SNOWFIELDS OF THE ALPS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21908, 8 October 1936, Page 12

SNOWFIELDS OF THE ALPS

Touring on Skis Advocated

HIGH PRAISE FOR TASMAN

GLACIER REGION

That New Zealanders do not make the use they should of then best snowfields, with the opportunities they offer of touring and climbing on skis, is the opinion of Mr Colin Wyatt, one of the most eminent of English ski-runners, who returned yesterday from three weeks of ski climbing at the head o! the Tasman glacier in the Mount Coo region. Mr Wyatt is so enthusiastic about the ski-ing attractions of this region and the adjacent parts of the Southern Alps, that he intends to return to New Zealand for a further ski-ing holiday next winter if he can possibly manage it. He has been visiting New Zealand as a c .legate from tne ski clubs of Great Brita*i to tne New Zealand Sui Council. Mr Wyatt succeeded in combing more hign peaus on sxis and doing SSe extensive touring on skis tnau has yet been achieved at one umeoy a single visitor to the region. The peakf he climbed includedi Elie de liumont (10,20Bft) W**?*. Annan (9667 ft), Hamilton (9915 ft), the Minarets (10,058 ft) by way ol the Graham saddle, and the Hocn stetter Dome (9258 ft), from which he was able to run a schiss of two and a half miles. He went fromi Matte Brun to Waiho in one day, and from the Chancellor hut over the Pioneer pass to the Hermitage in one day.

Many Magnificent Trips “The whole region comprising the great snow basins at the head of the Tasman, Franz Josef and Fox glaciers is one of the finest ski-ing areas I have seen for a very long time,’' said Mr Wyatt. “For spring ski-ing this area is the best m New Zealand, because there are slopes facing all angles so that good snow can be found as the sun„ changes position, • and because of the wide variety of trips possible. “I found the snow conditions in the Mount Cook region much better than at Ruapehu,” he added. I was unfortunate in meeting bad weather all the time I was at Ruapehu. “Many magnificent trips can be made at the head of the Tasman glacier, for which the Malte Brun hut is an excellent base. These trips are not ski mountaineering at all; they are' perfectly safe, and people who go up the Ball pass, as so many do would be quite capable of fioing up there. In fact in many ways they would find the ski-ing there more suited to their abilities. As it is lots of people have not dared to go up to the head of the Tasman because they have thought it was beyond them. Not High Mountaineering “Too many ‘New Zealanders who go to the Mount Cook- region, the idea that ski-ing up the Tasman glacier beyond the Ball glacier is high mountaineering, and dangerous. It is nothing of the sort. There are half a dozen good trips that anyone who has any idea of ski-ing can do safely.” For the ski-runner the Tasman glacier at present had an advantage over the Franz Josef because of the easier access to its ski-ing grounds. Short of running a funicular, access to the Franz Josef and Fox snowfields could not be improved. A funicular could be run with the greatest of ease from Waiho to a point west of Mildred peak, being an excel 1 ent run within reach. Mr Wyatt could not say how a funicular could best be used to give better access to ski-ing grounds on the Mount Cook side, because he had not seen the country at the head of the Mueller, which was mentioned as the most suitable for this purpose. More ski-ing huts, or huts placed so as to be of most advantage to skiers rather than climbers, would be of very great use in opening up the region for ski touring. One was reeded on the Murchison side of the Tasman saddle. The material existed in what remained of the old Malte Brun hut, which con'd be transported over the saddle to the slopes giving on to the Murchison. On the Franz Josef side it would be a help to have a hut, like the Pioneer hut. on the Mackay rocks.

Seeing the Country on Skis

New Zealand ski-runners at present were enthusiastic rather than skilled, said Mr Wyatt, when asked for his opinion of the standard of New Zealand ski-ing. Both enthusiasm and skill were needed, but enthusiasm was important; skill could come later. There was no doubt that a higher .degree of skill would come very shortly. “Many New Zealanders are getting the bad habit of concentrating entirely on doing turns on shirtfront practice slopes,” he said. “They are not using their skis as a means to an end, as a means to touring and seeing the country on them. The standard would improve more rapidly if they put their turns into practice on a tour where they aro required. “There is danger of coming to regard ability to ski—to turn well and so on—on practice slopes as the end of ski-ing. It is only the means to an end. You practise turns in order to be able to go on a tour and use your skis on every kind of slops and every kind of snow.” Mr Wyatt emphasised that he was not denying the importance of good