EXPEDITION TO MOUNT NGAURUHOE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13375, 17 March 1909, Page 7

EXPEDITION TO MOUNT NGAURUHOE.

_ SUCCESSFUL ASCENT OF TIIE VOLCANO.

TWO HOURS IN TIIE CRATER.

GREATLY EXAGGERATED REPORTS.

CAUSE OF THE ERUPTION EXPLAINED.

(lit Of It SI-F.CIAL ( OHIIKSI'ONPENT.) WELLINGTON, .March 10. Th-* r..i<May cx-.n-e.s--i train from Wellington land.-d mc on the Waimarino Plains at 10.20 on Friday night. A train;* ol two miles brought mc to Mr Johnstone's, .survey camp, where I spent the night. Next morning, in company with Mr G .0. Wilson and Mr Norman Johnston (a lad of nineteen, who was s-p-iuling his. holiday in his brother's c:*.nipl. I started on a long tramp to establish a camp at the base of the volcano. To pack the tent, blankets, and provisions. Mr Wilson had engaged for mc a young fellow named Drury Low. who proved in every way a suitable man. Hits grey packhorse. which had seen much and varied service in the wilds of the Waimarino country, war* equally reliable. Our route* lay over tlie upland tablelands, through clumps of forest, and across the* foaming waters of the Whakapapaiti and Whakapapanui, beautiful mountain streams, which, uniting lower down, form one of tbe principal tributaries of the Wunganui river. The weather was unpiopitiotis for such an expedition, but in the mountains one never knows what a day may bring forth, so we elecided to push on. Before we had gone many mile*, what with the wading of the rivers and the rain, we wero wet to the skin. We hoped te get a fairly direct route to the head of the valley that lies between Ngauruhoe and the southern peak of Tongariro, but- the country prove d impassable for tho packhorse, as it was intersected by numerous narrow gulches, the. bottom of which was usually a morass, in which a packhorse would get hopelessly hogged. Young Low made an attempt to ernss one when all other avenues were blocked, but the horse sank in it to tho girths. A good deal of time was then lost in the endeavour to find another route. Eventually we had to make a long detour till wo found an old Maori track that skirted the northern base of Pukeonake, an extinct volcanic cone, slightly over 4000 feet in height. Tin's track led past the mouth of our v-illey. up which we now proceeded, until we readied a stream thai was bursting up in geyser fashion from the earth. There was a wealth of subAlpine flora in the vicinity, and a small patch of bush on the banks of tin* stream promised tent poles and fuel. The rain was coming down steadily now. While Low off-saddled and helped tho others te get tent polos, I cleared a Jove] space for the tent on the sodden ground, chipping off tussock, celmesias, and other plants with my iceaxe. Had it been elry, we could havo obtained excellent bedding from the long tussock grass that grew in tbe gully, but everything wars dripping wet, so we spread our waterproofs and blankets on the wet ground.

Just as night was setting in. and after supping on bread-and-butter, tinned meat, and cold water, we turned in for the night. It was n cheerless prospect after a walk of about twenty milos! but one anil nil took it philosophically. The mountain had been quiet all day. and was still .not showing any signs of great activity, and from former experience. I know thero would not be tbe least difficulty in ascending it, even ill a fog. We were, however, in for other entertainment. The rain was coming down more heavily than ever, and presently n blinding flash of lightning illuminated tho tent, and the thunder rolled from crag to crag. Flash after flash, and peal after peal kept us awake. Tlie storm was coming up against the wind, and in about half an hour it was right overhead. Then the thunder came with deafening eraslie*.. like the firing of cannon. Almost simultaneously with the lightning, nn occasional puff of sulphurous vapour from the volcano ridded to the unennniness of the scene ; but the storm gradually died away, and at last we slept the sleep of tho just ami the moderately tired.

In the morning, nt five_ o'clock, when T got up. the cone of Ngauruhoe was clear from base* to summit, and clouds of ascending steam, rising in ttreat puffs from the crater, were cnuglit by the wind and blown to tbe southward. It was not pleasant getting into our wet clothes nnd boots in tbe early morning, but breakfast and n brew of hot tea put us in good spirits, and though tlie weather was still far from settled, we decided to start for the crater without ilelav. In an hour we* were at the foot of the cone itself. We made for a rocky rib on the western face that led up to a square mass of rork that we named "The Castle Tower," -dtuntprf on the rim of the crater. As we climbed the weather grew worse, and about five liundred feet from the summit no entered the clouds.

Skirting the cone to the northward, we crossed two or three grooves made by the hot v.-ator and mud rejected during the height of the recent eruption. They were very similar to the grooves made by failing ice and rocks in the Alps, only instead of the grooves being in snow, they were carved out of the grey sand and cinders of which the cone is formed. When within three or four hundred feet of the summit, wo began to note that the proviouslypnblished accounts of this eruption had beer* greatly exaggerated. One highlycoloured account stated that '"The orn*..>r burst into flames; that huge blocks of stone were forced out of the mouth of the crater." There was n,,t a vestige- of any rocks or stones bavinbeen thrown from the crater, as stated"! ami we already knew from fully a dozen eye-witnesses who were closest to the mountain at the time of the eruption that no flames hud come out of the vent, even when the eruption was at its height. Irdeed. the only glow observed was mused by the illumination ot the clouds of steam by the settiti"sun. So much for the veracity of certain observers who. located nt n greater distance, seem to have drawn' upon their imaginations for their facts Leaving the rib of rock under 'the castle tower." wo started round the cone to the northward, and soon found ourselves o*< the rim of the secondary crrter. which was comparatively quiet". The nt-rerit from the foot of the cone had only taken us a little over two hours, the total time f rom our camp brim.: three hours ten minutes. Walking p.'ong the rim of the outer crater we descended to the well-known g-tp on the northern s.'de, and entered tbe main crater itself. The floor to the north and to tho east had not been disturbed at a'!. Fortunately tho mists now lifted, the sun e!ich« out. and we were abie to get a perfectly clear view of the crater. We explored it from end to end, and even reached the rim of the vcr.t itself. We were twice driven from it by the pungent vapours and slisbt showers of mud, but being o.i tlie windward side, we were able to return to the rim. We were fortunate in having with us Mr Wilson, an engineer of the Public Works Department, who had climbed tho mountain and entered the crater on the day before the eruption. 3lr Wilson being a

tiained observer, it will be well to give a tiese rip tion of the* crater as he saw it just before the eruption, and as we saw it i>n the Sunday morning alter tiie eruption. From these observations the caiioc- of the eruption can easily be* deducted, and tile nature and extent c: tlie* blow-out estimated.

Mr Wilson was in the- crater on Sunday, ihe 7th March, and the day beiug clear a::u tiie* activity flight, lie* I was able to thoroughly examine it. He* ' could actually see the bottom of the ! main vent, which is now the scene of ! activity. At the south-west corner ol the vein there was a puffing steam jet that went ott-a!*out every second. Farther round to the* westward there was a more powerful jet ol steam going continuously. and still farther round to the* westward in the elite-lion of tlie "the cos tie tower" •steam was Lining from the- wail of the vent, which on this side forms also the main crater wall. The walls on ali .sides were perpemlicuiar. It is thus apparent tiie vent of the* crater hud become* blocked up. Superheated steam, generated by the hot rocks below, accumulated to such an extent as to cause a blow-out of a similar nature—but on a very much smaker scale—-to the Tuiawerii eruption, producing tor a time a uingnince'iit tspeetac'ie. On his previous visit, Mr Wilson, who is used to measuring distances,, e-otimate-d the breadth of the* vent at five chains; it now appeared te be about seven chains from end to cud, or, in other worels, elongated to the* extent of forty-four fe*et. The* rim of the crater had not undergone anyvery material alteration, except near '•the castle tower," where tne* hot water and a certain quantity of mud ejected had washed a smaller lwrtion of t-lvo rim down tho grooves on the western siide. The rim of the vent on the eastern side had, if anything, been increased in height by the rocks (burnt almost to the cinder stage) and the mud ejected during the period of greatest activity, and subsequently in a slighter degree by mud showers, such a-s wo experienced. The vent, as is always the. onse in times of crateral activity, was still a weird and wonderful sight, there being a 'oud roaring of escaping steam and a greot gurgling, as of boiling mud, or water, or liotli, down in its caverns of inky blackness. Great columns ol stoam rolled up front the vent, now at one spot and again «t another, and ats the wind caught them nnd swept them aside, tho various parts of tho great vent appeared, to view. Only- mud and scoria have been ejected on to the floor of the crateThe mud ejected was not of great quantity, and the dust that went up while the explosion was at its height was tsliot high into the air and carried over the snows of Ruapehu ond to a. considerable distance be3onci. Even on the glaciers of Ruapehu, howevty, the fall was remarkably slight, just sufficient to turn the snow to a dingy grey. As a matter of" fact, the coating is not much greater than appears VJ v ' , st bands bhat aro b '°«" from -Unite Brim range on to the upper portion ot the Pasmai*. glacier lato in tiio season. "\\ c measured sornie of the lumps ot scoria ejected from the vent llm largest piece was 2ft 11 in by 2ft; it w-ns dark m clour, and porous ';, ti i" m J la<: ' forccu through it Hie, largest pieces wero quite close to the eastern rim of the vent, but wo found also smaller chunks of this newly ejected scoria on the outside of the cone ay | a ,- down as two or three hundred feet from the summit. As showing tlso amount of exaggerated description that has been given about the present outbreak, I may mention that we found still clearly defined on the floor ol the crater, not more- than a liundred yards Irom the scene* of greatest activity, a footprint made by Mr \\ llson during his visit on the day before the erupton. There could he no mistake about it; it had the same curve* exactly as the boot bo was wearing, unci when I got him to put his loot in the punt once more—exactly a week afterwards—it fitted exactly I Thus since the commencement of tho eruption there had not fallen enough material to obliterate a footprint maele in the caked mud not more than a hundred yards lo tho north-east of the vent, though tht*re had been actually a week's activity since that footprint had been made.

The crater itself was littlo changed since I made tho first winter ascent alter the blow-out two years ago; neither is tho present activity very much greater than it was on that occasion. There* is not the slightest vestige of a lava flow, and the mountain is still in the soliatara stage.

In my opinion tho main feature of the present explosion was the appearance of thermal activity on the western side of tho s.addie between Ngauruhooaud Ruapehu, and to a considerable elevation above the bush line on the latter mouiitniii. It has beon stated that geysers were playing in this locality. Such is not the case, but it is a fact that thin columns of steam shot uo and played for a considerable time intermittently along this line. Some ol these columns rose to a height of fully a thousand feet, and the whole* display formed a most beautiful and interesting spectacle*. It was seen Dy at least a score of people, and from different vantage points. Having spent some time watching the crateral phenomena and in photographing in the crater itself, wo took measurements with a chain tape measure, and an Abneys' level that Mr Wilson had brought with him for this purpose. By these* means, we ascertained that the crumbling crater walls on the eastern side opposite the scene of greatest activity wero 100 ft high. We also measured the slopes of tho mountain. The rocky ridge by which we ascended was at an angle of 27 degrees, while the slopes of looso scoria were not more than 33 degrees. It will thus be seen that the mountain can be easily ascended by tho steepest route, and easily descended by way of the cinder slopes. We* remained te eat our lunch in the lee of some rocks inside tho crater, and then descended tne mountain in the direction of Tongariro. We ran down the mountain side from top to bottom in less than fiftec*n minutes, and then climbed Tongariro to see the condition of the* famous red crater. Wo found it no more than ordinarily active. We got a ducking in another thunderstorm to/ our pains. Then wo returned to camp by another route. Next day we walked down to Waimarino, and catching the South-bound express the following morning at Ratirimu, I found myself back in Wellington in time for afternoon tea on Tuesday.

i cannot conclude* this brief narrative of our expedition without recording my indebtedness to my companions who, under circumstances that were at times somewhat depressing, maintained a cheerful frame- of mind, and did all that was possible te secure the object in view, viz., the ascertaining of the exact nature of the recent eruption and the conditions prevailing in the crater of New Zealand's active volcano. To Messrs Johnston and Wilson I am particularly indebted for their hospitality and the interest they took in the expedition.