“I’d Climb the Highest Mountain”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 16

“I’d Climb the Highest Mountain”

Sydney W oman Lawyer’s Eventful Holiday Ct rrjlt-iv*T3| LAWYER with romantic ideas may seem as unlikely as roses at the Poles, but Miss Marie Jnf Byles, the first woman to become a solicitor in Sydney, is one who does not let dry-as-dust subjects crush her interest in romance and beauty. Taking advantage of a 12-months’ holiday, she has just returned from a mountain-climbing expedition round the world. Putting work out of her mind, her interest in each country that she visited was not their system of justice or whether their womenfolk had the vote, but how high were the mountains, and what her chances of climbing them. "No one,” she says, “who has not done any mountain-climbing can realise the exhilaration of It. That, and the magnificence of the views from the heights, are ample reward for the difficulties. “Since I left Australia I have climbed dozens of mountains, in England, Scotland, Norway, and Canada. The highest I climbed in England and Scotland were 2,000 and 3,000 feet; in Norway, 5,000 feet; and in the Rockies, 10,000 feet. “I joined the Alpine Club of Canada, which includes members of many nationalities. I was the only Australian. My experience there was in the Purcell Range, 100 miles from Banff, where the mountain we chose was more than 10,000 feet, and had never been climbed before. “Alpinists laugh at anyone who says they have ‘mountain-climbed’ when they have not needed to be roped—climbing without being roped together is merely ‘walking.’ “I still have three months left, which I shall use in a visit to New Zealand, where I hope to do some climbing in the Southern Alps ” Miss Byles travelled by tramp steamers. One of the charms of these ships wnich appealed to her was that there was sufficient lack of red tape to allow officers to teach those who wished to learn something about navigation. This was of great use, because she cherishes a dream that some day she may cruise the South Seas, as Ralph Stock did, in "The Dream Ship.” For this she will search for companions as eager as herself, but it is a holiday that must be stored away for some happy time in the future. In the meantime, a little knowledge of navigation is no weight to carry.