IN MOUNTAIN RANGES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21256, 30 August 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

IN MOUNTAIN RANGES

The news that two bridges of wire cable have been built by the Mountaineering Club across the Rakaia river near its glacial source is welcome to travellers in the back country who have used peculiar methods to ford rivers. Even with horses there have been casualties :in the flooded Rakaia. Those crossing on "foot" have usually let their best swimmer get over with a rope. The best swimmer has then pulled the others across one by one, like Atlantic salmon. The method has proved quite safe, but could bo relied upon to be cold for all concerned. When the main stream has been more reasonable, the Maori way of fording with a heavy log or pole has been used. In such a case the log is held under the arms of the travellers and the

(By John Pascoe)

TORRENT BRIDGES

I strongest man faces the stream and sets a diagonal course for the opposite bank. If a log is not handy to the ford, ice axes can be lashed together. Oamaru climbers recently erected a cable and "cage" across the Huxley river in the Ohau region. The only trouble with cages is that the pulleys carrying the weight of the load must be well oiled or it is diificult to ferry anyone across. The prospector's cage over the Hokitika river, Westland, has sometimes to have its pulleys greased with bacon fat before it can be swung from bank to bank. In any case the friction is so great that it is hard work for a single man to pull a companion across, especially if the "landing" is on a high bluff overlooking a deep pool in a mountain torrent.