Down we went; never before did I have such a descent. His words to me were reassuring and made me feel a Swiss guide myself. We had to grasp the mountain side two or three times with knees and arms outstretched, as there was no hold for boots and fingers. A little stone struck the guide, breaking the pipe which he had fastened to his vest, while I took calmly some cuts and bruises. The vertical descent soon widened out, and at the southwest end of the mountain, a wide sweep of snow took us clear over to the Illecillewaet neve.
We walked nearly in the centre of the snow-field for some miles, and had to rope up again, getting among complicated crevasses. Then we had a good glissade down to Perley rock and reached Glacier House a few minutes after six o'clock. No one, I understand, has ever scaled this peak since our ascent, but it should be tried again, as the delight of the scenery is unsurpassed. In fact, from the summit of Macoun, I discerned rivers running north, south, east and west: the Beaver, the Duncan, the Spillimacheen, and Fish creek.
