IN WINTER GARB.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19623, 20 May 1929, Page 8

IN WINTER GARB.

ALPS ELICIT ADMIRATION. EXCURSION TO OTIRA. Could Longfellow have been with the trampers through the Otira Gorge yesterday he wouio. have founu great inspiration for his onomatopoeic muse in the treble of tne limpia nlis, tne turbulence of the toners, tne hougu of tne oreeze tnrougu me mountain tusoocus and iragraut bu a n ana tne song of tne f«nt-ns ana tomtits, wnicn ceased tlieir pursuit of mosquitoes and otner insects to nit trom uranch to branch at the excursionists' approacn. lc was a day in a thoUiauu. ihe chaste snow ot the Bea.ey Glacier glistened so white in tne pertect sunsume that it would have seemed like sacrilege for any human being to have trespassed on its iiawless he.d, and the air was so still on the heights that the cooees of a lone climber who stood on a crag thousands of feet up and greeted the hoiidaymakers might have come from a hundred feet away. Nearing the hills passengers by the train admired the beauties of a hoar frost, and the wonderful spectacle of vapour, raised from it by the rays of the sun, drifting down the valleys. The mercury was pretty low, and water pipes at Springfield froze during the night. The Otira Gorge, however, was bathed in glorious sunshine, which caused the icicles hanging on the bushes near Arthur's Pass to glint and the snow with which the road was flecked to glisten. About 50 per cent, of the 130 excursionists undertook the tramp over, and most of them were amazed by the havoc wrought by the earthquake of a few weeks ago. Especially near the divide, the road has been furrowed by deep fissures which made it evident at many points that the recurrence of such a visitation would see it disappear into the bed of the river at many points. Gigantic boulders strew the road, and many months must elapse before it will again be passable to wheeled traffic.

Apparently the undertaking is being tackled from the Otira end, and a great deal of blasting and jacking lies ahead of the workmen. In their fall the great rocks have made big holes in the roadine and a length of stone wall which has been subjected to a barrage from the hillsides has been gashed anri chinped. At one or two places the trampers had to negotiate narrow tracks over the slips, but there was no great danger. It would have taken more than this to have dimmed their delight at traversing the gorge under such perfect conditions or surveying the snowfields on such a cloudless day. Mr P. A. Taylor, of the Railway Department, accompanied the excursion, and pointed out the beauty spots.