. It has been
used less, because it is farther from Paradise Valley. Starting from a
night's encampment on the Wedge (p. 97), parties descend to White
glacier, and, over its steep incline of dazzling ice, gain the summit
in eight or nine hours.

[Illustration: Sunset on Crater Lake, north of Spray Park, with the
Mountain in distance.]

The first attempt to scale the Mountain was made in 1857 by Lieutenant
(later General) A. V. Kautz. There is no foundation for the claim
sometimes heard that Dr. W. F. Tolmie, Hudson's Bay Company agent at
Fort Nisqually, who made a botanizing trip to the lower slopes in
1833, attempted the peak. Lieutenant Kautz, with two companions from
fort Steilacoom, climbed the arete between the glacier now named after
him and the Nisqually glacier, but fearing a night on the summit, and
knowing nothing of the steam caves in the crater, he turned back when
probably at the crest of the south peak. Writing in the _Overland
Monthly_ for May, 1875, he says that, "although there were points
higher yet, the {p.120} Mountain spread out comparatively flat,"
having the form of "a ridge perhaps two miles in length, with an angle
about half-way, and depressions between the angle and each end of the
ridge, which gave the summit the appearance of three small peaks."

[Illustration {p.118}: Copyright, 1909, By Asahel Curtis. Amphitheatre
of Carbon Glacier, the most noteworthy example of glacial sculpture
upon the Mountain. It is nearly three miles wide. No other glacier has
cut so deeply into the side of the peak. The Carbon was once two
glaciers, separated by a ridge, of which a remnant is still seen in
the huge spine of rock extending down from Liberty Cap.]

[Illustration {p.119}: Photo By Lea Bronson. Copyright, 1909, By P. V.
Caesar. Avalanche falling on Willis Wall, at head of Carbon Glacier
amphitheatre. The cliff, up to the snow cap on the summit, is more
than 4,000 feet high and nearly perpendicular. Avalanches fall every
day, but this picture of a big one in action is probably unique.
Willis Wall was named for Bailey Willis, the geologist.]

[Illustration: Copyright, 1909, By A. H. Waite. Birth of Carbon
River, with part of Willis Wall visible in distance. The great height
of this ice front appears on noting the man near the river.]

It was not until August 17, 1870, thirteen years after Kautz's partial
victory, that the Mountain was really conquered. This was by P. B. Van
Trump of Yelm and Hazar