Who climbed Ruapehu first?

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 419, 14 January 1992, Page 2

Who climbed Ruapehu first?

Oi

Athol

Kirk

Over the years there have been many claims as to who was the first to climb to the summit of Mount Ruapehu and each time the question arises, no satisfactory answer is found.

Athol Kirk is a Wanganui historian with a long association with studying the history of this area.

The question was raised again when on 30 January, Radio New Zealand announced that the day marked the anniversary of the first ascent of Mt Ruapehu in 1853, when the Rev Richard Taylor and Sir George Grey reached the summit. But it was an incorrect statement. Richard Taylor in his diary dated 30 January, 1853, wrote: "I held services with the natives. We (Sir George Grey and Taylor) then took a walk up part pf Paretetaitonga or Ruapehu, as it is commonly called. We ascended to a lofty precipice which stopped our further progress, a perpendicular chasm of full 1000 ft down which the Wangaehu (sic) flows directly from the snowy plains. "The features of the mountain are very grand, all being igneous rock and plains of ashes. We ascended above the snow line. The chief plants I noticed were a beautiful everlasting, the harebell, a kind of gentian, a pretty speedwell, an epaeris and several other pretty flowers. A wild carrot also abounded. "We returned and had evening services in English and native." The late Arthur Meads, who had climbed Mt Ruapehu many times, commented that this climb has been discussed and an independent account from Sir George Grey later differs

somewhat. His opinion is that they climbed to the summit of Ringatoto, a peak on the south-east of Ruapehu. It should be noted that the broad irregular summit area of Mt Ruapehu includes the prominent points of Paretetaitonga, 2751m in the west; Te Heuheu, 2732m in the north, Cathedral Rocks, 2663m in the north-east; Mitre Peak, 2591m in the southeast; Girdlestone Peak, 2658m in the south; and Ruapehu, 2797m in the south-west. This latter high point is also known as Tahurangi. The various high points accounts for the many claims as to who really first climbed Mt Ruapehu. To the early Maori the mountain was tapu. Those who climbed it disturbed the gods and aroused their wrath. Therefore any Europeans in those early days wishing to climb the mountain did it secretly. To add to the confusion the Maori called the three mountains by the one name- Tongariro- and they also had different names for the various peaks of Ruapehu. According to J.C. Graham, the first European to climb Ngauruhoe was John C. Bidwill in 1839. The New Zealand Encyclopaedia cites the following as the official first climb of the various peaks. Te Heuheu- Thomas

and John Allison. December 12, 1877. Paretetaitonga- H.C. Field, 1882 TahurangiJ.Park, C.Dalin, W.H. Dunnage, 8 January, 1886. Crater Lake The crater lake was discovered by G. Beetham and J.P. Maxwell in February, 1879, but they did not go close enough to find out whether the water was warm. Thomas Allison, after his successful climb, studied the records of previous climbs and wrote to Sir George Grey for details of his climb. Sir George, in his reply, stated that he had climbed up Ruapehu with Richard Taylor but owing to the minister's scruples at climbing on Sunday they stopped short of the top. Later Grey returned on his own accompanied only by a party of Maoris and spent several days in the vicinity. The Maoris, due to their "superstitious fears", begged him not to climb the mountain. He never-

theless stated that he broke away on his own and continued to climb beyond the spot he had reached with Taylor. He concluded his letter: "I was unwilling to show myself if I could help it, and did not attempt to walk along the summit of the mountain, and immediately descended from the point I had reached without sighting any crater. I spent but a few minutes on the summit and did not discover the crater lake." This statement would appear to confirm Mead's opinion that Grey had climbed Ringatoto, a peak to the

south-east of the Crater Lake. However, Arthur Mead's brother William had this to say about Grey's climb: "In good summer weather there is no difficulty whatever in ascending Ruapehu by the route over Ringatoto, so it is safe to say that the date of Grey's ascent was 2 February 1853." No-one else has been so definite in confirming Grey's solo ascent of Ruapehu. Grey left New Zealand in 1853 without apparently making any claim to have climbed Ruapehu . It was not until 1877 that he made the claim he had reached the summit. So the question of who was first is still in doubt.