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Show MT. JACK50H Jk MERICAN outdoor women, l who are always looking for new worlds of sport to con- quer, have been afforded a new and thrilling form of entertainment en-tertainment in Glacier National park, which Uncle Sam has thrown open for the benefit of those who like to climb glaciers. This glacial wonderland, which waa only created by act of congress In 1910, has been practically unknown. Americans have spent many thousands of dollars visiting Switzerland and the Canadian rockies, in the belief that America had no glaciers worth the attempt to conquer. Yet In Glacier National park there are more than 60 glaciers within an area of five square miles, not to mention snow-capped peaks without number, rising to an altitude al-titude of from 7,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. The principal glaciers gla-ciers in the new park are Blackfoot, Harrison, Pumpelly, Red Eagle, Sper-ry Sper-ry and Chaney. In these great ice fields there are many wide and deep crevasses. Ice avalanches come thundering thun-dering down the slopes In warm weather, weath-er, and under the chill coverings trickle trick-le chill waters, which form hundreds of beautiful cataracts at the headwaters head-waters of rollicking mountain streams where trout are to be found in abundance. abund-ance. Adventurous Trfp. The summer of 1911 was' the first "season" of Glacier National park, but the fame of the land of glaciers had spread, and hundreds of pleasure-seekers pleasure-seekers turned to the new national playground which Uncle Sam will keep unspoiled through the years to crme. Many women visited the park, and most of them refused to be left behind when parties were organized to scale the nearest glaciers. It is strenuous work climbing even the most accessible of the glaciers, and some of the women were compelled to give up before the ice slopes were reached, but most of them gained the ice in safety and returned so enthusiastic enthu-siastic over the new sport that more adventurous trips to the outlying glaciers gla-ciers were planned. "I have climbed glaciers In Switzerland Swit-zerland and the Canadian Rockies," said one tired but enthusiastic woman wom-an who had spent most of the season In Glacier park, "but nowhere is there finer sport than right here. There is such a variety of glaciers, and the sur roundings are so beautiful that any active woman will find a whole summer sum-mer of inspiration right here in Glacier Gla-cier park and in addition she will benefit her health past all computation, computa-tion, for there is nothing else quite so beneficial as mountain climbing, in particular." The woman who resolves to explore this land of glaciers should be prepared pre-pared to "rough it." There are good hotel and cottage accommodations at Lake McDonald, a few miles from Bel-ton, Bel-ton, the entrance to the park, but when one strikes toward the mountains moun-tains she is plunging into a wilderness, wilder-ness, with few trails and entirely ln-Locent ln-Locent of wagon roads. It is thl- primeval pri-meval aspect of the new park that proves one of the greatest charms. Generally parties of climbers are formed and horses and guides are engaged, en-gaged, the individual expense thus being be-ing reduced to a minimum. The trip to Sperry glacier, nearest the hotel, can be made comfortably In two days. Camp Is made at the foot of the glacier gla-cier the first night. Here the saddle horses are abandoned, and the climb to the glacier is made on foot. All supplies for the trip have to be packed pack-ed on the backs of horses. It require about 20 horses to carry the average party and the supplies needed. Many Huge Cravasses. Sperry is one of the largest glaciers In the park and its slopes contain many huge crevasses. Those who venture upon its surface must travel with extreme caution if the weather is warm and avalanches are falling. Generally the guide proceeds in advance, ad-vance, the tourists following, single-file, single-file, and attached to one another by a strong rope. No fatal accidents have occurred upon the glaciers of the new park, but the guides Impress It upon up-on visitors that no foolhardlness will be permitted. Sometimes the trail leads around crevasses half a mile long and hundreds of feet deep, or skirts huge holes in the ice down which one can look and observe the water from nature's huge ice-storage plant starting on its long journey to the sea. Several days could be spent with profit exploring the slopeB of Sperry glacier, and when one considers that, within an area of five square miles there are 60 more glaciers, great and small, to be explored, it is realized that the glacier climber cannot exhaust ex-haust the resources of this American Switzerland In many seasons. In addition to the pleasure of glacier gla-cier climbing for its own sake, tjjere is the satisfaction of knowing that one is, In a sense, a pioneer. Glacier Gla-cier National park has been little explored. ex-plored. It is a primeval wilderness today, almost as it was when the in-dians in-dians roamed across it. Many of the glaciers have never been thoroughly explored. There are new trails to be made everywhere, and countless places where the climber will have the satisfaction of knowing that he or she is first to cross an alluring ice field, or first to catch- an inspiring view from some high point. The park is from 60 to 60 miles in length and contains con-tains 915,000 acres. Besides its glaciers and peaks, this wonderland that has been opened by Uncle Sam contains countless waterfalls. water-falls. In Avalanche basin, a remarkable remark-able U-shaped valley about 12 miles north of Lake McDonald, are dozens of cascades and cataracts, which dash from a great height into Avalanche lake. From almost any spot in the park, innumerable waterfalls are seen like silver threads against the dark background of pine. |