GLACIER ICE.
Glacier ice is not like the solid blue ice on the surface of the water, but consists of granules joined together by an intricate network of capillary water, filled fissures. In exposed sections and upon the surface of the ice can be observed “veined” or “banded” structure veins of a denser blue color alternating with those of a lighter shade containing air bubbles. The cause of this peculiar structure has been the subject of much theorizing among investigators, but hitherto the greatest authorities consider that the explanation of the phenomenon is yet wanting.—Goldthwaite’s Geographical Magazine.
THE LONGEST GLACIER IN THE TEMPERATE ZONE ASCENDED BY MR. CONWAY.
Mr. W. M. Conway, who was sent out by the Royal Geographical Society of London last spring to explore the Kara Koram Mountains and their mighty glaciers north of Cashmere, has accomplished the most brilliant feats of mountain and glacier climbing that any explorer has achieved in years. He has sent to the society a report of his ascent of the Baltoro glacier, over forty miles in length and the longest glacier that is known in temperate regions, and of his ascent of an ice-covered mountain over 23,000 feet high at the upper end of the glacier.
He began the ascent of the Baltoro glacier on Aug. 5. He had little idea on starting of the discomforts before him. His party included three Englishmen besides himself, an Alpine guide, and four Sepoys detailed from an Indian regiment. Fully two-thirds of the entire length of the glacier was so completely covered with stone debris that the ice was not visible except where lakes or crevasses occurred. He was unable to ascend along the banks at the sides of the glacier, for they were not traversable. He was therefore forced to go up the horrible middle of the ice. The surface was not flat, but was a series of prodigious mounds. He measured one of them, which was over 200 feet high, and it was usually easier to climb over these mounds than to circumvent them. The stones that rested upon the ice were constantly giving way under foot. The consequence was that the progress of the heavily laden Sepoys was slow and the marches had to be short.
The party was nearly two weeks ascending this icy river, four days of which time they remained in camp on account of stormy weather. When they finally turned up a tributary glacier in order to ascend the mountain, they had reached a height of 16,000 feet above the sea. All through the journey the cold was very severe. The party was very heavily laden because in addition to their food supplies it was necessary to carry a quantity of fuel.
It was not until Aug. 25, twenty days after they had left the foot of the glacier, that they began the assaults upon the icy peak which they intended to surmount. Two or three of the party had become disabled by cold and fatigue, and had to return to a camp established on the glacier. The party complained of some discomforts which travelers among the Himalayas have often mentioned. The sun, day after day came out with scorching power, and while their feet were numbed with cold, their bodies were far too hot to be comfortable. Mr. Conway says the great variations between biting cold and grilling heat are the chief impediments to mountaineering at high altitudes in those regions. Not only the cold and the heat alike are hard to endure, but the change from one to the other seems to weaken the forces and render the whole body feeble.
Ascending the steep slope of the final peak, their climbing irons were of the greatest assistance. They found to their dismay after climbing a few hundred feet that the upper part of the peak was not of snow, but of hard, blue ice, covered with a thin layer of snow. Every step they took had to be cut through the snow into the ice. The ice was too hard for the steel points of the climbing irons to penetrate until it had been prepared by a stroke or two of the ax. The Alpine guide said the work of step cutting was far more fatiguing than he had ever experienced in Switzerland. One of the Sepoys was overtaken by mountain sickness and had to be left behind. Now and then a puff of air inspired the party with a little life. Most of the time they suffered from the rarefication of the air.