Climbing feat ‘meritorious’
Two South Island men completed a grand traverse of Mount Cook’s three peaks during the week-end, a feat regarded as very difficult at this time of year. Mr R. James, of St Andrew’s College, Christchurch, and Mr J. Webby, of Nelson, left park headquarters on Friday for the Gardiner Hut, on Noeline Rock above the Hooker Glacier. The duty ranger (Mr R. Ryan) said that their climb was “meritorious." The men climbed the low peak’s west ridge on Saturday, and completed the traverse to the high peak (3764 m
"They spent Saturday night in a tent which they pitched on the summit ridge, between the middle and high peaks,” Mr Ryan said. “The climb was a
good effort. Generally, a traverse takes about two days in the summer, but it is sometimes done in one day.” He said that the climbers appeared to have struck good conditions. A lot of ice was usually present on the summit ridge, and crevasses were open. Even the approach to the Gardiner Hut was difficult because of broken ice. Mr Ryan saw the climbers from an aircraft at 11.30 am. yesterday, on their way down the mountain. They had finished the traverse, and were on summit rocks coming down the Linda Glacier. A
radio transmission last evening said that the men were spending the night at the Plateau Hut, above the Hochstetter Icefall on the north side of Mount Cook.
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Press, 16 April 1979, Page 1
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239Climbing feat ‘meritorious’ Press, 16 April 1979, Page 1
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