nor had the time seemed long. For to take in all its details

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