ABOVE THE TIMBER | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 18, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 32.

ABOVE THE TIMBER.

Just at the upper edge of timber is situated the horse camp, where the tired and hungry animals are picketed, like their human comrades, for a shivery and uncomfortable night. This point is usually reached about 4 P. M. The time till dark goes in preparation for the night, which is generally spent in sleeplessness and discomfort. As a combined result of the novelty of the situation, the attendant excitement, the cold, the tonic effect of the high altitude (here about 9,000 feet), and the supernatural brilliancy of the open heavens above his pillow, the average person is not likely to sleep at all. It is best to rise as early as 2 o'clock, and to get off on the long morning's climb not later than 3. The wise mountaineer will put a check upon his morning appetite, if he happens to have one, and take nothing more solid for breakfast than a cup of coffee and a bowl of beef tea. The unwise one will do as he sees fit, and most likely suffer for it all day long. It is prudent, also, to carry along a canteen of beef tea and a spirit lamp. Also ordinary cold tea or coffee and crackers will be found helpful. Under no circumstances do any kind of spirits help at all. They hinder. Apart from all questions of what these articles are capable of doing on the lower levels, it is a well-demonstrated fact that at an altitude of 10,000 feet and upwards they contribute only weakness and unsteadiness. The man who can't get up without them can't go up at all.

For the swiftest climbers the time from the horse camp to the summit will be about four and a half hours. For others, all the way from six hours to eight and eighteen. The distance to be covered is about five miles; the elevation to be ascended, 5,000 feet. The start is always exhilarating. The morning is clear and cool. There is no wind. The mercury stands at thirty-two degrees. The atmosphere is sharp, crisp, and bracing. The fever of the past night is calmed. The loss of sleep is not noticed yet, although it will be exceedingly noticeable before the day is ended. The pulse is stirred, with the unaccustomed climber, into something of that same feeling with which soldiers go into battle. The challenge of a great undertaking is upon him.