MOUNT M'KINLEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9913, 30 July 1910, Page 1

MOUNT M'KINLEY.

A Tremendous Climb.

Success of the Lloyd Espg&itlon.

Mount M'Kinley is one of the giants of the world, outdistanced in height only by some of the crests of Asia and South America. There is no point in Africa, Australia or Europe to rival it. Mont Blanc itself rises only 15,732 ft, and Mount M'Kinley is 20,464 ft high. Situated in Alaska, it is a monarch among mountains. M'Kinley is not the lnghtest point on the .North American Continent, but it is exceedingly difficult of ascent,' and has, indeed, hitherto defeated .the most intrepid attempts to reach its summits, for Dr Cook's claim in 1906 has since been discredited. To the observer it presents a succession of forbidding granite cliffs and overhanging glaciers. Viewed from the southeast, it has been described as resembling" a great bee-hive, weighted down with all the snow it can possibly carry." > ' ■ j ' How it came to be conquered is a curious story. The task—hitherto regarded as impossible—was undertaken with no other aim than to prove the powers of endurance of the four members of the party, of which the leader was Thomas Lloyd, and of the superiority of the North over the South, a new phase of the ol<J struggle. These men had no,-lofty end in view; they, did not set forth as the servants of Science, but morely as healthy, energetic Americans, who were determined to show what " stuff " was in them, and to_ demonstrate in their little world in Alaska that the ascent of this monarch among mountains, though extremely difficult, and even perilous, was not beyond achievement, given a contain measure of pluck and presistency—and a knowledge of climatic and other conditions.

These intrepid pioneers consisted of Thomas Lloyd, William Taylor (Lloyd's mining partner), Pete Andersen and Charles M'Gonagell (two miners who have worked for Lloyd and Taylor for years), C. A. Davidson, a surveyor, and Robert Home, who had some surveying to do in the M'Kinley district, and who. .took this 'opportunity to roach that section. Davidson and Home left the party before the actual ascent of M'Kmley began, and the four men mentioned made the climb alone.

They wore more than thirty days m reaching the summit from its base, but they did reach that summit (it proved to be two summits of equal height), and on that, the highest spot of ground on the North American continent, they planted the American' flag, and left there monuments to mark/the eventmonuments which will remain there, despite wind, and weather, long after the members of the Lloyd party have made their last climb and passed on. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. They had numerous escapes from death, discovered rock which was unknown in their mining experience, were short of food at times, suffered from frost-bite, their faces were turned to well-tanned leather by the sun's reflection upon the snow and ice over which they travelled, their eyes were bloodshot and blinded bv the brilliance of the ice, despite their snow glasses; they accomplished feats which were seemingly their very limit of endurance, left permanent camps along the train to and upon the summit of Mount M'Kinley, and returned to the town of FairbanKS. their home in Alaska, to find that they had brought upon themselves a worldwide fame. The remarkable achievement was accomplished in February, March and April. The expedition started out with considerable experience of the conditions which would be met with, and this knowledge proved the talisman of success. They estimated as closely as can a mariner with chart and compass reckon his course upon the seas tho exact time and direction to accomplish tho ascent of Mount M'Kinley, and as they arrived at each stage of the ascent they found that Nature had anticipated their coming, according to their schedule, and had the way and prepared for thoir reception.

Thomas Lloydand his companions travelled first to the Nenana River, and established a camp on the south fork of Moose Creek, and thence on February 12 they covered the distance between the two forks of the M'lvinley Hirer, " breaking their own trail," and campin'g in the cotton woods. Then, two days later, they mover! to the camp formed by the United States Geological Survey, under Mr Alfred Brooks, in August, 1902, on a site 1980 feet above sea-level. Having reached this point, the energies of the pioneers were occupied l for several days ill filial preparations for the ascent —'getting up the teams, settling a number of preliminary details, and forming a camp 10*00 feet higher up. Even as late as March 1 tliey wore still prospecting for the big climb, determined not to make a false start on their perilous adventure. .Nothing is more remarkable than the perseverance and patience with which Lloyd and his companions worked, doing everything for themselves, in a spirit of cheery optimism. Lloyd kept a full diary durinsr the climb, and the "Daily Teleeraph " has published many extracts from it in the course of a full and interesting story of the expedition. Here, for example, is a typical extract :—■ TOWERING GLACIER WALLS. " March 13.—Took stove, tent and bedding to Wall Street Glacier. We called it that because you look straight up as at a wall. 01 would not like to estimate the height of the walls, but in places it honestly looked to me to reach 10.000 ft straight up. Of course, it cannot be anything; like that distance or height., hut it looked to be—stretching straight up in the air. It is the grandest thine; I ever saw in my lifo, that long stretch of glacier. Going across the glacier toward M'Kinley for tho first four or five miles there are no crevasses in sight, as they have been blown full of snow, but the next eiiht miles are terrible for crevasses. You can look down in them for a distance (stretching from 100 ft to Hades or China. Look {'own one of thera and you will never forget it. Some of them you can see the bottom of, but most of thom appear to be bottomless. They are not pood things to look at. " Over tho upper eight miles of that glacier you cannot move a foot in safety unless you have snowslioes on. " Across the glacier the wind blows at a swift rate. It didn't blow very hard while we were there to-day, but

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