REPORT OF CHIEF MOUNTAINEER
The mountaineering was in charge of M. P. Bridgland, assisted by H. G. Wheeler, both of the Topographical Survey of the Rocky mountains. Two Swiss guides, Edouard Feuz, Jr., and Gottfried Feuz, of Interlaken, were loaned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and one of these usually accompanied each official climb. A number of other gentlemen, who had had experience in mountaineering, rendered good service to climbing and exploring parties, viz.: The Rev. Dr. Herdman, J. D. Patterson, E. O. Wheeler, Rev. A. M. Gordon, P. D. McTavish, the Rev. Geo. Kinney, Rev. A. O. MacRae, D. N. McTavish and Rev. J. H. Miller.
MT. VICE-PRESIDENT
(10,049 feet above sea level).
The camp was opened officially on July 9th. On the 8th the chief mountaineer, accompanied by the two Swiss guides, the Rev. Dr. Herdman and P. D. McTavish started for Mt. Vice-President, to select the best route for the ascent by other members of the Club. The object was to choose a route as varied as possible, affording, not only rock-work, but also some work on snow and ice; further to select suitable resting places and to establish a 9,000-feet elevation, so that advantage could be taken of the privileged rates to climbers reaching that height above sea level.
Leaving the camp at 6 a.m., the party followed the trail to the summit of the Yoho pass and then, turning to the right, headed for the lower part of the shoulder extending southward from Michaels Mt. The bushes were wet and everyone was soaked, but in about half an hour the shoulder was crossed near timber-line. The party then traversed a long rock slide and worked its way up some steep snow slopes to the arete between Michaels Mt. and the main mass of the mountain, reaching it at 8:30.
From this point the way led along the arete, which was badly broken in places, offering some very interesting bits of rock-work. In one spot it narrowed down to a knife-edge, descending abruptly to the glacier on either side. About two hours' climbing along this arete brought the party to Angle peak,[1] beyond which it was an easy walk across the snowfield to the final peak, about a mile distant and one hundred feet higher. The summit, 10,049 feet above sea level, was reached at 12:30 p.m., after six and a half hours of steady climbing.
- ↑ Angle peak, as indicated by the name, is a sharp angle of rock rising above the north escarpment of the Vice-President ridge, about a mile east of the summit of the mountain. The name was first applied by the Rev. James Outram and is here used for lack of a better.—Ed.
