THE HELIO ON RUAPEHU.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 452, 10 March 1909, Page 8

THE HELIO ON RUAPEHU.

TALKINC FROM THE SUMMIT. TO DISTANT OHAKUNE. Raid, forbidding, frowning as it wero over half tho Island, and grim oven in its peculiar beauty, Ruapehu is always a difficult proposition to the mountaineer. Rut ascents are now becoming more numerous, and the latest —a very successful one—was mado on March ,1 by Messrs. Curtis, of Waiouru, and Sigley and Snow (2), of Ranratiuia. The following interesting account of tho five miles' climb is supplied by one of the party—Mr. E. 11. Snow Leaving Rnngataua on March 2, at 8.30 a.m., with 301b. swags, we walked by bush track, and, after camping for a night on tho side of tho mountain, wo recommenced the climb at 5.30 a.m. on tho following day. In three-quarters of an hour we came out into tho op?n, where we had a fairly good view for about 15 miles, the smoke'and haze preventing us from seeing further, excepting that we could see tho tops of Ruahinc ranges and Egmont. About 10 a.m., a pall of white lleecy clouds, about 3000 foct below the summit, covered tho country side in a southwesterly direction, leaving only tho top of Egmont quite clearly, though 80 miles away to tho west. Although all was beautifully clcar above, wo could not see Ohakune or Rangataua, nor could we seo Lake Taupo for the smoko and haze.

Wo arrived at the summit at 11.30 a.m., after six hours' climbing, Mr. D'O. Snow unearthed a fig-box with a china doll, and tho names of Messrs. Parnell, Collins, Gordon, Rnrtram, and Rush, dated January 23, 1909. On reaching the top we all felt entirely in accord with one of our party who remarked: "We have had a hard struggle to get here, but this more than repays us." Although the climbing was hard work, wo encountered no danger, and did not have to use our ropes, each man reaching the top without assistance. Tho first mile was through bush, the trees becoming shorter till tlicy were only three or four feet iii height. The second mile was over ix>or. volcanic soil, with tussocks hero and there, and small scrub and several varieties of smajl flowers—the most beautiful being a plant with foliage and flowers resembling a largo strawberry plant. The leaves had a delicate waxy effect. Tho third and fourth miles were over scoria and broken rock. The fifth mile—tho hardest and steepest of all—was over rocks and petrified lava. The sun shono brightly down upon us, but the southerly wind was bitterly cold whenever wo exposed ourselves to it. Sitting on tho leeward side of a rock at the summit, wo ate our lunch and turned our eyes on tho scene before and below us.

Tho thrco peaks, as seen from the railway lino (not counting tho sharp littlo ono to the south) go to form tho outside of an enormous crater, at least throequarters of a mile in diameter. Those peaks—precipitous on the inside, but of easy slope on the outside—form the western portion of the crater, tho smaller eastern, portion having, apparently, been blown away. It is now being made up again, howover, of black sand and cinders. On looking down into the cratcr a beautiful snow scene is set round a lake (now of a muddy slate colour), about'a quarter of a mile in diameter. _ The western side of this great volcanic gulf is like an amphitheatre of snow hundreds of feet deep, with sharp-cut, blacklooking cliffs, and fantastic and needle-like rocks rising _ hero and there. '-The eastern side only discloses slopes,'..falling, steeply from the outside walls, and then, ■ with a diminishing grade, terminating in a sheer drop of 100 to 150 feqt over ice cliffs to the water level. The gaping mouths of large and long crevasses lie parallel,to'-the.lako on the western side, thus showing that the glacier keeps moving down. Two of the party went down into tho crater along' the snow slope, for about half a mile, until tlicy came close to the crevasses, but, deeming it unwise to proreed further by themselves without ropes, they returned. An interesting event in the trip was tho feat of hehographing Ohakune, 14 miles distant, and Rangataua, 12 milesi.'awa'y (taeasuring horizontally). At 2 p.ih:, while we were deciding to commence the descent, tho fleecy clouds partly cleared, and, through the smoke and haze, a flash of light caught tho eye of ono'of the party. Arrangements had been made that, at noon we were to call lip Ohakune and Rangataua with tho holio, hut we had given up tho idea as wo could see nothing but clouds. But with tho first blink from tho remote townships below wo were all excitement, and, as soon as wo fixed our directions, we exchanged greetings, first with one town, then with tho other, and so wo put in an interesting half-hour. We then started our descent by p:lissacling down the snow holds, but, presently, an exclamation from one of the party liroke in sharply on this pleasant exerciso which the mountaineers of the Swiss cantons know so well. "Hullo! there's the (lasli from Ohakune again." We returned their signals, and proceeded again and so Ohakune followed' us down tho mountain wo answering them, message for message. We had good field glasses, hut could not discern figures at that distance until we got below the glacier. Li less than three hours wo wore in canm getting dinner under weigh. We slept well that night, and at o next morning we had an earthquake which began with a loud explosion, instead of tho usual rumblin". After breakfast we left, the camp (with our now less than half tho weight), and arrived at Rangataua about noon,' with pleasant recollections of our successful attack on tho lone, white giant.