THRILLING CLIMBS

Hokitika Guardian, 23 February 1927, Page 4

THRILLING CLIMBS

IN THE SOUTHERN ALL’S.

TWO GREAT TRAVERSES. ;

Towards the end of last year theic r arrived in New Zealand Mr L. E. H- ( Porter, a member of the English Al- i pine Club, and M. Kura, a well-known j Swiss climber. Mr Porter has been j here before, but M. Kura is making his first visit to New Zealand. He is a civil engineer, and a famous mountaineer in his own country. Iliese i two, who lvad clinvbed together 111 j Switzerland, went straight to Mount • Cook with a view to climbing some j of the high peaks in that region. Unfortunately, they experienced one oi the worst climbing seasons there ms , been for several years. Nevertheless, , tliev have accomplished great things , (says the “Post”). In a bncl mid. modest account of their doings, - Porter 1 writes to a friend as follows: “We were here front December 3 to , “4. hoping chiefly to climb Tasman ami j Elio do Beaumont, but storm aitei I storm interfered with our doings- 1 soon as wo got to the Mai to 1 run Hut the nasty old cloud appeared on tm Lcndenfelcl Saddkwa.nl there was n Elie do Beaumont! Again it appealed on the evening of a nnirveltousb in o dav the next week, "ithm turn houis of our arrival at the Haast Hut. »'• made a desperate bid for Tasman the next day. but, having got to » 10,000 feet on the Silbcrhorn, " 1 < forced to retreat by violent gusts and whirlwinds of powdery snow c i-idoe, to my surprise, was m bad older? mad despite the use of crampons we had a lot of cutting to do. All "C achieved in those sixteen days was an ascent of Sealv and one ol the Lootstool. . “Returning on January 4 ," e emu gcd our tactics, and resolved to dig 111 in the huts, one after another, and wait till a fine iDy appeared. Mo goto Hie liaast Hut on January 6. and January 7 turned out to lie one ol those priceless days that occur only twice or thrice in a season. Me "eic iiufiv at 1.50 a.m. and got to the top of the Silbcrhorn without much difficulty or labour at 6.35 a.m., the condition' of the ridge having improved out of all recognition since December, and tho schrund not having opened out much yet. The sight of the south ridge of Tasman from the Silbcrhorn is beyond question the most impressive thing I have seen in twenty years ol alpine climbing. I should think at least twice before attempting to tackle it without crampons. 1 got a glorious photograph of it with Kurz in the foreground on Silberliorn. The schrund half way up it was overhanging on tho ridge, and we had to got out tor a. long way on the cast face before we got over it. Returning to the ridge, wo found its edge too steep even for our spikes, and utilised a. strip of ie.v snow below the slight cornice on the cast flank till the angle eased off as wo approached tlie summit. )Vo got to that wholly delectable lmven :it 8.50 a.m., exactly seven hours alter our start. Wo then proceeded down Lhe north ridge, a.s yet untrodden by 1 lie foot of mail, though Newton made three attempts on it from the Fox bivouac. Tt is a milder and much less steep replica of the south ridge, and affords marvellous views ail along, some of )vhieh I photographed. At 11.30 wo got to the col leading to Mount Lendcnfeld, which we had hoped to gain as well; but Christmas festivities had not improved our training, and wo decided we should have done enough for one day by the time we regained the hut. We had to use a doubled rope to get over the schrund just below the col. and the steep snow on the 3009 feet descent to the plateau was none too good. The vast crevasses, at the font of the slope all hut imprisoned us—there was hut one wav through. We were back at the hut at 3.20 p.m.—131 hours for the whole traverse.

“Three days later, with Clive and Doris Barker, 'and without crampons, we repeated Fitzgerald’s ascent of the south peak of Tlnidinger, 10,059 feet, along the ridge fyom Pioneer Pass—a eery fine climb indeed. Miss Barker is the first lady to do this climb. On tlio top we found the wine bottle left there by the first party, with a note inside on which the only legible words were the date, February 8. 1895. After that, still with the Barkers, we got the Aiguilles Rouges and Malle Brim by the west ridge on January 20 and 21 respectively. “Then for our last week at The Hermitage, Kurz and T elected to bivouac oil tlic Pudding Rock—not without misgiving, for till then the season had never produced more than two consecutive fine days. By a stroke oi luck we ran into a fine spell with no rain for six flv.ys, and two really good climbing days sandwiched in between them. On Wednesday. January 26, wo achieved St. David's Dome (third ascent), a line mountain, and a great viewpoint, and on Friday. January 28. set out at 2.39 a.m. lor the traverse of Mount Cook by the Great Ridge. The rocks of the low peak were too ice-draped to look at for the top 5001'eel, so we kept all the way to the ice, and reached the ridge at 9.5 a.m., til Kin t 250 yards to the north of the peak. From the last schrund. to tin’ ridge it was all very hard ice, which cost us much labour in steprutting. The ridge itself—a. unique causeway—was also ice throughout, except for the cornice. Hut ice of a kind that crampons could deal with effectively. We got to the centre peak at 9.30 a.in. and the high peak (12,319 feet) at 10.30 a.in., eight hours’ climbing so far. At 11 we commenced the descent, and an hour later reached the first rocks on the downward journey without stop-cutting. In another hour we had climbed down to tho bottom of those rocks, and. having plenty of time in hand, we sauntered down tho Linda Glacier, with numerous halts at safe places, finally getting to the Haast Hut at 5.30 p.m.—fifteen hours for the whole traverse from the lower Hooker bivouac. “Neither Kurz nor myself know anything in the Swiss Alps comparable, to these two magnificent traverses.. 4 asman is the more difficult technically, and more awe-inspiring, but Cook is longer and more completely satisfying to every instinct or tlic mountaineei. I lonic Oil January 28 as one of Hie verv greatest days of my climbing career? We are now due to join Hindi Chambers in a bivouac on the Fox” Glacier, from which tempting peaks may lie attacked if the weather is kind.” _ . . In a postscript Mr Porter adds a note that will please all New Zealand climbers: —“I marvel more and more at the skill and toughness .of Peter Graham and others who achieved those routes without crampons.” It. need only be added, by way ol returning the compliment, that Messrs Porter and Kurz made all these climbs without the assistance of guides.