ADVENTURE

Hokitika Guardian, 4 May 1932, Page 3

ADVENTURE

CALL OF SOUTHERN ALPS

VISITING SCIENTISTS PR AIS I

CHRISTCHURCH, May 3

“My imp>-ossion of the different ranges of mountains I have seen is that each one has its own individuality. The ..Southern Alps are the kind that call one to adventure. The Himalayas as I have seen them have been impressiw in their grandeur, but it its a quiet grandeur.’' 'So Professor A. H. Compton, Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago, stated lit an interview in the city yesterday his impression of the mountains in Which during tli'e past week ho has been making i important, . exporjuiients in phydenl .science. "New Zealand should be proud of fner Southern Alps," he said, “for they are most distinguished in what i may call their impressive ruggedness. They are not a,s mighty as the Himalayas, or as high as others, but I don’t know where one can go to find j mountain.'- that inspire more respect j for Nature than these do. Tlnv give . to thi> landscape a wealth of conirast [ such as one rarely finds.” | The thing that most impressed him was the continual succession of avalanches at Mount Cook. He remembered one great avalanche near the i Jungfrau, but that was the only one in 24 hours, while at Mount Cook j fh«'y were falling every” few mimues. The Jungfrau region,' tie ,thought, war the one which could bV most nearly compared with the Alps, although the . gtlacic:. iui New Zealand w.re con-j ci'Vr-iblv larger. One striking fea-’ ture of the Now Zealand g’ocivrs was their rapid flow, amounting in some cases to .half a foot an hour. 'n I'hirope tin- glaciers moved only a few feet in a year. i