FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER TO MOUNT COOK.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 March 1924, Page 1

FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER TO MOUNT COOK.

A BOTANIST’S EXPEDITION

(By Professor Arnold Wall in the ‘Lyttelton Times.”) 111. AVo left Douglas Bock at 4.45 ' in thick mist, but very soon breaks appeared. the high tops -of Mount Davidson suddenly shone out upon us, and by six all was bright and clear. As we hail the whole day before us, we travelled easily, the botanist did some collecting, and a billy was boiled at “The Luncheon Rock,” and photographs taken, about nine. A very fair track is.followed for quite a long distance until the Bass Is unmistakeable; the way lies through fair fields of snow-grass and alpine flowers until the last steep slopes of rock and snow are reached. Here we saw our first chamois. During the whole morning the peaks of Sefton and the Footstool seemed to hang over us. drawing the eye like a magnet and making it hard to think of anything else. We climbed the last rocks and slipped through the tiny notch of the pass just before eleven, and found ourselves standing with one foot in AVestland and one in Canterbury, and all Hie mountain world, it seemed spread out before us. Tlie day was cloudless and still Mount Cook showed us his southwestern face rising sheer from the Hooker glacier at our feet. We could easily touch Alount Cook with one band and Sefton with the other, anil the whole famous noble brotherhood of the Alps stood round ns. Thus we began our memorable ten days which so well compensated us for our evil (banco at the Franz Josef and put quite out of our minds the long days of Our imprisonment, immediately below us stretched the Hooker Glacier, hero all bidden under unsightly moraine, and the 1-looker Tint was visible al the loot of the precipitous spur in front of us; here we planned to spend the next day or two. ‘‘resting.” Alter ,-i proper interval for photography and pineapple, we were duly put on the rnpe. floundered down the soft snow slone on to the rocky spur below, which we followed down to the welcome Hooker Hut. arriving at about one o’clock. THE AIOUNTAIN HUTS.

The Hooker but is on the Western side of the glacier, seven miles from the Hermitage and over 4000 ft; up. Like the other four huts (all ol which this scribe visited) is solidly built, eomlortable alid excellently appointed, richly stored with blankets, and all kinds of tinned fruit, provided with a barometer. alarm clock, medicine chest, kerosene stove of three burners, and a ladies’ department. Let me also say that the visitor to any of these lints must be accompanied by a guide and that Ilie guides look alter their charges, cook for them, devise plans for them, and save them all trouble and inconvenience in a most adorable way. This, at any rate, was our happy experience. It has unfortunately not been found possible to place any of the five lints close to a running stream, so' that they all depend for supply upon tanks of rain water. A few chains from this one. however, there is a small shallow pool or turn, where we had a most welcome bathe on our arrival.

The Hooker huts stands on a small .H>il Hose to the stoop edge of the trout'll of the "aider, anion" the most beautiful tmb-alpinc vegetation. Anyone wishing to become acquainted with our mountain flora could not do I>ettei than put in a few days here, or at any of the other huts except the King Memorial ; everything is close at hand and accessible without danger or effoit. No horses can come here, so there aic no introduced plants or woods, file has spared these fortunate fields, and the student sees before him the unspoiled and original work of Nature. To the more, advanced student, the district is not quite so attractive, since there i: really very little to be touml hero which cannot lie lound elscwheie and perhaps nearer home. A visit to Mount Tori esse- and another to Aitbur’s Pass will furnish a collector with nearly everything that he can find hero. Hut nowhere can the same results be attained with such ease and comfort. RICH vegetation. The glacier below and the eternal snow above set a strict 'unit to the botanist's field of activity in the Mount Cook district. From about three thousand or four thousand feet, ( the level of the glacier) up to about five or six thousand feet, according to

circumstances, there is a conspicuous zone of rich vegetation with a predominating dark-green tinge due to the countless plants of snowgrass (Danthonia fluveseens), a broad-leaved form. Together with this grow many ol the famous and beautiful of our plants; a Mount Cook lily, and the various species of Celmisia or mountain daisy, and hosts of Gentians, Raeulias. Ounsias, Kyel. rights, Kdelwie.-s. Violets, .Forget-fiae-nots. and other notable beauties.

The special task of the botanist on this excursion was not-to collect these plants, which are most of them available elsewhere. One main object was to rediscover the rare Haastia gatlieiod by the Rev. MVS. Green during liis historic visit to Mount Cook in 1882. Another was the observation and eo. lection of those hard-bitten heroic plants which flourish between 7000 ft. and 9000 ft. above sea level. Among these there are two of special interest which were first collected by Peter Graham during his long and distinguished career as chief guide at Mount Cook. During my visit to Wailio, I got. from Mr Graham most valuable notes of his observations, by the aid «t which 1 hoped to come upon some o these treasures. Kverytlnng which grows at these altitudes is of value and interest—even common things, if only by reason of the methods adopted by Nature to fit them for life under such rigorous and exacting conditions. Our day of rest, the 19th. was thus utilised: Stewart rose at 3, and at ho and .Jim Stout went off to cross the the glacier and climb the twin peaks ol Rosa and Mabel on Mount Cook range, about four miles from the summits. These peaks are just under 7000 ft. high and lie about halfway along the range from Mount Cook itself to its end at the junction of the Hooker and Taman Glaciers. This expedition proved vert - successful and interesting. The doctor and botanist started imt lon. after to cross the glacier ant __ pea!, immediately hut Mount Ivinsev, about (wOOft. „ and a mile further down the range from Rosa and Mabel. Crossing Hie glacier looks quite easy from above, a bit rough, one supposes, but fairly level We descended to it down the Usual abominable precipitous slope ol loose debris and were soon involved in the usual maze of huge, unsig i y rubble mounds, all loose and sharp am irregular, among which no appioxi.jd

mutely straight course can possibly be steered. Having finished with this we climbed in great heat, by exceedingly steep slopes, to a cirque or basin, about 5000 ft. up, above which rose the screes and rocky spurs of Alount Kinsey. The doctor achieved the ridge, from which the Tasman Glacier and a huge vista of new peaks and tributary glaciers were visible, and the botanist went on to the top collecting many interesting rock plants and looking o; in vain for Green’s Ilaastia, which was found not very far from this spot. 1 joined iny companion at lunch by the cold waters in which lie had wallowed while 1 climbed, and. we returned with bathing intervals, to the glacier and the accursed moraine and the hut by 4 p.in. AVe then all took up our packs, very heavy by now, and trudged the seven miles down to the Hermitage in time for dinner.

Having now finished, for the time, with the Hooker Glacier and the western side of the Mount Cook range, we turned to the Tasman, intending to visit all three Alps, and making the Malte Emu Hut and Hochstetter Dome our iii.al objective. Our party v.as now joined by the Hev. K. 4. .1 Bickerstcth, of Adelaide, a very genial padie, a fast goer and cheery companion, assisted by Tom I.atham, a Wanganui scholar and a horn climber. Immediately after lunch on the 20th. wo set out for the Dali Hut in tremendously hot weather, arriving h\ tea-time after sundry halts for bathing. One of our party rode and carried a!' the swags. The Ball Hut is about twelve miles from the Hermitage, 3400 ft. up, and situated just below the place where the Ball Glacier, descending steeply from file southern arete of Mount Cook, joins the Tasman. Here Green fixed his “fifth camp,” and this spot was ins headquarters during his adventurous exploration of the ways of Mount Cook. This is the oldest of all the huts and is easily reached hv a fine bridle track along the lateral moraine of the Tasman. This track is being made into a road, and within a few years the Ball Hut will probably be accessible bv motor—a prospect which is not altogether pleasing. Ihe hut lies in a cosy hollow between the mountain side and the high moraine, so that the vi<wv is blocked out in nearly every direction. There is a fair stretch of quite excellent turf, and horses do well there: such luxuries as fresh meat are therefore available at this hut. Horses hmm weeds, and from The Hermitage all along the track English grasses and small weeds grow by the way. dust behind the hut, howeigr, the mountain rises sharply, and hero is a

splendid show of sub-alpine vegetation. Whipcord, Veronica, Giant Spaniard. “Turpentine Scrub.” and among these the usual Daisies, Gentians. Evebrbdits and Forget-me-nots. Iho beautiful littb. lobelia Ma mmonles grows within a lew yard- ct the bn. door. Chamois abound on the spurs above, and the keas, generally about half a dozen, enliven the place uitli their shrieks and their antics. Here we spent the night of the 20th. making a very early start for our next objective, tho Memorial Hut.