HOW MOUNT SEFTON WAS CONQUERED.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9126, 10 June 1895, Page 2

HOW MOUNT SEFTON WAS CONQUERED.

A THRILLING EXPERIENCE. The editor of the Neic Zealand Alpin Journal has been fortunate enough to get from Mr E. A. FitzGerald copious extracts from his diary of his recent mountaineering work-in Now Zealand. The story of the ascent of Mount Sefton by Mr FitzGerald and Zurbriggen is completely told for the first time in the colony, and makes very exciting reading. We extract from it the foliowiug passages, giving an account of the ascent and tho very narrow escape which Mr FitzGerald had of losing his life :—

At seven we were off, in tho lightest marching order. We were roped with about 30ft of Alpine Club rope, and we carried besides 150 ft of Buckingham's thiu cord, tested to bear 4 cwt strain, and a couple of long iron staples with a ring at one end of them to drive into the rocks coming down, should we have any very bad places to descend. Zurbriggeu insisted upon taking a bottle of claret. He said he must have something to leave ou tho summit. I assured him that it would got broken, but 1 slipped it into my pocket. Tho first bit of rock that we tried was about as rotten as anything I have ever seen. The minute we set foot upon it it began crumbling away. The arete here is very thin, like a knife-edge, aud it actually leans over on the Copland side. Every time Zurbriggen stepped, uaud the stones crumbled down, I could feel the whole thing trembling. We were intensely relieved to get off this and to get on to the solid part of the mountain, if any of it can be called solid. Now, instead of small crumbliug stones, we had large boulders, prepared to give way at the slightest touch. The side wo started to climb was almost perpendicular; the greatest care had to be exercised here, especially on Zurbriggeu'a part, as I was necessarily vertically below him, almost the whole time, and a small stone falling from his feet might have injured mc very badly. It was certainly wouderful how he managed, and I have never seen a finer display of mountain-craft and rock-climbing than on this day. Ia about an hour of this work we reached a place where it was not quite so steep, and we could advance a little quicker. In front of us rose what we had always thought to be the worst part, looking at it from the Hermitage. Looking at it from where we were now, it seemed worse if anything. The rock was slightly better, but on the other hand, the loose pieces were so much larger that we had to redouble our care. Zurbriggeu now crossed over to the Copland side ot this bit; it was just about perpendicular here for about 300 ft, and we were almost on the crest of arete, with some 6000 ft almost sheer drop below us, both oa the Copland and the Mueller side. There seem some peculiarly insecure rocks here ; sometimes we had to throw them down purposely. We moved here one at a time, with the utmost precaution. I carried the two ice-axes in my hand ; I found thes. considerably in my way climbing. All of a sudden, aa I was coming up oue place, a large boulder that I touched with my right-hand, gave way with a great crash, falling on my chest. Zurbriggeu was just about to take the ice-axes from mc. I had them in my left hand, and was handing them to him ; the slack rope between us lay coiled at his feet. The stone as it fell hurled mc down head first; I fell for about eight feet, when I felt the rope jerk, and I struck against the side of the mountain with great force. I was afraid lest I should be stunned and drop the two axes in my hand, for I knew that on these our lives depeuded ; we should never have succeeded in getting down the glacier through all the seracs without them. After the rope had jerked mc up, I felt it slip and give way, and I came down slowly for a couple of yardß. I thought Zurbriggen was being wrenched from his position, audi was just considering how it would feel dasaiue down the 6000 ft below us, and how many times we should strike the rooks on our way down ; I saw the rock that I had dislodged going down in big bounds ; as far as I remember it struck the side three times, and then took an enormous plunge of about 2000 ft, and landed in a crevasse io a glacier which has now been named the Tuckett Glacier * then I felt the rope stop, and pull mc up short. I called out to Zurbriggen, and asked him if he were solidly placed. I was swinging like a pendulum with my back to the mountain, scarcely touching the rook face* I should have requited to make a great effort to turn round and grasp the rocks, and I was afraid that tbe strain which would necessarily be placed on tbe rope from this effort would dislodge Zurbriggeu. He thought that I had been half-killed, ss he saw the rock fall almost on top of mc. As a matter of fact it struck my chest and glanced off to the right under my right arm, thus saving mc. His first words were, " Are you very much hurt ?" I answered •' No," and again I asked him was he firmly placed. *• No," he said, "I am very badly situated here. Turn as soon as you can as I cannot hold on much longer." I gave a kick at the j rocko with oue foot aud managed to swing i myself round. Luckily there was a ledge near mc, and I was able to get some handholds almost at once. I then scrambled up a little way and passed the ice-axe 3 to Zurbriggen. I had held on to. these during the whole manoeuvre. We were in too bad a place to stop or to speak to one another, bo Zurbriggen climbed up a little further and got himself into a firm position; then I scrambled up after him, and in abont ten minutes we had passed thia steep bic. Here we sat a moment and took a mouthful of braudy to recover ourselves, for our nerves j had been badly shaken by what had been so nearly a fatal accident. At the time we did not think so much of it, as we had to keep our nerve and take immediate action ; but when it was all over we felt the effects of it, and we both sat there for about half-aa-hour before we could move again. I was considerably hurt by the stone; it made a cut in my side which did not heal for a couple of weeks and which bled a good deaL However, we determined tc go on and finish the ascent. I found that Zurbriggen when I fell snatched np tbe coil of rope at hia feet. Luckily he picked up the right Eiece in the coil, so that he was soon able to ring mc nearly to rest; but the strain was so great upon him, and he was so badly placed, that he had to let the rope slip through his fingers to ease his position while he placed himself a little better. This operation cut all the skin off his fingers as the rope heated slipping through bis hands, and burnt him with the friction. Whnn he was able finally to stop mc, he said that had I been unable to turn and grasp the rocks he must'have been dragged from bis position. He dec ared that in all his life he had never been so nearly killed. There was another very bad place a few steps higher up. This we managed to climb without incident. When we got to the top of it we saw that it would be possible to cross the face and to get on to some rooks on tbe Copland side that led us straight to the summit. The face here was snow, and we had to cross this diagonally to get to the rock. The snow here was in very bad condition, and there were also falling stones. As we crossed it we feared very much lest we should start an avalanche, and we were obliged to plunge our ice-axes in as deep as possible at every step. On getting to the point where we in* tended to take to the rocks again, we had some difficulty in getting on to them. They were quite smooth, and went up perpendicularly for some distance. I got on to Zurbriggen's shoulders, — he suggested, bj* the way, that he should have got on mine, but I preferred the other method. Then taking his ice-axe he shoved mc up as high as he conld ; and here, after a good deal of stretching and wriggling, I was able

U get hand-hold and gradually te _-__ myself up to the ledge. Hare 12. myself firm, and putting a roperoua. atl? jesting rock Zurbriggen climbed up L*f We gained the arete from here in »*•« minutes. The last bit before -eachiffX* peak is comparatively fiat, and I »_,£ _ along it without any difficulty. 0? «* side we looked dowu to the Hhrmitac. Zjl on the other straight down into ' ,£_ Copland. ••-• As I learned afterwards wa were nl_* n!tt viaible against the skyline to those wl wore looking at us through a telescope fro™ the He.mi.-g.. At 10 _5, we stood SJ the actual summit; which is in the form . an ice-cone. Hera I planned my °t was Mr Manne.iug' B ice-axe, by.tho.bJl_ that he had lent mc-th.y -y thai uK saw this from below. I tied a red rag „ 7* that we had brought, with us for the __!! pose, a bit of the inside of an old mackiiV tosh lined with rod. We then went dowr a little on the Copland aide to get out of th cutting wind that was blowing, and we hat? our bottle of claret, aud Zurbriggeu smokebis usual cigar.