INTO THE HILLS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 714, 20 March 1953, Page 12

INTO THE HILLS

LAND UPLIFTED HIGH, by John Pascoe; Whitcombe & Tombs, 18/6. HIGH rat ale o pornos 4 Peter Newton; A. H. & A . Reed,

(Reviewed by

David

Hall

commiserates with himself a little that he now lives in the ‘North Island which contains so ‘few’ real mountains. This latest book of his shows very clearly the _ compensations he has found in the last | 15 years,-among the bush ranges of the , North-Orongorongo and Tararua, even Waitakere -- the Ruapehu group, and across the strait in Golden Bay’s wild hinterland or the Nelson back country. The book is not by any means all about these lesser enterprises-lesser for the self-dedicated mountaineer. In Land Uplitted High Pascoe also returns to his old mountains, in the Waimakariri, in the Rakaia and the Arrowsmiths, in his beloved Rangitata, besides breaking into new territory in the Kaikouras and the Spensers. PASCOE not unnaturally To Pascoe a hill is a hill, be it a low one shaggy with straggling scrub or a high one beautiful with shining gouts of ice and flying buttresses of steep red rock; and he does not, as some do, insult the former because it is not the latter. He climbs both and enjoys both with a serene happiness unmixed with snobbery or preconceptions, rejoicing exceedingly in the beauty of the superb outdoor scene which his camera also captures so creatively and so well. New Zealand is indeed a land uplifted high, and Pascoe has continually devoted himself to seeking out and modestly annotating these high places with which our country is so richly endowed. A comparison with his first book of mountaineering experiences, Unclimbed New Zealand, must inevitably be made, That had the fire and ardour of youth, a headlong enthusiasm, reckless of the impression created and straining after the absolute. Land Uplifted High has a quieter tempo and a less demanding mood. Inevitably, from the nature of the | ground covered, it creates an impression almost of scrappiness, and it lacks the unity of the earlier book, which was preoccupied with exploration and con- / quest. Though both are lively, it is a good deal better written than Unclimbed New. Zealand, but it still contains many of those idioms too individual to be anything but an embarrassment to the reader and also exhibits a certain habit of protesting a shade too much. There are good chapters on highcountry sheepmen and deer stalkers, a competent appraisal of equipment ‘contributed by Stan Conway (with a bleakly austere food list), a discussion of the technique of the ice cave and the snow igloo, a‘survey of recent mouritaineering literature, a deeply-felt tribute to three deceased companions and a strenuous attempt in several places to communicate the philosophy of climbing, especially that of the climber approaching middle age with family responsibilities accumulating apace. These add value to: the book. But its chief value is that it is not

unly about mountains: it is also about’ people. It is a record of friendships, with men and with hills, and of a personality whose dominant characteristics are energy and generosity. Three years ago Peter Newton set out to travel on horseback (the greater part of it with a friend for company) through the whole of the Canterbury high country abutting on the Southern Alps from Lake Ohau to the headwaters of the Clarence. Here he destribes the back country stations he passed through and the people who live on them. A good deal of the book is purely descriptive, a portion that will have value as a record. Peter Newton has not Pascoe’s ability to let his hair down, but he often warms us with an anecdote or a personal appreciation of a musterer, shearer, runholder, manager, or their women folk. This is incidentally a study by a man with a background of practical éxperience of a type of farming tending today to _decling with shortages of skilled labour, over sub-division and lack of reserves. I agree with Newton when he says "It is my contention that the high country is a section of our farming industry which has not received the recognition it merits." In this quiet, unassuming book with its good photographs and maps he paints with simple but effective strokes a compellingly attractive portrait of a way of life, hard and exacting, but also virile, whose ‘rewards are not solely those paid in cash.