LOST MOUNTAINEERING PARTY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17115, 9 April 1921, Page 9

LOST MOUNTAINEERING PARTY.

to the editor or "tiik thess." Sir, —With referenco to the report which appeared in "The l're.'s" n cemly regarding a "lost mountaineering party," 1 should like point out that tho wording of the paragraph in question was not quite so happy ns it might have been, in so far as it tended to give nn impression that the party was actually lost as regards their whereabouts.* This, is hardly fair to the very experienced and capable guides who were in charge of the party, and who know every stick 'find stone on the route followed. What actually happened is that after the party crossed tho Copland Pass and went on to Welcome Flat, tho -weather, always fieklo In Westland, changed to storm, rendering it impossible to return by tho Copland Pass," and there is no other convenient route. Therefore, it was simply a question of waiting until the weather cleared. The only difficulty which really arose wns the question of food, and owing to the supply in the Welcome Flat having been exhausted, "this was a kindlv problem to solve. It-'Was met, however, by tho guides making a twenty-mile tramp to Scott's Farm, where provisions were very generously «upplie3, and then tramning back with heavy nacks all in one day. and a very wet dnV to boot—to my mind a feat in itself. This cased the situation-un-til. Good Friday, when the wenthejcleared, and, by an excellent stroke of judgment on the part of Guide Yonng, it was decided to commence the return at oiie a.m.-, nud so take advantage or the fine spell. How sound this decision was, was evidenced hv the long and tedious crossing of the Pass on the return, where the heavy Bnowfall of the previous few days Jiad rendered it necessary to cut steps for literally hours at a stretch—the whole return joyrney to tho Hermitage occupying some 21 hours. Tho efforts of the relief party to locate those missing, and to meet thera on their return with very welcome warm food, etc., have already been gratefully acknowledged, and I will, therefore, concludo with a refjufist that this correction may be published in fairness to the guides, to whom tho previous report, although iqiiito inadvertently, was apt to be' somewhat damaging, to" say nothing of the probable itnoression to the public that elementary mountaineering possesses more risks than it reollvdoes. —Yours, etc., , ONE OF THE PARTY,