SPECIAL ARTICLE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18942, 5 March 1927, Page 13

SPECIAL ARTICLE.

0$ THE DIVIDE, ,— — ! ARTHUR'S PASS TO tAKE KANIERI. Irtttrw rot w« »«ss.) | {By J. B. Nassos.] <tT th»t tho pen of tho Into 0. «*■» descried in ii, should be an<l in some :s to readers • of sis, setss on Boxing nt Kokatahi, lie Coast, on ving crossed to tiio Coast, I finally back ,s far as we i, wo are only i second pass l'liss, o'.'Oft w, unmarked ' ir-ni" of tho tho maps <",f Survey at on tho billing nowhere, tin it-self suglcads into a ;ariri. In s Pass leads ington estal> divide. This to show the c country wo io mountains, ?rly weather, iitnins at the i 'I aipo, and g whiter and Into in tho & Day saw ic Coßfit train | unspeakably icon led astontho natives, itintains even the bustling tior.. are recruit at [Jonfters (intitled by past self a moun- «, our party ley, then two t to a uut at in well back th bank, and tirst brew of So far good id us pretty luck on tho 1. Tho train ! established rhich usually jpped at the ; tho Bealey ome gangers. 0 tip out all wbers of tho r fining the ik for it but siding. There 1 making for mrtion, they lino to a hut tad traversed hour beforo. compensated from a party church. This i tho two we >r one of the baggage had replace a pair it for his reft tut possible, to receive a rom the Wai- , which from rati not well 0 had crossed 1 the pack of cd perilously , step or two, om to stand rown a ropo. successfully Of courßO, poet for tho itain streams k! and future nore circura--1 bock from ■iri and lit a lock to direct mitable ford, i grew darker [ the fire, by teerfnlly. detussock with iding n greylio valley, wo bank Soon led the river ■ in tho first owever many among them n bunks in a b #nd anticirst few hours ng nights no 1 filch away, lietly around presences, jlitary morjSome days dimatiwd to 5 just niount night they ising new de- ; we had left r ere plodding r shingle toll tlie Svhito I to lxs for the of stonos and ing that one ns. Nor will m gliinpv.'i pl.ell directly of Hollestou row Glacier i cloud. The iccount of tiio looked very ly travelling Mte at the )n somewhere riri, following inder Mount tenitig drizzle imissed briefpassing that | utterly nnrt i, though the rmxtrong was o and strikes lion one got* !»t battlement It towers crowed here

and there by a possible pass. I u precipices are cut in places by greatsninglo slides reaching downward ami fanning out as they near the river. At this place you feel it is a very real harrier between the two ooa&ts; not a mythical lino of tho geography books. Incidentally its position on the Government maps is mythical. Ono admires tho abandon, the artistic freedom, with which the early surveyors sketched in a river or a peak where the map looked blank. About seven that night two more men descended on our camp from no- ! whero ur.d popped down io recover breath and energy. They had spent an I unsuccessful day trying" to get somewhere across the divide: just where, ' they wore not very clear. Thev pitched camp and promised to keep us company across Whitehorn's l'i\-s as far as the Wilberforce—a plan frustrated by an unfortunate accident the very nest day. i Wednesday gave every promise of being fine; before long the fog lifted from the summits leaving ua iu the lull | blaze of a summer sun. After starting at (i.lO and following the Wliito about a mile wo turned off up the Taipo-iti, a small tributary, northerly in direction, leading up on to tho divide. We were now entering country wo knew very littlo of. Any maps we could get were most reticent about these parts, and information from previous travellers is difficult to lay hands on. Incidentally, both the grandest scenery and the j hardest work were ahead of us also. "We found the Taipo-iti ono of the roughest and steepest creeks it was our fortune to ascend. Its bed consisted of mountain debris piled or scattered by the forco of storm water. Looking back from ono point, we had a view of terrace after terrace of precipices on a mountain behind. Above, it was cajv ped with snow through which peered nere and there the blue gleam of an ice fall. In the roughest part of the torrent bed, ono of our last night's visitors must have touched an ill-poised block of stone fully half a ton in weight: looking back wc «aw the great rock move and roll ponderously down against his legs, it teemed nothing could prevent his leg snapping like a twig. Miraculously he escaped with some bruises and a had cut to the bono in his shin. After being bandaged and plastered with iodine, ho and his companion set off to our last camping place by the Waimakariri, where it would bo possible to bring a horse. Tho rock which liad put such an abrupt end to their plans, was part of sonic avalanche | material not yet settled into a stablo position by the stream. Slightly higher tho creek bed was filled with old avalanche snow, thick and comparatively steep, and needing some steps to get on to. High above us on our left-hand side was a group of small waterfalls from the upper snowfields tumbling Ironi terraco to terrace, a compound waterfall* really broken into drops of delicate spray. A little further and we were on our first pass at 9.55 a.m., looking into tho West Coast and the valley of the Taipo, a great way below in very steep and rugged country. We found Harman's Pasfl, which is 4503 ft, free of snow. Down the Taipo masses of mist rolled upwards towards us covering the higher peaks and filling the valley. Two miles to tho west, bearing 239 deg. from Horman's Pass, lay n high, snowy col. evidently Whitehorn's Pass. On left and right of it were Mts. Isabel, 7625 feet, and Rosamond, 7197 feet. Between our position on Harman's Pass and tho snowy depression ahead, the divide Rwept westward in a long curvo of peak and precipice. "Whitehorn's 5750 ft of our aneroid, appeared at tho top of a broad sn«w valley leading down into tho Taipo. The two miles of snow-field between Harman's Pass ; and the col steepened considerably as it neared the divide again ahead. Across the valley we could see the snow seared by the brown tracks of avalanches and crevassed slightly in the lower parts of tho vajley. We chose tho nearer oide of tlie valley, traversing as high as possible under the rocks cropping out through the snow. A trip as far as Whitehorn's Pass would be well worth while for any campers in the Waimakariri Valley. Tlie labour of ascent over the snow would be considerably lessened without heavy packs. Tho scenery is magnificent. From the pass itself tho massed and splendid peaks of the Rosamond ridge tower close at hand. On far side of tho pass is tho ico fall of tho Cronin Glacier finer and larger than any of the Waimakariri glaciers individually—perhaps not so lino as tho three together. Tho slopes that are so toilsome of ascent would make a wonderful glissado on tiio return journey. A hut and some toboggans. at tho head of Harman's Pass would make an ideal alpine playground of this long snowy valley. Going up wo found the snow iu excellent condition, which is to say that carrying fifty-pound packs wc did not sink over six inches at each step. On •snow slopes of forty-fivo to sixty degrees tho smallest burden makes progress very slow and the labour of kicking steps seem infinite. It was tho hardest stretch of the trip, sheer unrelieved slog, up and up. At 12.10 wo stood on tho top of tho Pass, a long snowy saddle with an occasional transverse outcrop of rock. A cairn crowns the highest point just beforo the descent on tho far side into tho valley of the Cronin. Tho maps showed a glacier in tho j Cronin Valley flawing down from the snow fields of Mt. Rosamond; but wo were hardly prepared for the magnificent icefall tumbling almost sheer down over a shoulder of the mountain. It was crevassed transversely and longitudinally into great screes, huge rugged blocks of ico—a kind of frozen tumult 1 A gli33ado landed us again in Can- ' soma Jiundreds of feet down tho Cronin Valley. Beneath tho snow level we found tho glacial stream one 1 of tho roughest and most vicious we met. Tlie Cronin Valley is virtually isolated on tho east end by White Horse Pass, and on the west, where it joins tho Wilberforce, bv a bncl gorge. Consequently doer tracks afford little or no lielp. . . j Unsuspicious nf what lay ahead, *c crossed to the left bank and arrived within a mile of the Wilberforce, only to find all further progress barred by a gorge unmarked on any of our maps. Attempts to climb prce.p.eesjibovo proved fruitless, jo, rather tha i risk a jump onto a senu-submerged lock n thi middle of tho torrent, wc turned about and forded with the help o a rope some way lurtl.cr back. wasted quite two u VTke£ through the tangled and 'ukle s mountain scrub that covered the ptc <« gorge again that daj. . 11 camp beside the roaring ron '' l ■ *j, _ altitude of 1000 feet. It was our est bivouac on the onlj ' , of ground within sight, ic slept over ridges and valleys of rnik, the melancholy kee-ah c " a ' couple of inquisitive k.as V obove the roar of the creek mt' the impression of wildncss , n ; c ] deur. One. venturing too rlos . P.^ tho price of his curiosity with He fell victim to a stone. . , We left at 7.30 next morning. dawned splendidly fine . , id,relights of the sunrise broke |j ( .ht and precipices above into C, 0 and shadow. Once beyom tl» which we surmounted with i I tive case on the right ban-v. ...,| of peaks on the. far side of tl c force .stood out sharply, within t, lO |ir sunliu'it reflected from their • •■ * <- band of snow. Another half-mile saw n * 111 Wilberforce Valley-old countO » three of Carrington has de«nw« the Browning'u Pass r°"* e ™ O V brief ous occasion >n Tub Press, so description must suffice. ; 0 j we were at the head of the 1400 feet or

which now forms tho only practical route pyer the Pass. The lilies on this slope were magnificent—a white and green cloud falling away siesplv beneath us as we rose. In the isolated valley of the Cronin, which is .seldom entered by deer, virtually never by man, they were also very large and numerous. it may be ol use to future travellers over Browning's l'ass to know that the old zig-zag can be followed with but few breaks right on to the top. We were forced by snow to ascend tho rocks on tho right, at the head of the scree siope. Here we lound the old track still cut there up ti. tlie gelignite hut on tho top. The track rounit tho precipices above Hall ere:-!; is quite impracticable on account <it many years' snow. The hut below the Pass, which stood for many years as a relic of the days when miners came there tor gold, has also been carlied away by an avalanche. lue 11IX) tcet of scree almost equalled tho a-cent to White Horsy Pass for still grind. At the top we were rewarded by a sight unusual at that time • > vear. Luke Drowning lay on the i immediately below us, half-cov-ered in snow and ice to a depth of I rom six to ten feet. The lake, which is thirty-eight acres in area, lies at a height of loll) feet right on the saddle which forms the Pass. The thick covering of snow on the heights above, and even down to the lake itself. was worth a long journey to soo. Westward beneath the Twin Peaks, Ktnily an:l Augusta, lay tho long depression of the Hall Valley leading up to a snowy col. were tho slopes ot Mt. Ilarman, toward which we set out after lunch. Clouds on the summit prevented progress very far. We obtained a view of Pope's Pass at the head of the Wilberforce, which branches away north-east, from our position on Mt. tiaruian tho whole mountain seemed in the process of slipping away into the stream below, titeep slopes, almost precipices ot scree, dropped abruptly from the snow. Mt. Hanuan, which looks wild and untouched by man, was once the scene of mining operations. Wilson's Howard Uccf, j;si"o feet above sea-level, was discovered in 18*-'. In 18S5 a company was formed and a 1000 feet tunnel driven in toward tho gold quartz. Soon alter the company fulfilled the destiny ot most guld-miiiing companies and went into liquidation. A new lease of lite iu l!)0l proved of short duration. Tho, authentic witnesses . to this past history lie scattered by the Browning's Pass track, picks and shovels innumerable. still recognisable beneath their rusty disfigurement. Spongy plugs of what was once gelignite bear tliera company iu the old lint on tho Pass. A series of glissades from tho slopes of Mt. Hannan down to tho lake, and some short voyages on drifting ice floes on Lake Browning accounted for the rest of the afternoon. Tho novelty of sailing on ico floes in the middle of a New Zealand summer held us fascinated for a good half-hour. But for the wnrmth, wo might have imagined ourselves in tho Antarctic. Not long after wo were again on the West Coast following the track from tho Pass down tho Arahurn Valley to tho Pyramids Hut, whero wo spent the night. Here again wo heard repeated cries of kee-ali and saw numbers of the beautiful kea parrots. . From the Pyramids onwards all is plain sailing—a track all tho way over the Styx saddle and down tho Styx Valley to Kokatahi and Koeterangi, where we spent a few days before going on to Lake Ivanieri. It is interesting to learn that at one time when Browning's Pass was a regular cattle route to tho Coast a waggon road was projected up the Styx Valley and came to nothinc. Tho old track is now very rough, hilt none the less beautiful. Each hundred feet we dropped, the mountain flora gave way more anfl more to the luxuriant West Coast bush, with its "winding mossy ways. We had been five days travelling from Arthur's Pass bv a route, ns far as wc know, untried before through a magnificent variety of scenery, mountain, and glacier, and bush, and lake.