ALPINE TRAVERSE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 7

ALPINE TRAVERSE.

FEAT OF TWO GIRLS. DIFFICULT ASCENT MADE. FIRST CLIMBING EXPERIENCE. An alpine traverse of which many experienced mountaineers might well be proud was made recently by two Christchurch girls, Miss Margaret Smith and Miss Alice Woodward, states the "StarSun," Christchurch. Their feat was the more meritorious in that, although they are both trampers, neither of them had pre-viously done any climbing. Leaving the Weheka hostel on a gloriously fine morning, and accompanied by Guide C. Parfitt, they made excellent time up the Fox glacier as far as Purgatory Creek, where both girls had their first experience of rock work. From the Chancellor Ridge there was a magnificent view of the snowfields which feed the glacier. The excessive friendliness of the keas about the' Chancellor hut caused some wakeful moments during the night, but che party rose early next morning to begin the traverse of the snowfields leading up to Newton Pass and on to the Alma hut. There were some ominous-looking clouds during the earlier part of the morning, but these passed over, and the sun shone relentlessly from a clear sky. This badly affected the snow, of which there had previously been a big fall, and the going was so difficult that the climbers were in soft snow up to their knees throughout the morning. "We reached the top of the Pass about mid-day," said Miss Smith. "The beat there was simply terrific, but in spite of this we appreciated to the full the marvellous panorama spread out before us. We could see the Tasman, looking very remote and empty down below us. Two aeroplanes came flying up the glacier while we were on the Pass, but I do not think we were seen." • After a short rest a start was made for the Alma hut. The afternoon's progress was even harder, than that of the

morning, the soft snow having filled the numerous crevasses, so that the utmost care had to be taken. Matters were somewhat complicated by the fact that Miss Woodward had lost her stick down a crevasse. Not until seven o'clock that night was the hut sighted, the climbers having taken 14 hours to make the traverse. The delay was more than atoned for next day. The descent of the Franz Josef glacier from the Alma hut to the Waiho hostel was made in under five hours —a remarkable time for city girls making their first acquaintance with alpine climbing. Miss Woodward is still in Westland, but Miss Smith is back in Christchurch, snow-burned but happy . . . and wondering, rather wistfully, how long it will be before she is able to return to the Alps for further climbs.