MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1932, Page 3

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

AVOIDING ACC DENTS;'

NEED FOR WEATHER SE,Nsg|

CHRIS,TCHURCH, MarM ; 3

As long as mountaineers go carefully and cautiously, arid take note of the weather signs, they should come to-! no harm among t lie mountains of ' h-New Zealand, stated M>' A..P. Harper, president of/ ’’ the ' New Zealand Alpine Club, last .night', in’ his remarks’at the celebrations of anniversary of the first* a.scent}y<6f Mount Cook. He declared that, a hipiintaineer required years of vesper jerice 'a ncT a high “ respect for - tfev moiuitairiS vthemselves. for’-two- hundred miles an alpine fimtV which rivals any othgr;~aml—we- have- •thr-meg-whrr" enrr >■

climb it,” declared Mr Harper. “Those mon' whq. start riut/bri their climb ing fo' are looking fqy troriblg; iA's ,largs6f|. I';ca|| seed’d f the men ;ih ~Canterbury;.. that *b*v v arby.amtjng th'e besT,, in try.” a'/a v; 7 •''•g-life,' FREEDOM FROM ACCIDENTS.

The necessity ~ whk emphasised also by Sir a member of the Alpine Club (England). He said that young men had before them a magnificent opportunity of developing mountain climbing’ in- New Zealand. The New Zealand Alpine Club insisted that climbing should be undertaken with care, arid;; if such were carried out there wogld be a gratifying freedom from accidents.

In a subsequent interviewer Harpei said that, though accidents' might be more frequent than was the case veais ago, it must be remembered that there were now; two hundred mountaineers, where forty years ago ithere'jwas only one. The popularity of nidilritai(leering was so. greht .that;;' speaking, there was a wonderful dorii from accidents. In the targe, band of climbers there were' bound fb; be some who were not cautious. He said that there were many ways • ifi: which caution should bo exercised. For example, one shoaild not cross a river with' a;s whig tied on one’s back. It should be .hung over one arm so that it could be released instantly in Hr? case of a slip of the . foot. ■