MOUNTAINS AND MEN.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20168, 21 February 1931, Page 8

MOUNTAINS AND MEN.

ROUND A LOG FIRE? AT THE FOX. ,

(lTlf" rt T TORU IFO* IB®8S.) [Bi W. S. Bavbbsxock] "OMt thingt are don*, when men sni to *-#w v street." The Swede lit Ms pipe and sat down •before tho big broadleaf fire. At his work as ft bridge-builder he had made the sombre valley of the Fox rock and ; roar with charges of gelignite and now ilie wanted peace. go did the Alpinist just back from .the mountains where he had been held , OT i,y » blizzard.' He chose a soft iJte and gazed at the glowinglogs. «The snow hasn't moved yet," ..no Remarked when he had got his pipe late this year," said the iSwiede, an ex-guide; and between_puffa 'of tobacco smoke they proceeded to suke reapeetfnlly free with peaks and Jackson's going to have ii eo at Sefton from the other side," said :the Alpinist. 'lt's easy enough from .'the Copland Pass." "Yes. Sefton's a cake-walk from tnis aide," agreed his companion, "but it s '• different proposition from the other. «Do y'know," continued the Alpinist, «when I met Jackson we were yarning onite a while; I knew he'd • climbed Cook, tut ho didn't mention it." _ «He wouldn't. Harper's another; I don't think you could beat him for modesty. He never stood outside hostela to brag. More important places ;OJT peak® should.be named after Harwilh decision, and he elpsed his teeth 'on his pipe. "Some of these people all dressed up, dimbere and can't do anything The Swede,laughed.' "Bat yon-get quite a lot of fun out . of them," eaid tbe Alpinist. "Oh yea. I' w«a with a party once, / wfce* nil the back £rom Defiance; they knew an awful lot ' ..and wanted to take me on, » I saxdj 2*swi's?jffiSMr fc iwJ tea and'-trolled away from them. YopVknow how fit and hard you get when at it-every jsars^M^t . "Talking of the

of the line, and it's taken toll of lives than any, mountain' out of Switzerland." "It's easy going is it?" asked one of the circle. "You can' stroll up. "The only accident I know of this side of the Divide," he continued, "was at "Welcome Flat. A lady went to the door of the hut and her knees gave way under her.' She suddenly fell in a heap. There was nothing broken, but she was quite helpless ,and had to be carried, very carefully, all the way to Hokitika for treatment. "No, there's never been an accident on the Franz Josef—a few sprained ankles of course —nothing serious." "I've seen some women really nervous on both the Waiho glacier and the Fox," said the SawmiHer. "Yes, and men, too," said the Swede with a laugh; "but you get over it—you get over it. Tho Great Tasman glacier* No, it's quite easyj you can walk twenty miles on Tasm|n without cutting a step. "I'm forgetting. There was a terrible accident on the Franz Josef, once," he went -on with mock seriousness; "a new guide disappeared head first into a crevasse, and the party looked down and saw his feet sticking out of five or six feet of snow. The other guide, with help, dragged him out, but he decided that guiding didn't suit him. Yeß, he made his final disappearance." "I had an experience, a long time ago, that was a nightmare to me for a year," said the' Alpinist. "It was when I first tried glissading. The guide instructed m,e to stick the pick edge of the iceaxe into the snow, but I thought I could go one better; so I used the axe edge. The snow was only four inches deep with ice underneath. I didn't know that, and I dashed, down and. away, at a fearful rate, straight for a nunatak. It would have ripped my spine out if I'd hit it—it couldn't have done otherwise.-: "I was only a tyro r but I did the right thing: I suddenly clapped my palms down on to the snow, raised my legs, and was tossed over the nunatak. "J expected a broken leg, at least, bui I only scraped my hands. I came down longer slopes just after, but, by Jove! I was careful—-in fact I dug in every few yards with both axe and heels. I'm lucky to be alive/' 1 "Guides come down standing, don't they!" said the man from QueenslanQ. '•Yes, but that's not for tyros." > . . "You should start all those things young," ■ said the Swede, refilling • his pipe; 'fto be a really expert ski-er.you must start young." "I'm told here," said a tea-planter from Ceylon, "that six Sisters from the convent at Hokitika made a record trip '—-■Hokitika'to the Fox, three miles on the ice, and back in Hokitika at. 11.30 | p.m. the same day. J | < ! ( "They'd-be in good forpi for the ice," ] said' the Alpinist; "they are up and down stairs all day long." l ,"To climb Cook is a big day," said after a pause.. "The only dangerous pari: is, I believe, the Linda Glacier-Tit's .always »valanching.'|, dinger has- not been, climbed very often,", remarked the Alpinist. ■ "No, climbedoncein a ,ljlue jnoon—only about fourtimes' together.! ■ jYea, (to the ■ Surveyor). Tasffl&drit; ypu can count ljbe cKmb«rs" {m; tne ,fing«B. of one hand—Alec, ' , > ' iiGfrahams are, wonderful < men,' H- ' / - "Did yon take maqy photographs this tript" asked the Swede of the gimafer"Not as many as I wanted; too often I coijldn't get what I was after for the mist, and it's no Use wasting film." f'Youi remind me of Dr. WajUcer—Dr. Walker "'who crossed Australia.' I was with him, from Waiho to' Moltke; he used a folding reflex with film-packs, ajnd in the twenty 'miles he'd shot off eighteen, eighteen dozen that 'anyone cfculd easily ifojlciw the way he'd «ome Eo the tear-1 [«s v jne' liave # print ofl each, jfteUnta; /JDo.yoriknow, how i.takenf'j *Yes. two [and;- fifteen. * - Well) al* nji me dozens,prints, and d ' > ' ;ia.the,,t*utfi about the keasf" \d Tda-plantero you whjwe'-'they're known % do \«fa9Wgei!' and leave * them pft 'fcjifckrpf the' hostel fteyfe doff^^iftterfefe with" t|»e sheep.'? w the mountains; lo# tjSem, ■ there," th'eir! when ontf of the 'Jwt&waa ;§! met 1 tttfragbt ■ --was a 'X&Sfoixi«•-& drop; oa- top of fWfim&Vhead ittuiitexial' up his ladder. >*>" inoaji, airing,"'* said the mramMT "they wijl j drop stones into t>ut* their iteada. on IweSpde"\ * • t D'' r v fefeWeibnceciWund', ap> old boot in/the :BMW'' aaifctthf}. jßwede; !<* kea h»d dropped it in—he bought like to. hpar the splash." ' f'Qke tyne ( cjimbs * (a thfew away a ft fopn'd "#» in .the •'Cbulddft irepist flMF'#?W»r " y ' ' The'watt wanted to T Keaa build their nests. roc|cy, faefs," reBlle^, nestling keas I ;think leven has*''B6en* one.*' .*'• : And, bf 'opiirsei tid ■mfr--' , . '; " P .(^es^pKreonsMer.-k kea; is., goqd eatingi'*'said the Sfyeae.' "There's a bit < pf in? is;;l*lifc;e it better than duck, tal{c to the Qrahasts about shootitjg keaj." > s been . a lot of . discussion tl)e deer, too, since we oaine to New Zealand," said the 1 . Tea-planter. si)ouldn?t be here—-they 're not in'their native iabitfit. they destroy native plants—they'll wipe out soipe <4]jtfptepT-a!t4' jsiimboriff 'either," f-\t'Ohf' ' 1 \ " ''''Well, 1 * explained l the "they start MHjfcs ;and> cause v a ; . reek starts if larger one and away shfl' goea. > tfhey start snow aValanches topi "It's the/ same in Switzerland." . eat a lot of,.,mosßes and licheM t " 1 1 believe," -remarked the Teaplanter., '"Yes/and: I kn'ow a man who made geypritl -attempts, jgrow. ; pats, f butit Ws* never 1 cutrrthe deer- got it." > i *< ' ' 1 i v><CT"ou- know something about .kthe blizzard - that paused the Mt. Cook tragedy,*' said' the Swede to the Al^ ' V».yes, ibut J'was on .this side of the Divider tucking" my, way here the : Josef, -,;t 6rofmtboand; four in," I simply ■: jbhe'.;hut.- a

delay. . I kittle knew' what was happening, on thtf other side." For a moment no one spoke. There was nothing left ,to, be said about the Mount Cook tragedy. "I think we'll see,-the peaks clear to-morrow' morning," remarked tie Swede. * "I hope so," said the man from (Queensland. "I beliove.you can get a magnificent: view oA' them by walking down tfce road a little." ; "Yes, it's a fine sight," said tire Alpinist. "There's Cook, Tasman, La Perowse, Silberhorn, and a host of others." "I'm going to bed," announced the Sw?de, stretching > himself. '"Do you know What time it is?" "ByijoVeJ Nearly twelve b'clock. I'm goings too/' said'ttie Alpinist'. Ho' knocked' out J)is pipe, and after an enquiring glance at the dispersing compatty drew a wire" guard across the log i l / '/,tf' A ' |( V