Memorial high on 'Little Matterhorn"

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 568, 28 December 1994, Page 8

Memorial high on 'Little Matterhorn"

By

Arthur P

Bates

There are many rcminders of early explorers in remote parts of the WanghfftNb district but surely the most seldom seen is the memorial on the summif of Girdlestone Peak, the least visited of the three peaks on Mt Ruapehu. It is the marble plaque ii; erected to the memory of Hubert Girdlestone by his friends in 1922. Who was this person, and why is this rather alien marble slab sitting atop this seldom visited peak? Hubert Earle

Girdlestone, was an energetic Govemment surveyor who, as a young field cadet, iplO urgent i 900s when the Prime Minister, Riehard John Seddon, started his vigorous land „ "••"p^Jlient "sehesfef^"^ Girdlestone did his first work in the Taihape area, and later in the Waimarino. To start with his recreation was in cricket and football in the T aihape area, but later he became fascinatedby the Tongariro National Park. He grew to have a strong affection for the whole Na-

tional Park, with special reference to the southern slopes. He became acquainted with every corner of it, both as a place to relax and a place to continue his offlcial duties. He mapped much of it and wrote detailed, valuable repOrts about many aspects. Inadditionhe wrote newspaper articlesextolling the attractions and possibihties of this seldom visited area. With his natural athletic qualities he became first rate at rock climbing: and his favourite area was the re-

mote southern peak of Mt Ruapehu, which at that date had no official name. Little Matterhorn He gave the name 'The Little Matterhorn' to this peak and, after a time that became the accepted name. It is said that he was a natural leader of men with his pleasant manner, eagerness to share, professional expertise and his athletic ability. Like most young men of that period he joined the army during World War 1 and fought in France. He was made a sergeant, and was killed in action on 28 August 1918, only two months before the end of the war. After the war a number of his friends decided he should be suitably remem-

bered. They decided to erect a granite slab to his memory on the sharp peak of the Little Matterhorn, at the south end of Ruapehu, overlooking the country right down to his early working area around Taihape. The idea was enthusiastically endorsed by many who had received their first introduction to the mountains in the many climbing parties which had been willingly organised by Girdlestone. 'Links in a Chain' by A H Bogle carries a first-hand report on the erection of the plaque. Bogle states that friends wishing to be in the party carrying the memorial plaque came from various parts of New Zealand in

1921 and met up at Round Bush, a clump of native trees on the eastern slope of Mt Ruapehu, not far from the Whangaehu Riverabove the Desert Rd. Here they had a miserable ovemight camp. Next morning they set off early carrying the marble slab, which was about a metre wide and 700mm deep. Heavy granite The party carried the heavy granite slab up Ruapehu and across Mangaehuehu Glacier to within a few hundred metresf of the summit when a violent gale forced it to return. The attemptjwas abandoned, and it was not untif 1 3 March 1922 that the party reassembled and the job was completed, with the plaque affixed with four large bolts into the rock with the top of the plaque covered with lead. One of Girdlestone's friends, M J Galvin, was present and he recorded his recollections of the event. "A rock had been selected right on the summit, and to this rock the tablet had to be secured. Holes were bored with hammer and drill, snow was melted in spirit stove, and mortar was prepared. "The slab was then fixed in position by means of copper bolts concreted into holes prepared. Precautions

were taken to prevent frost interfering with the cement or fracturing the slab. "Whilst we worked our eyes wandered often to the view beneath and around us. We were above a sea of clouds and mist, now swirling close around and blotting out our sight of the world below. "Our thoughts though were of the old comrade whose memory we were j honouring. He had been with us on days such as this, and we knew he loved scenes such as we were now viewing; and when our work was finished we stood bareheaded by the memorial, and one friend spoke our thoughts of the grand man we were now remembering. "Although he now sleeps on the slopes of Picardy , his manly spirit and lovable disposition are forever commemorated by the noble peak that bears his name." So now we know how The Little Matterhorn as the name for the peak was changed to Girdlestone Peak (2658m) and just who that intriguing marble slab remembers. It is noted by James Cowan in his 1927 book 'Tongariro National Park' that this ... "memorial tablet is on the noblest site and loftiest eyrie that any such work of human hand occupies in New Zealand."