Word: argus
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From Alaska, George W. Argus Jr. wrote on April 14 to his parents, who run a Brooklyn bakery: he was going to climb Mt. McKinley (20,269 ft.), North America's mightiest peak, soaring upward three miles from its base. Moreover, he was going to try the formidable South Buttress. "It's as safe as walking down the street in New York," he wrote...
Like at Coney Island. Cheerful George Argus, 25, went to work on the Alaskan Railroad during a summer vacation five years ago, liked it, and stayed to take his degree in geology at the University of Alaska. Drafted, he was assigned to the Army Arctic Training Center at Big Delta. Pfc. Argus climbed a lot, but nothing really big until he tried McKinley with three friends, all former fellow students: Elton Thayer, the leader, a McKinley Park ranger and experienced mountaineer; Morton Wood; pilot and homesteader, who had assaulted the peak before, but failed; Pfc. Leslie Viereck of Ladd...
...during a three-day snowstorm, then spent four more days cutting exactly 1,038 steps up another great wall of ice. At about 2:30 p.m. on May 15, the day they were due back, they reached the peak, left souvenirs and posed for pictures-"Like at Coney Island," Argus said. The next day they started down along the conventional north route instead of the South Buttress; it was, they knew, far easier and safer-but not really safe...
...Razor's Edge. At 13,000 ft. they crawled down the last dangerous stretch: a razor-edged ridge of blue ice. They were roped together, with Argus leading. He was carefully cutting holds when Thayer, the last man, slipped and shot down the sIope.The other three tried to brace themselves, but they went hurtling down...
...that made U.S. excitement over a World Series look pale. Even the impending visit of Queen Elizabeth was crowded off the front pages. Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies got so excited that he arrived for the Melbourne matches an hour and a half early. And one paper, the Melbourne Argus, felt called upon to write an open letter to Australia's two 19-year-old tennis prodigies, Lewis Hoad and Ken Rosewall, trying to take the pressure off the youngsters. Gist of the letter: "If you lose, it will not be a major tragedy in Australian history...