WANDERINGS IN WESTLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 22 January 1930, Page 2

WANDERINGS IN WESTLAND

THE DOUGLAS GLACIER AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. FIFTH ARTICLE. By JAMIES' MACKINTOSH BELL, A.M., Pli.D.'j Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand. (From .‘the Geographical Journal’ for August, 1008.) > 1. INTRODUCTION. The Douglas glacier lies in one of the most' inaccessible- parts of the Southern Alps of New Zealand, and forms one ; of the most remarkable physical features .ofJliat splendid chain of snow-clad mountains. The glacier is situated in the district of Westland, on the western slopes of the Southern Alps/ which form the main divide of the South' Island. The frontal face, in approximately 43 degrees 42 minutes S. lat., is within 25 miles of the Tasman sea. From the “snout”' Of : the glacier issues-the Twain river, which forms one of the main tributaries of the Karangarua river. At a point some 3 miles above the frontal face, on the south-eastern side of the glacier, Douglas pass—a snow-covered saddle—leads into the McKerrow glacier, which formerly flowed partly down the valley ol : the upper Karangarua, but now forms the source of the Lansborough river. Some miles north from the Twain river, the Karangarua receives the Copland river, which rises in the Merchant glacier some miles north of the Douglas glacier.

2. NARRATIVE

During the summer of 1907, a reconnaissance was made by the writer, with a small party, of the country in the neighbourhood of the. Douglas glacier—our object being, to gain a general geological and geographical knowledge of this wild and interesting section of New Zealand, with a view |to commencing more detailed investigations at a later date. Owing to the inaccessibility. of this portion of the ; country, and to the extremely wet climate, ..the exploration was conducted with considerable difficulty. All supplies had to be brought on pack-horses'to Scott’s house, situated near .the mouth of the Karangarua, on what is known as the great South ro ad—a lonely and little-frequented trail, which has been cut for many miles through'the dense forest of the district ,of , Westland? rat a., .sport , distance from* Hie' seashore.' ; From a few miles above Scott’s house’ everything had to be carried into the interior on our backs, up the wild Alpine rivers; (across glaciers, broken bv crevasses and heaped with moraines; and over wind-swept mountain passes. Consequently our outfit was, of necessity, most simple, and only a - single ply of canvas protected us most of the time from the often very boisterous climatic conditions. Our route lay up the valley of the Karangarua, . which seemed to open the readiest and easiest highway to th e Douglas glacier, and to the valley of the upper Landsborough. A base camp was pitched at Cassel’s • flat, some 14 miles up the Karangarua river from the mouth, and on the left side of the stream, this point being easily reached by a rough track which follows the right bank of the Karangarua, and traverses the river to the opposite bank by a good ford just below the mouth, of the Copland. From Cassel’s flat we pushed our way up the Karangarua, and on the third day’s march camped just below Karangarua pass, which lies at the bead of the stream, and which leads into the McKerrow glacier. The route.'lies almost entirely along the boulder-strewn river-bottom, leaving it only, where rock precipices border the water or where pronounced waterfalls .occur. Travelling is not easy—one' has to ford and reford the stream in the ice-cold water to seek the ..'best route along the bank; moreover, the constant jumping from boulder to boulder with a pack on one’s back soon becomes tiresome. The greatest'difficulty ' occurs in the gorges, or at the waterfalls, where one. has to leave the river-bottom and scramble through the tangled vegetation that clings to the very steep slopes on either side of the river, and forms a serious obstacle to advance right to the base of Karangarua pass. Near the pass the huge size of the boulders in the stream, and the many waterfalls, render the travelling especially difficult and in places dangerous; ,

At "bur camp just below Karangarua pass,''* oftr advance was stopped by several days of thick weather; hut we were rewarded for this delay by radiantly fine weather in which to cross Karangarua pass, make our way up the McKerrow glacier and over Doug-' las pass into Fitzgerald flat. Near the old lateral moraines of the Douglas glacier, which borders Fitzgerald flat to the westward, wo found a good and sheltered camp with mountain scrub for our fire. The route from Karangarua pass to Fitzgerald flat is distinctly an easy one. the only difficulties —and these slight ones—being experienced in tho short descent down the* rocky slope leading from Karangarua pass to the McKerrow glacier, and in the long descent down the steep, slippery, grass slope from Douglas pass to Fitzgerald flat. Neither difficulty is

so apparent in ascending to either pass. Karangarua pass was almost entirely free from snow at the time of our visit, but Douglas pass, which is a few hundred feet higher, was snow covered.

The long and almost impassable gorge of the lower Twain rirer prevents an examination of the TwainDouglas valley from that end. Consequently all our investigations were conducted from our camp on Fitzgerald flat. Wo remained for several days in the valley, being unfortunately prevented by bad weather from making all the desired examinations of the wonderful Douglas glacier and jeofail and of the immediate neighbourhood.

Leaving Fitzgerald flat in a thick fog. we recrossed Douglas pass, and, descending the McKerrow glacier, pitched our camp just below its frontal face on the shores of the Landsborough, where sufficient mountain scrub was found for fuel for cooking purposes. Here we remained for over a week, and roughly examined the country as far down tlie Lanclsborough river as the entrance of the Ferttes glacier, which is situated some 8 miles below the frontal face of the McKerrow glacier. The whole valley of the Landsborough is most difficult of investigation, owing to the fact that the main stream is unfordable for practically its entire course, while many of the numerous tributary streams entering from the glaciers on either side can be traversed only with very considerable danger. Moreover, the travelling along the river is everywhere arduous owing to the almost entire absence of the grassy gravel flats which, along most of the streams of this locality, vary the monotony of the long stretches of boulcler bank over which one has to scramble in going along the stream.

For several miles below the McKerrow glacier the banks of the Landsborough are free from large trees, but here and there Alpine scrub grows in considerable abundance, and everywhere during the summer the valley is gay with a brilliant Alpine flora. . On the Landsborough we unfortunately had exceptionally bad weather, with mist, rain, and even snow, consequently. we were ..never able to get' a really good view of the main ndge of ttfc Alps, which lies close to the Landsborough on the east, a fact which was greatly to our disadvantage when we came to leaving the river. Our intention was to seek a pass over the Alps to the eastward, into the Mueller glacier—lying on the eastward or Canterbury side of the mountains—whence there would be an easy descent of about 9 miles to the Government accommodation house at the “Hermitage.” From the jiiaps in our possession, it was evident that the pass lay at the head of the Spence giacior, and that it entered the Mueller close to the head. , Of course it was impossible to cross a lofty and- unknown pass in bad weather, but when it at last cleared, my party was at once divided—two men returning with all the camp gear, the way we had come by the McKerrow glacier and Karangarua river— while the other two men with myself started light, up what we supposed to be the Spenc-e glacier. As our departure from the Landsborough had been several day delayed, owing to the bad weather, we had been on rations for some time, and were buoyed up on our onward journey up the glacier by the hope of plenty to eat that night at the Hermitage. The route which we followed lay along the lateral moraine of the supposed Spence glacier for a mile or more, and then the broken ice of the glacier itself was followed to the base of an ice-fall, above which a snowfield of gradual inclination led to the summit. Owing to the new snow and the very broken character of the ice, the ice-fall was ascended with difficulty and with great loss of time. When we at last reached the neve thick weather had come on again, and it was snowing hard. In the snowstorm we floundered about for some hours, unable to find our way, but at last, after traversing several gaping bergschrunds, late in the afternoon we reached the crest of the pass. Here, to our disappointment, we beheld far beneath us in the storm, down icefalls and rock precipices, not the smooth upper slopes of the Mueller glacier, but a rocky valley, and heard the roar of a mountain torrent. We had come up the wrong glacier, and were several miles too far south. Later we learned it as Le Blanc glacier we had ascended, and not the Snence, and had consequently reached the pass into one of the tributaries of the Dobson river. It was many miles down that wild mountain stream to the nearest habitation, and consequently, even at that late hour of the day, there was nothing to do but to return the way we had come; down Le Blanc glacier, up the McKerrow glacier, over Karangarua pass, and down the Karangarua river. By hard travelling, late in the night we reached tlie camp* of our two men, who had parted from us in the early morning, and together next day we continued the journey down the Karangarua. During the return journey it rained incessantly, and consequently, being unable to make the ford across the Karangarua, we were held for a day at Cassel’s flat, on very scanty provisions. When wo reached Scott’s house, owing to the varied unpleasantness which we had endured on the trip, we were very loath to continue our explorations, but with clearing weather the, mountains looked so resplendent that we were allured again into their midst. This time we travelled up the Copland river, and, crossing Fitzgerald pass near its head descended into' the Hooker glacier, down which we passed to the Hermitage.

. The trip up the Copland from Scott’s House to the Hermitage can be easily made in three days. Travelling 1 , on the whole, is much easier than in the Karangarua, though there is the same scrambling through the dense undergrowth and the same tiresome jumping from boulder to boulder Only one fording of the Copland is. necessary—namely, at Welcome flat, about halfway from Scott’s house to Fitzgerald pass—-the ford being made in a saf ( > and desirable locality. . The ascent from the valley of the Copland, at a point not far below the frontal face of the Manhunt glacier, in which the river rises, to Fitzgerald pass is not difficult, but is long and arduous, being up steep grass slopes, across talus slides, and up a long snow face to the. summit. The descent on the eastern side of the Alps is over a snowfield broken by several wide crevasses, clown a rocky arete and steep talus slope to the Hooker glacier. \

In our trip up the Copland wc were again unfortunate in having exceptionally bad weather, hut we were recompensed for the trying journey in continuous rain by the magnificent view which we obtained from Fitzgerald pass when we got beyond the storm-clouds and into brilliant sunshine. The pass lies in the very heart of the Alps, and northward and southward are visible from its summit, a seemingly endless array of white snow-covered peak and of deep icefilled valley. It was approaching sunset when we arrived at the pass, and the splendid peaks of Cook and Sefton near at hand and various other lofty mountains further invay shone clear and golden above the sea of gloomy purplish clouds, which filled the valleys and rolled out on to the lowlands.

During the whole course of the reconnaissance, which lasted about four weeks, we had exceptionally bad weather, even for this very wet part of the country, but notwithstanding this fa'ct, we were able to obtain a good general idea of the main geographical and geological features in the Karangarua valley, in the DouglasTwain valley, in the upper Landsborough valley, and in the Copland valley.

(To he continued.)