BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2144, 9 May 1914, Page 9

BOOK OF THE DAY.

/ • A/'CLIMBER IN: NEV/ ZEALAND. i ./Mr. Malcolm Boss, tho well-known journalist,'' has deservedly won a high /reputation as' an Alpine climber. Ho .was one. of tho .first of tho now quite y respectably numerous' band of New Zealanders who have proved to tho world that the skill, pluck, and caution which are such important factors in the successful climbing of tho Alps of the Old World are to be found just as fully, if not so widely, developed in the Britons of the Pacific.' But Mr. Ross has done more for tho cause of mountaineering in this country than tho achiewmcnt of many notable feats of Alpine climbing. He possesses the pen of a ready and'graceful, albeit a most laudably modest, writer, and he is imbued with such a Special spirit of enthusiasm fo'r his subject that whatever he has written —and that is' not a little—on climbing in the Southern Alps, and in other parts of tho Dominion, possesses no small'interest for tho general reader. For many years Mr. Ross has written on tho. subject of Alpino climbing, and he has now gathered together into one continuous narrative tho: most imporv nnt of his scattered articles, subjecting them, however, to a wise reyisiou, adding'much new material, and welding them into a comprehensive and interesting record. Tho wislilt is a handsome "A Climber in' New Zealand," which has been published by Mr. Edward Arnold,' London. To this volume the Eight Hon. Viscount Brycc, the distinguished autlibr and Ambassador, himself a former president of tho Alpino Club, contributes a .prefatory note, in which he pays eloquent testimony tt. the superb sccuery of Now. Zealand's Alpino, region, and compliments those of the youth of these islands "who have been, fired by the ambition to emu-' lato those British mountaineers whoso achievements they admire, as well as'by a paiiyotic lovo for their own beautiful and fascinating laud." Viscount Bryce concludes by expressing the hope that "tho fresh' and vivid descriptions which Mr. Ross gives of the charms of New Zealand landscape, and of the scope which its peaks and glaciers afford for the energy and skill of those wlio find that tho European Alps have now little , that is new to offer, may draw to it more and'moro visitors from Britain." After a preliminary sketch, "descriptive and historical," of tho Southern Alps an;} the / early explorers, with special reference to tho earlier feats of tho -two' New Zealanders, Fyfo and Graham, who not only acquired tho craft of climbing, but route-finding, Mr. Hoss describes his own earlier. experiences "111 tho Olden Days" of 1894, with special reference to his first attempt, in company with his brother, Mr. Kenneth Ross, to attain the then unconquered summit of the giant Aorangi. Very different in those days was the 'ot of the Alpine climber to what it js to-day. There we're then no motors to convey the ..climbers fo tho Hermitage, the facilities for th.o. conveyance of food, tents, and climbing gear to tho huts wero sadly inadequate, and although Green, Fitzgerald, and had provided certain data, it was relatively meagre. Four chapters are devoted to the successful ascent of Mount Gook in 1894 by tho three young New Zealanders, Fyfo, Clark, and Graham, the first three men to stand on the summit of this "Cloud Piercer." That the first "conquering of Aorangi," after many heroic struggles, was "accomplished by tho plucK, endurance, and initiative, of the young Now Zealanders, who, in a far country, had taught themselves tho craft of mountaineering," stands out as a great and most memorable event in tho history of New Zealand Alpine climbing. It was at 1.30 p.m. on Christmas Day, 139-1. that the feat was accomplished, and that the . three ' men "exultantly stepped on to the highest pinnacle • ■of tio monarch of the Southern Alps." After tho fine work of tho New Zealanders and the exploits of Mr. E. A. Fitzgerald, an English climber, who, with his famous Swiss guide, Zurbriggen,'met, on their way. to the theatre of operations, tho victorious trio returning from their conquest, there was no serious climbing for a few years, until Mr. T. C. Fyfo and tho author mado the first ascent of tho Minarets (10,058 feet), asccndcd Mount Haidinger by tho eastern face, arid wero .the first to discover the head of tho Great Tasman Glacier and the West . Coast. Theso ascents aro doscrihed by Mr. Ross, who, later on, in 1905, was himself successful with his thrco companions in reaching tho summit of Mount Cook and in making tho first traverse of this mountain. Mr. Ross also gives an interesting account of his passago over tho Southern Alps, when, despite difficulties which might well have deterred a man of loss pluck and endurance, ho reached tho West Coast, and then, leaving his companion, Fyfo, .in hospital, Hokitika, mado Ill's way back—alone—over the dreary wastes' of rock, snow, and ico to the ever-ho,spitablo Hermitage. Of all theso and other exploits Mr, Ross Writes crisplv, and, as 1 have said, with laudable modesty. He does not under-rato the difficulties and dangers of Alpine clinfbing; indeed, he is almost prophetic—in vhjw of the comparatively recent fatality on Mount Cook—as to the certainty of the Southern Alps possessing their own death roll. But ho is enthusiastic in his a praise of the fascination of a sport which, after all, if prudence bo accompanied by ordinary good luck, is not sc much more dangerous than are many other pastimes in which Englishmen lovo to indulge. Also, lie has a very pleasant literary style, and at times is truly eloquent in his praise of the superb., scenery to bo viewed from his much-loved Alpine heights. His wife, who has accompanied him in many ol his climbing expeditions,, takes up. tho narrative, giving interesting, and often very humorous, descriptions of camp life. Hero and there Mr. Ross, or his wife, provides an "interlude" in the general record of Alpine climbing, to which .the book is mainlj devoted.' In Chapter XII, for instance the author gives his readers a plea sautly-written description of what hi culls "Kiwi Land," the wild but superb ly beautiful country round Lakes T( Allan and Manapouri, and tho regioi lying between those lakes and the Wes' Coast SBunds. On the expedition! chronicled in this chapter, the autho: was accompanied by his wife, whosi interpolated accounts of her curious ex periences as cook for tho party ari written in a vein of humour which i: Vnost entertaining. Mr. Ross is enthu siastic as to the peculiar fascinatioi of this comparatively little known re pion, and makes special reference to it: interesting bird life. It is, however, in his doseriptjons o that curious, bird, the kea, of which tin author saw so much in his climbing in thi Mount. Cook region that Mr. Uoss i most interesting. In spite of his de plornble taste for the kidney-fat of th

sheep, the kca has the author's sympathies, for, "after ail," lie says, in the chapter headed "Dowu in the Valleys," "tliis was tiio kca's country., and man should not have brought his silly sheep into it." The kea reminds the author's wife of "0110 of those Highland chieftains whose greatest glory was their being 'put to tho horn.'" ''With what impudence," she writes, "tlio kea struts,-dances, or flutters past your very feet! How ho poses himself on a near rock, and lets you come up boldly and miss him, and how condescendingly ho waits for another shot, encouraging you with a cheeky 'Kea!' 'Keal liavo seen a man unversed in tho ways of the kea, steal along, holding his missilo carefully behind him; but there is no need for concealmcnt. You can go boldly up and have your shot —nothing to pay either, and probably no result, for even" if you stun him he recovers quickly, and is off to his heights unless you aro very smart indeed." Paul Pry himself could not excel this cheeky bird in ii;quisitiveness. . Ho is ' everlastingly "wanting to know, you know," and, in his researches after knowledge occasionally meets with a disconcerting experience. Mrs. Itoas 6ays, for instance :— "Once, in the days before tho luxury, attendant upon, huts and chimneys had crept into the Tasman Valley, I was cooking scones on an improvised oven made out of an old hail-can, when a number of keas fled down from the great shoul,dcr of Mount Cook above the Ball Glacier. They watched the culinary operations for a time at a respectful distance, and it was quite evident that some of them had never before seen a fire. One, nwro dar- ! ing or. more inquisitive tlian tho rest, came closer and closer to it, and I watched him from an adj.', cent rocky seat cocking liis head first on olio side and then on tho other as lie eyed tho glowing embers. Finally, ho walked right up to the fire and picked out a live coal with his beak. Tho result was startling. He dvopped it with a loud scream, and, after a few seconds of vituperation, flow away to tho moraine. There ho was joined by all the.other lceas, and, judging from their chatter, they held a committee meeting, and carried a condemnatory resolution about tho cook who exhibited to the eye of unoffending keas a beautiful red thin" that mado tho beak so sore, and that filled tho mouth with anger." When, however,"a weary mountaineer, worn out by long hours of patient and toilsome climbing, seeks a well-deserved rest at a mountain hut, and finds that a company, of keas aro tossing about empty meat tins and "glissading up and down tho iron roof," lio is apt to vote the bird a confounded nuisanso. j . The three final chapters are devoted to a description of "The First Crossing of Mount Cook," which was'accomplished by the' author, in tho company of Mr. S. Turner,-an English .climber, and Messrs. Fyfo and Graham, in January, 1905. After "a preliminary cahtei',' as it Were, and tlio "asMit ! of Mduivt' ; Bbret, B7GI feet, an, attempt, however, \ unsuccssflful,.. . was made to reach ' .tho, . submit-; ■; of • .Mo.unt ' Elie do Beaumoiit, dtiring whidli the author was unfortunate enough to bruiso ono of Ilia ankles very severely. ' For a day or two, it seemed as if Mr. Ross would have to abandon his project of tackling tho frowning Aorangi, but fortunately lie mado a rapid recovery and on Tuesday, tho Btli January, at 11.15 p.m. the quartette of plucky climbers left the Bivouac Rock on tho Haast Ridge and commenced what was to be a truly memorablo undertaking. Into tho details of tho ascent I cannot go. Suffice it to say that at 9 a.m. on Wednesday tlio little party had gained an altitude of between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, and tho views wero magnificently grand. Says Mr. Ross:— Tasmaii, tho second highest mountain in New Zealand, with his wonderful slopes of snow and ice, and a magnificent snow cornice, was quite close to us on the north. Then eahje Mount Lcndenfeld, and the'jagged, pinnacled ridge of Haast, which, from this point of view, seemed to bid defiance _to the mountaineer. Farther along, oil tlie main divide,, roso tho squaro too of Mount Haidinger, from which the magnificent schrunds and "broken ice of the Haast Glacier fell away towards the Tasman Valley. Beyond that, the rocky peak of De la Bcehe, and the beautifully pure snows of the Minarets cleft the blue, leading the eye in turn to tho gleaming masses of Elie do Beaumont and the Hochstetter DoVne at tho head of the Great Tasman Glacier. Across tlio valley Malte Brun towered grandly above all the other reck peaks of tho range, and still farther away, towards the north-east, was tho finest view of all, range succeeding range, and mountain succeeding mountain for moro than a hundred miles, or as far as,tho eye cc-uld reach. In the distance, to tho *iorth of the main range, wo looked down on a sea of clouds upon which the sun was shining, the higher peaks piercing tho billows of mist and looking like pointed islands. Wo could plainly trace •;tir steps along tho snow aretes that we had climbed, and across the Plateau thousands of feet below. Lower still wero tho great schrunds and toppling pinnacles of tlio Hochstetter Ico Fall, and below that tho magnificent sweep of the Great Tasman Glacier. Eastward a few fleecy cumulus clouds sailed over tho foothills, and beyond wero tlic plains of" Canterbury and tho distant sea." Au hour's rest and then came tin final climb. At the top of tho last rocli tho party found Zurbriggeu's matchbox under a ■ few pieces of splinteret rock, and "left a card in it." Soon the final snow areto that rose steeply almost to the summit was reached. ".This last bit of the ice cap afforded oasj climbing, and at ono o'clock on Wednesday afternoon wo stepped on to tin topmost pinnacle of Aorangi—thirteei hours and forty-five minutes from tin timo wo had left the Bivouac. . . .' I stepped out of the rope to secure tin first photograph ■ that had over beer taken of tho summit of Mount Cook then we congratulated each other, ant while Graham got tho provisions out o tho rucksacks Fyfe employed himsell in taking in the view an,d coolly cuttinj up his t'obacco for a smoke." Aftc: twenty-five minutes spent on tho sum mit, 12,379 feet above the sea, tin descent was commenced. _ This _ was ac companicd by incidents in which tin gravest perils were encountered —indecc one of tho most thrilling adventures recorded in the book now took place-—bu eventually, just after midnight oi Thursday, tho party stepped out oil ti the upper slopes of tho Hooker Glacier and tho first crossing of Mount Cool had been safely accomplished..' Tin concluding sentences of tho final chap tor bear curious testimony to tho ox traordinary fascination which Alpiiu climbing possesses ior its votaries. "Oi the way down tho Hooker/"' says tin author, "I had sworn 'to myself that would never climb another peak; bu so strange, an animal is man and si fascinating is his most glorious spor that no sooner had we recovered Cat tin Hermitage) "from our exertions thai

wo now immediately began to discuss I plans for tho ascent of Mount Sei'ton"! Space lias its inexorablo limits, and I | must reluctantly bring my notice of Mr. Ross's fascinating volume to a close. Mention must, however, bo made of the singularly beautiful illustrations, -which uro reproductions of photographs taken by tho author. Mr. Koss is well known as an exceptionally skilled photographer, and lie has, in the course of his many years of mountaineering, secured :i series of pictures of Alpine Eceuevy which are of nioro than ordinary interest and beauty. Specially worthy of commendation are the frontispiece, a view of Mount Cook from a turn on tho Scaly Range, with the reflections of tho snow-capped peak in tho waters of tho tiny lake; tho view of Elio do Beaumont from tho Malte Brun bivouac; and an equally superb view of the higher portion of Mount Tasman. The view, facing page 182, of a crevasse, from 400 to 500 feet deep, on the Tasman Glacier, is ail awe-inspiring picture, which well ex-' hibits tho dangerous nature of so much of the Alpine climber's work. Camp episodes, cookery under peculiar circumstances, and portraits of several wellknown New Zealand climbers, aro also of interest. The Now Zealand price of tho book is 17s. 6d. It is to bo hoped that, later on, a cheaper edition may be published, -in which case a rough sketch map,, showing tho principal peaks, with their respective heights, might with advantage bo added.