COONQUEST OF MOUNT ASPIRING.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13609, 18 December 1909, Page 11

COONQUEST OF MOUNT ASPIRING.

PERILS OF TILE ASCENT.

CAPTAIN HEAD'S NAKKATIVE.

■x abort message in a recent _-at)Cf-'Tho announced that .-St Aspirin, one of the teaks of S&othern Province, had succumbed 'JTan *tt«k by a party of mounILeers, aad had to ho to the '^<rf-the ■eminences •'done." The exSition was conducted by Captain ffc-d R A., who made, the journey to ■JKusii s-KNMaily to climb tn« moun- *__,. His narrative of the accent is « ertreincly inu-n-stinu one. Head lot i airlie en route fa ;pnkab, Onmraroa, ai.d Pembroke, 2 Saturday, November 6th, by motor, '■2d-on arrival at PuKiiki he lound J. ■■.gSto auu Ah,,, l.rauam. Ins jiuidcs, ■■■SSSiB him- The jourM-v was consoon as u:v ~ com'uW and the uariy, <irr.-ii:2 m 1- A■'■flEuoV special," raaclied Omaramn by ■ : i5? *Tne only ur.j.ieasruu experience KvWv heavy hnilsu.nn ner.r Ben .'SL bavins the nnuntams white. Kest day (Sunday!, tne journey was Sinned for the Lind.s Pass and Pcmffi and the party accomplishedl the %%L (76 oiiles) by G p.m. They 'SEd un tho 1-indis Pass, which is ■■Sffifcrt*above sea level, and passed "SS-in Morven Hills Station, where X and a chanye of horses awaited ££ Caotain Head remarked that sTwas a nrv yood route for anyone VfiftSto *> te th* lakes from the SrmitW or vice versa, as it meant KS niabt on the road. The next 'Sndavs were spent in Pembroke laySin stores, etc.; but an endeavour fa*, local information as to the best SS to climb—whether from the west 2g* branch of the Matukituki River !irnjved fruitless. EXPLORATION. • fln Wednesday, November 10th, the fteft Pembroke, at 8.40 a-m. in a and three horses to go up the bank of the Matukituki as high I atbey could net the buggy. They got 'Smttun a mile of where the western ;. : Sr eastern branches joined (28 miles ftom Pembroke), but could not find a k'£a £ the river was high. The camp was'rjitehed near an old hut on Niger I Flat, and through a cloud tha- got a "vi«r of what they took to be Mount I Ajpiring. The guide, Clarke, rode one of the horses-across the river to see VJfr-McPberson. who lives on the As--siring run, and arranged for him to dmrn and show the ford, ine '■:%& dsr the river was stUl high, and ttte fording was only accomplished on '*jyjday morning. After crossing it was decided to follow iip the east branch of -life'''river. The spare stores were ieft ;K|| _.c old sawmill house near the junedf the branches. The buggy was 'Sfipfc in the service for an hour and a fis&j.' and the party then packed the bush for two hours along !%!£tir track. The marks of a large were -seen in the riverbed. "Dis&ijmuitment Camp" was pitched on the of the river, opposite the iwwition of the east branch of £he and a river running 'Hue Aspiring. On the Saturday was finished, and it was ex- . wfed to be the base of operations for days. The next day, Novemj|3ft!:l4th, the rivers were crossed, and lll^d-trail was discovered through the lS^i l 6n ; the right bank of the stream pjrlferispirinjj.. The party followed it two miles until they came lliieilat. which ran about two miles to glacier above. Here the perpendicular east face of l|fij|Bnijjs :with the Pope's Nose on the stream were un:fnaiaefl:the^explorers called them Kit- | AcßßC».:flat and Stream. On the valley with si glacier, Wi$ l»jr'had-not",jtime to explore. It Sasaiflitoo foggy to see a route. On" November, there was "a |»^d»y.-»tlast." The party climbed galp&l at tie back of Disappointment ■;_)iiip > i J ' due east. The hill rose to PBW, feet, and from that eminence pSjjS.'ijot » very fine view of Aspiring. Ilyiiii-Head decided that they were ;pi*;thi> wrong place to do the climb, gllotagraphs were taken, and it was mnito shift camp to the west MaJfijfltaki. The abandoned camp thus sjMß*d the uncomplimentary name beiffgted on it. . • | Bp- ROUGHING IT. glpfoTiext day camp was. struck, and fffeajfcfct tone the party, were five miles -west branch of the river, andi IHWSi for the night, opposite the Rob ||»Tglacier. The next day (WednesliTth) it was found.that ||tksiver was too high to cross, and Pyjarty spent all day in camp fightThe, following day a new sSSMfrwaa found on the right bank of f|pjra»er about five miles further up. $3j|_»as nearly in Kne with the Dart awi a fine waterfall called Oas-, ,$9P* The camp was named, "The Two Alpine tents were «n<j Bft by 7ft, the other 12ft by with fly over the top, and fire fly out.- The next morning the camp left, and an effort was made to a«*track through the bush. "Cut a alnck thtough twe', miles of bush, good &*>"# to mrag througli. Came out *** *' JOut one JnU» acixjss, zSjjm,findmei, after the many ducks f SSfe J Tben another bit of bush and * ss?,* 110 * »tr«un, running into the jgWufeaki on tie right' bank. Called River, from the colour. « bit more bush, and then -y?%:___al>igpatch of avalanche snow to the.river on the right _^jr_t___ ttMd baok.there, and took it to camp. It was a very inggßffgjg as there was plenty of ducks and young KH?|!tf«*tMig, New Zealand cuckoo, IjffJl^^kind-pwls, mprepork heard." ,18ATlSFACTIOX " Camp was left on November fyßSfsffik one tent, sleeping bags, ffl"y gear, and six days' food. "It day, land not too hot. We Fw9w2_*y gh»d of our trail made the jjpFWjWiiJ day. We carried on the right _j__fry tlle " T er for about five miles, had to cross to left, so sent *jS*BWBon home Found c good rock about half a mile further on |_2>2r* left branch. Our camp was Ijlgjvone mile from the head of the j__ l fa OnSiindav, November 21st, the IttSb* 0 * Bt 230 a - m - with the IjjJJJoa of climbing up to the Ridge, dne east from |2!J__: The height of our camp JfiJpMafjbcn Cimp) was about 2800 ft. - _r_-- er was bad, with heavy fVa^ 1 so too bad to start. Back j*a at 5 until 9.45. Left canio at *Mo explore up head of valley, and The valley ended in fSmWt^x} 1 * waterfall, and on the > i ___J' l> * B^ there was a lot cf avalanche SZ"7* We could not see far uj* the above the waterfall. We '4bTI2L^ ove tlie b . v the snow hank, and'then took to on oast or left side, so as fallm g stones. The gully tWo miles, and finishes at STy. 5030 ft.. The West Coast ?FawT mg into the Wai I >ara Valley. '-WSk** * s^"«r drop, and roacie up >Ct_ roc;fe s and rotten ones. It would %» ** * 1 ' n ' ce *° descend. There view of J<r-nin. Bun«kJ the of Bonaj . Gbcier -. * Jft. at mGH Brr <>t T AC. j|__*,*° n dav, November 22nd it w*s "<kSjT *° starC for tnc very ,«* tllere was too much fop: on I*«ft cam]* at 9 a.m., nnd after dimh found a good site to - * * 50£ t np, at noon. Spread

out sleeping bags, etc., to air and warm. After wo. had sc-me food Clarke and Graham left at 1 p.m. to pick sUiT.'j «n;I find tlr.- Iμ-*;- route to start up next in::roing. The view was r.iagnjliofju. One looked a<-r<!*-> the Mauikitiiki Valky. ;i;:d a;-r<*s the Wuipara 'and Armvn-a Kive.-s. One could so? .Mouni.s I-nia. Aiioriri. Edward, etc., and in the- ost.-.ncc Mount Karnslaw. On the nortli-tvi.st of our bivouac """as a-womli-rUi: hanginy; glaoiiT, which v.iil almost ooi!:i>i: c with the Douglas. After takji:; ulnr.: gratis, 1 walked up to meet Chirac and Graham. They ha<l had a inoit wonderful view of Aspiring, and reported that there -houM b<. no ureat difficulties. Back to camp at 4 p.m., and to bed at .seven. We t-i-ok up with v.*> one tent, three sleeping bags, .<p:uv d< thw, three daj-s' food, cooking spirits, etc." ThE ASCKNT. The history o!' the climb is sot down with graphic (simplicity. "Tuesday, ■ XoviTiibi-r L':ir<i :lp at 1.15 a.m., breakfast at 1.10, and off at ±40. A &u-a-dy climb,and witli the help of the steps picked tiie <lav before, we reaeli«'<l the- toj> of tin- ridge of the Matukituki Valley (7.> soft) at 3.55. Tho weather -was none too promising, as there was a driving fos;. Wβ had to wait till 0.20 before Koing on. From the Matukituki ridy:o to Asf/irinp is a snowplateau abfxit 21 miles aero- 1 ;, with a drop at the lowest part of about 700 ft. (.My aneroid readings aro open to correction, as the weather was jumping tlw- glass up and down.) It was a very cold, blowy morning. When the foe cleared ive- started across the plateau, taking enre to leave a trail with our axes. We actually started to rise and clfmh at 5.4-5 a.m. Wo climbed no the smmv on the west face to within 000 ft of the top. and then got on to the north-west arete. W© reached the top at 9.25 a.m. OX THE SUMMIT. "After the GOft on th« north-west areto wo came to the top, which consisted of a heavy corniced ridge about IGOft long. Clarke said it was safe, but we had to cross it to get to the actual summit. The only -way was to side-step, with one's feet m Westland, and one's axe driven i7ito the cornice at the top. Looking over, one saw n sheer drop of 8000 ft into Otago, as it is t-ho "boundary line. It -was a Tveird experience. Wo spent about five minutes on tho top, and then; left, as it was very cold. THE DESCENT. "The side-stopping dotrn the 150 ft wbs almost worse than the going up. We ha-d half an hour's spell on the way down, the mountain for food, and got on to the plateau at nooir. We ivere very glad fo hare our trail bock, os the foe had come on thick. It had bothered us a bit the last 500 ft of the descent, as it clouded our goggles., From the toT> "we got a fine view of Cook and Sefton. 'hut the lower mountains were blotted out with focj. Tt was a steady snow plug across thp plateau, and a glissade most of the way to the bivouac, which we reached az 2.30 p.m. We were packed up and down to the bottom by 5 p.m., ,iu«t before it came on to-rarm. To Set] eerlv and hipny. Very wet night." The remainder of the diary depcrih?e the return journey to Pembroke, which was tin eventful.