"AN ALPINE TOUR."

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17062, 5 February 1921, Page 9

"AN ALPINE TOUR."

10 THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir, —Would you kindly permit me, aa organiser of the three Godley Glacier expeditions proviously referred to under the above title, and as leader of tho last two (Mr Edgar Williams being leader of the first), to point out a, few inaccuracies in the interview your reporter had with Mr T. A. Fletcher, as reported in last Saturday's issue of "Tho Press" ? (a) ". . .on etidi visit new peaks were discovered." Wo discovered no new peaks. Indeed, there were no new peak 3 left to discover. All the peaks the district possesses are plainly visible from the glacier floor, if not from the Godley river-bed. True, thev have not all been named, nor even all marked on the map: but they have all been previously known, and all have appeared in earlier photographs. The one bearing Mr Fletcher's name, lying south of Mt. Francis, has long been marked on the map as "7995 ft," those figures indicating its height, and also the fact that ,'it was unnamed. T named it after Mr Fletcher when I, with Guide Lipp, first ascended it in January,' 1919. It is a very prominent peak. (to ". . . provisions and outfit generally . . . sevpral miles more." Even people who know this district well will not make much menning out of this portion of tho report; so I don't know just what, impressions strangers will get out of it: but I am quite sure that whatever impressions they do get will bo von- wide of the mark. The lake is About eighteen miles long, and the road, simh as it is. skirts it most of the wav. I.ilvbnnk Station is, I should think, about five or six miles beyond the head of tho lako. These are' straight distances; but the road, winding about as it does, must run into several miles more. From the station to the terminal face of the glacier is about twenty milos, and everything in tho wav of gear and provisions must bo packed or swp.etred over the whole of this distance. (c) ". . . the climbers succeeded in getting five peaks, three of them being previously unconquered." sTot one of these five peaks had been previously ascended. All these climbs were first ascents, and in each case we reached the actual summit. d il "' ' " from Petermann •• • ■ on the Terra Nova Saddle, a. fine view into the Rangiiata could be obtained." fcurely, Mr Fletcher was unreported here: for he well knows that 3lt. Pei«tmann is some miles from, tia

Terra ?fova Pass—not on it: and the view into tho Rangitata Valley from Mt. Petermann, even if a good one — no one has yet been there to see—must be sadly blocked by the huge of Mt. Dennistoun, which lies directly' between Mt. Petermann and the Pass. (e\ ". . . all tho peaks of tho Mt. Cook district could be seen." To my mind the words "many of" would bo nearer the truth than the word "all." Surely the peaks of tho Moorhouse Range, lofty as they are, would be hidden behind Mt. Cook, which is loftier • still. Now, I don't suppose that these little inaccuracies would trouble the general public very much; but there are always a few of your renders who are keenly interested in alpine matters, and I think it a pity that these,, especially, should be misled either by slips in reporting, misunderstandings, or by statements lightly made—whichever happens to bo the source of erron— Yours, etc., W. A. KENNEDY.