ALPINE CLIMBING.

THE NEW PASS TO THE WEST COAST.

ASCENT OF DIC LA BECHE.

We recently gave some particulars of the work done among the mountains in tho Mount Cook district by Mossi-j J. C. Fyfe of Tiinaru aud J. Graham of Waimatc. Mr Fyfe, who spent altogether some ten weeks among the peaks aud passes in the Tasman Valley aud its branched, returned to Tiinaru on Wednesday, aud gave tho Tiinaru Herald an account of his chief exploits, from which we take the following extracts :—

The most important of Mr Fyfe's achievements, from a practical point of view, was his exploration, in company with Mr J. Graham, ot a reasonably good pass to the West Coast aiilo of the mam range. Provious expeditions had suggested the direction in which this should be sought for, aud the two men made for Barron Pass, at tho head of the Mueller glacier. Barron's Pass leads over into tlio Hopkins river, which Hows into Lake Ohati, und therefore is uot a saddle in tho main ranjje. They climbed Mt. Moutgotnerio, near that pass, for recounoitering purposes, and then descended to the MclCerrow glacier, whence rises a West Coast river, the Landsborough. Thoy camped two miloa below tho terminal of the Mclvurtow glacier, aud tried to descend the river, but it >uus in a doop gorge with very ruugli bottom, and live miles down aud back made a hard day's work. Travelling then up.the glacier, they reached a saddle leading into the head of tho Douglas, a tributary of the ILirangarna, a Woat Coasb river, which roaches tho Bca a little south of Gillespie's Beach, and descending on that side roached vegetation—snow grass and stunted scrub —on country traversable by a track. Mr Douglas, Government Surveyor, had been irom tho West Coast aide to tho foot of the saddle they descended. From the camp two miles below the MoKerrow glacior to the foot of the Douglas saddle, Mr Fyfe estimated at about six miles, und as a horse track could be cut up the east side of tho Mueller glacier, a short day's walk would land one Iv the Douglas Valley. The outing ooeupied nine days. In the courso of it thoy had "a shot at" Mount Sealey, but failed to scalo it. This is only a small peak of 8630 ft, but it is of very rotten roott,—"a terror to climb."

The next effort of tho two men was an attack on Mount De la Becho, 10,022 ft, this being the tenth attoinpt by different parties, and the tirst successful one. It is a |>6autU"ul peak, and has boon tried by more climbers than any other. They bivouacked at 4782 ft,, at tho junction of the Tasraan, andKron Prinz Rudolf glaciers. After travelling up tho Rudolf to near its head, they turned to the mountain, which now presented a bare rock Bnrfaoe. Ouall Mr Fyfe'a previous visits this face had been covered with avow. Rocks were traversed to about 7000 ft, when the rock became so loose that the climbers took to the snow again, which at the head of the Rudolf was in grand condition, and thus they reached the level of tho Francis Josef, which flows westward. After a lob of zig-zagging to avoid " bergsohrunds" (gaps whoro the ice has sunk away from that above), they reached the : saddle between two peaks of De la Beoho (9000 ft). A sheer rock face presented itsolf on the west side.. The ascent of tho .final peak was impraoti? cable from the saddle, owing to the shattered condition of the rook and precipices, so they returned to the ice plateau aud made straight for tho peak. The only difficulty that seemed to be in the way was a large bergsohrund that ran right across the peak, but they fouud a bridge across this. When they got above' the ico they found tho rock work difficult, but not dangerous, the rock being sound, the strata dipping into the mountain. At 10.20 a.m., five and a half hours from the bivouac) they stood on the summit—quick work. Tho West coast side was oloudod over, but a fine view was had to the east and north. The descent was easily made, and the bivouac reached after an absence of only ten and a half hours.

Mr Fyfe then took a few days' rest at the Hermitage, and next tackled Malto Brun alone. This is the fourth in height, 10,421 ft, a fine rook peak, " the Mattorhorn of New Zealand." He found the climbing difficult, but was never stopped, and was back at the De la Beche bivouac iv eleven and a half hours from the start.

His next climb was with Mr and Mra Maxwell, of Hobart, and Dr. Kronecker, of Berlin, assisted by J. Clarke and J. Adamson, up Hochstettor Dome. Starting at 5.15 a.m. from the foot of Do la Beohe no difficulty was met with uutil they reached tho saddle immediately below the final peak, and hore they found two rather formidable bergschrunds. A frail looking snow bridge carried the party over the first., The second had a drop of 30ft to 40ft. After some 6earch a not very safe bridge was discovered, with a chance of cutting steps up the steep face on the further side. This was a nasty bit of work, especially for a lady, as the ice cliff was very steep, but Mrs Maxwell showed excellent) courage and made no objection to facing it. It took fully an hour to get up that 30 or 40ft of ice cliff. Adamsou, being lame, Btayed behind. This landed the party on the saddle, and the rest was easy, with 150 ft of step-cutting at the top. A bitterly cold wind was ulowing over the summit. The West Coast side was hiddou by clouds with a surface like a sea, out of which the higher peaks stood up like islands with beautiful effects. The east side was cloudless, and a fine view was had in this direction. A camera had been carried up and some views were taken. The descent of the bergscbrund which had given so much trouble in mounting waß safely managed, Mr Fyfe taking tho post of dauger and honour, as last man. Tho lower bergschrnnd was crossed safely on the snow, bridge, whose frailty was shown by one of the party putting a foot through it. The descent was then easy and camp was reached at 9.30 p.m. Glacier Peak, 10,017 ft, a fine pure ice peak behind Mount Haidinger, was next attempted by Dr. Kronecker, Fyfe and Claike. They reached 8500 ft, and were then held back by a network of bergsohrunds, and the attempt was a failure.

The next day the party crossed to the Malts Brun range in readiness for a first I attempt on Mount Darwin (9715 ft). Starting at 2 a.m. in brilliant moonlight they reached the top at 1 p.m., and had » grand view northward, and could just distinguish the western coast. A cairn was built on the summit, and names left iv a bottle. An easy descent was made, Mr Fyfe seeing a better route, and noting its detail from top to bottom belore startiug. The Tasman was reached at dark, aud after waiting till the woon rose they were back in camp in twenty hours. The party were hungry when they got to the bivouac, as they had eaten their last serap —a small one—at 3 p.m. on tho mountain, and had to turn in aupperless. Fyfe, however, was too hungry to stay, and set off at once for tho Hermitage, and stopping for three hours' sleep at the Ball Hut, reached the hotel early in the morn-; ing, with a full grown capacity for breakfast. The Others would get a breakfast nearer by crossing the Tasman to tho Do la Beche stores.