TOP OF THE WORLD

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1931, Page 8

TOP OF THE WORLD

MAJESTY OF SOUTHERN ALPS FIRST CROSSING THIS SEASON (Auckland Star) Most people in the North Island speak easily to their friends of the wonder" of the Southern Alps and of the ski-ing grounds, of the glaciers and of ! tlie ‘‘peace which dwelleth in the high places,” but few of them have any idea of how wonderful those mountains are. Glaciers grind their • ponderous way down b.u^h-clad : valleys, down’ ,to a height ho greater jfh.un that of Mount Eden. At the foot ’-of- the Franz jpsof a small spriiig—hot—-bubbles oi'ijt,. from under the ’ice, and on one of the high plateaus there is a boiling spring. Mr A. Reid, an Aucklander, who has just come back from a three week’s holiday in the Alps, during which he made the first double crossing this season, speaks with enthusiasm of the majesty of the mountains. He walked up the Franz Josef and over the main divide of Graham’s Saddle, down the Rudolph and Tasman glaciers to the Hermitage. He and his guide returned over Copeland Pass, down a valley of the same nariie, returning to. the Franz Josef hostel via Welieka. Mr Reid was fortunate to have fine weather Ml the time.

CLACIER AT SUNRISE “’Wb left the hostel , about 10.80 one’gloHous day, and-travelled up the broken lace of the glacier to Defiance Hut, arriving there in the early afternoon. We spent the night there, and iii the morning we saw the sun rise over the mountains. Gradually the light fell down the ice slope and on to the glacier. The face of the ice flow consists of a thousand twisted, broken points and pinnacles. As the sun crept on to the glacier each facet threw back the light of every colour of the rainbow. It was like a long broken trail of jewels, flashing and scintillating, finer than the treasure chest of the wealthiest Eastern potentate. ", “The whole world blazed white as we made our way from the hut, round the side of the ice fall and up the Alma glacier, to the Alma hut. Only the crampons—iron teeth strapped to our feet—Saved me from many a tall. When I saw the £uide .striding over nvoi* edges between gaping ijavine<s I thought I would' never get there. And then I remembered that if the razor edge was on the leyel ground I could have run along it. I tried to remember that when the going got hard.” .. NATURE’S FANTASIES ... , f. Where the Alma glacier dropped into the main flow at right angles, the face of the flow was broken and heaped up, like a city suddenly struck by a tornado, he .said. It was the pi ce of Nature’s' fantasies. Great ice caves loomed out- of the brokeness, arid tons of ice, seemed about to spring on hunters, frozen solid. “We had some fun at the hut. It was completely snowed in, and we bad to dig a. tunnel to the door. However, after If iiours we got in and had'a meal, three very large courses. The guide made a blanc mange, and sure’y his method of cooking is unique. He gouged a hole in the snow wall of the tunnel and put the steaming hot mixture in it. By tea, time it was solid, frozen so. We had an afternoon’s ski-ing at 6000 feet on what is probably the finest grounds in New Zealand—or rather my companion did. I spent my time trying.” SUNRISE ON THE BIG DIVIDE . Very early next morning, at 3.15, we set out to'- get to the top of th< divide by sunrise. Mr, Reid said lie hacl never hri'd an experience like that. It was; The "said, as if Tie and companion ’-were alone on top of the world. With one foot in Canterbury and the other -in 'Westland, he saw the sun re-awaken the day. Far, far below on the east stretch of the plains of Canterbury, away to the skyline; and abate and beyond and all around as the light grew stro' ger was snow, and snow again, with the uncovered peaks, jutting out like the teeth of some forgotten monster. Below, 3000 feet, were the clouds, still as waters’at sundown; and then the sun caught the tips of the peaksThe most delicate of pinks, they were contrasted with the shadowy white of all below, and suddenly away beneath, the crests of cloud waves took fire. Everythin" was hushed, the silence not even disturbed by distant fall’ll" avalanches; a.nd the sun crept downward until the whole of the Alps, as far as the eye could see, became a dazzling, gleaming white, with the nearergaping rocks like burnished copper. , \ From there the journey down to the Hermitage was more or less without incident, and they passed the de la Beche corner, where recently a Iflizzoverwhelmed five persons, in perfect sunlight.