Climbing Kilima-Njaro.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 461, 9 April 1890, Page 4

Climbing Kilima-Njaro.

Kilima-Njaro, in Central Africa, has at last been conquered. Dr. A. B. Meyer, who failed to reach the summit in 1887, made a determined effort in October last, and, during 20 days’ stay on the upper slopes of the mountain, ascended to the top of Kibo four times, and of Mawenz i(or Kimawenzi) three times, Ashe patriotically puts it, he was able to plant the flag of Germany on the highest point of German territory, for such we must admit KilimaNjaro to be. In a communication to the new number of‘Petermann’s Mitteilungen,’ Dr. Meyer gives a detailed account of his ascent. Plan of Ascent. On October 2 he and his corapanue/i Purtscheller, and a native of Panginis reached the saddle-plateau, above Mareon,a village, which (14,270 ft.) formed the base of operations. The plan of ascent was to mount the great lava rib running in a southeasterly direction and flanking on the south the south-east glacier valle}’, and from its highest spur to begin the scramble up the ice cap. There was much less snow on the mountain than there was in July, 1887. At 2.30 a.m. on October 3 the ascent began. At seven they met the first snow, 16,400. t. At 7.20 they stood on the ridge of the mountain rib and thence began the steep ascent of the crest. Halting a little every ten minutes in the ever-rarifying air, they rested at 8.15 half an hour ac 17,220 ft. Above them blinked and glimmered the icecap of the Kibo. Shortly before nine they attained 17,650 ft, and at 9.50 the lower limit of the ice-cap, at the height of 18,240 ft. The Crater of Kibo. Here the usual precautions as to spectacles, ropes, and axes were taken, and the work of step-cutting began. After crossing several crevasses, they rested at 12.20 under a steep ascent of the ice-wall at 19,000 ft high. The curve of the ice-cap, which is the highest point visible from below, was now under them. The difficulty of breathing made them halt a few seconds every 50 steps. At last-, their strength getting rapidly exhausted, they reached, at 1.45, the rim of the Kibo crater. At the same time they saw its highest elevation to the left, on the south side of the mountain, consisting of three rocky points rising some yards above the ice-cap. The distance they estimated at about one and a half hour’s march. But for this their strength was unequal, except at the risk of having to bivouac without the least protection in the cold of the night. They had done an extremely fatiguing 11 hours’ climb, between 14,000 ft and 19,700 ft, and had bo take account of the mist that was floating above the ice walls. They decided to rest content with the result of their first ascent. The great crater of Kibo, with its ice precipices, the eruption cone rising from its depth, was discovered ; the problem of the interior of Kibo solved. The descent began, and the tents were reached at 6.48 p.m.

The German Flag on the Highest Peak.

On October 6th Dr. Meyer and his companions started at noon to bivouae at a greater height. Next morning at 8.45 they were on the topmost rim of the crater, their turning point on the 3id. The ascent to the highest peak offered extraordinary difficulty. The ice-rim steadily rises in a southerly direction, where it is broken into three points emerging above the ice cap. Not being quite sure which was the highest, they mounted all three, and the aneroid gave the middle one, 19,690 ft., as 50ft to 801 b. higher than the other two. On the ice pinnacle Dr. Meyer planted the German flag, and baptised the rock ‘ Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze.’ From this point especially the great Kibo crater is easily viewed. With a diameter of about 6,500 ft the crater sinks about 650fb to its base. On the northern and eastern sides the ice-cap descends from the rim in steep galleries, while on the western and southern sides the bare lava rock plunges steeply from the upper ice-rim. From the base of the crater there rises, somewhat northerly from the centre, a slightly arched eruption cone bo about 490fb high. Like the crater bottom, it consists of dark-brown ashes. Its upper half is free from snow and ice. lbs lower half is panoplied with a m’ghby ice-girdle, which proceeds, presumably, as glacier from the broad crater chasm opening westwards. On the crater bottom lie several larger fields of half-meiting ice-erusb.

Other Ascents. | Again, on October 11th, Dr. Meyer and his companions mounted to the saddleplateau. On the 13th they shifted their tent in thedirection of theMawenzi summit, to the east of Kibo. Mawenzi seems much older than Kibo, and is proportionately worn and torn. So ragged and torn by wind and weather is the crumbling rock that one wonders at its holding together. The least touch and the pieces give way. When, after four hours, they gained the top, 16,800 ft., they found themselves not on the topmost crest, but only on the point of the great transverse rib running west. On the other side of the rubbish heap rises the great wall supporting the highest ‘ teeth' of the Mawenzi. This was enough for one day. On the 15th they started at 4.30 a m. for a second ascent of Mawenzi. Their aim was from the great western mass of debris to push east to the main crest. Detached patches of grass climb up to 15,750 ft. Higher is the region of lichens and mosses. Following the course of the debris, they entered the rocks of the main crest, riven like dolomites. After a hard scramble in the deeplyeroded furrows they stood, at eight o’clock 1 16,900 ft. In a small notch of the main crest, north of its great cleft, and enjoyed a confiDed view of an extraordinary deep abyss of the mountains to the east. The ascent of the point immediately north of the crevice, though very steep, was managed. From the topmost pinnacle, however, it is separated by two [leaks rising a little above it. The eastern walls of the Mawenzi here showed themselves to be much steeper - and deeper than on the western side, where its base rests on the broad saddle-plateau. The whole from above looks like gigantic honeycombs. On the 16th they started on a third ascent of the Kibo, by its northern slope, and on the 19th still another ascent was made. This time they descended to the floor of the great crater. On October 21 a final ascent was made of Mawenzi on the northern and eastern sides. Deducting the four days’ interruption from the Bth to the 11th of October, Dr. Meyer and his companion were working for 16 days at a height of over 13,000.; made four ascents of the Kibo summit, and three to the summit of Mawenzi.