Ascent of Mount Elias.

Hastings Standard, Issue 475, 13 November 1897, Page 4

Ascent of Mount Elias.

A GREAT MOUNTAINEERING FEAT.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Abruzzi, nephew of the King of Italy, with the members of his expedition, reached London the - other Saturday morning. The expedition, left Liverpool on May 24, for the purpose of ascending Mount St Elias and Mount Logan, the summits of which had never been reached. On June 23 the expedition, which numbered ten persons, commenced their long and difficult march across the Alaskan glaciers to the Elias Range, and it took 38 days' hard travelling to reach the foot of Elias. While crossing the Malaspina Glacier en route to the mountain, 12 days after leaving the yacht, the Duke's party met the members of the Bryen American expedition, who were returning. The latter had started some 17 days before the Italian expedition, with the object of ascending Elias, but had not succeeded in doing so. At 3 a m. on July 30 the Duke and his companions commenced the ascent of the Divide between Elias and the lower peaks, and reached that point at 10.30 the same morning. Here they remained until 1 a.m. the next day, when they commenced the ascent of the peak of St Elias. The great difficulty experienced by the explorers was in the matter of carrying supplies, and everything had to be cut down. The ascent of the Divide was very arduous. The glaciers were numerous and deep, and gradients exceedingly steep. Jumping the crevasses was risky work, and during the journey each member of the party at different times fell into these great fissures, but all were prepared for accidents of this nature, and consequently no casualties resulted. Shortly after midnight the explorers commenced to scale the remaining 6000 ft. between the Divide and the topmost peak of Elias, and soon the effect of the highly rarefied air began to operate upon the mountaineers. The difficulty in breathing was so great that the climbers had continually to stop for a few minutes. The top of the mountain, which was ascertained to be 18,100 feet high, was safely reached at 11,50 a.m., the ascent from the Divide—l2,4oo feet—having occupied exactly 11 hour-,. The view from, the summitjwasfine beyond description. The atmosphere was marvellously clear; in fact, the weather conditions could not have been more favorable. The explorers rested on the summit for an hour and a half, during which time

some very fine photographs were secured. The descent to the Divide, during which the Duke and Lieutenant Cagni were roped together, took two and a half hours. The night was spent at the Divide, and the following morning the expedition descended to the foot of the mountain.