DIFFICULT CLIMB ACHIEVED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22317, 3 February 1938, Page 16

DIFFICULT CLIMB ACHIEVED

TRAVERSE OF MOUNT SEFTON SUCCESS OF WOMAN t ALPINIST [THE PRESS Special Service.] THE HERMITAGE, February 1. The very difficult and seldom-used eastern route to Mount Sefton from the Hermitage was selected last week for a successful traverse of the mountain by Miss M. Edgar Jones, of Timaru, with Guides J. Cox and S. Brookes, their second outstanding climb of the season. The week before the same party made a second ascent (the last was more than 20 years ago) and first traverse of Mount Dampier, and a traverse on the same trip of St. David’s Dome. Rising sheer to 10,359 feet above the Mueller Valley near the Hermitage, , Mount Sefton has been a source of admiration to thousands of tourists and a problem to climbers. Since Mr i Fitzgerald, with his Swiss guide, Zurbriggen. forestalled in their plans to make the first ascent of Mount Cook, turned their attention many years ago , to Mount Sefton with success, several ' attempts have been made, but. of these only five were successful up to the end of last season, and of the five parties which reached the summit at least two turned back .to descend by the same route. Last year the climb was achieved for the fifth time by a Timaru party, which also traversed to the West Coast after spending a night out. Miss Jones’s expedition was the sixth to end successfully. Harder Route Chosen From the west Sefton is comparatively simple, but from the east climbers are forced into the broken ice of either the Huddleston or Tuckett glaciers. The first of these has been selected as the route of approach by five of the six parties, but. although it is less menaced by hanging ice, it lies steeply op the face of the mountain, necessitates a long traverse beneath the ridge to the Footstool and 'continuous danger from falling stones, or, if the stones are to be avoided, means difficult ice-climbing through heavily crevassed areas. With almost 2000 feet of exacting rock work above the glacier, time becomes an important factor in the climb. Knowing this, Miss Jones and her two guides were equipped for a possible high camp on the western slopes. Although a track had been made from the Sefton bivouac below the Footstool on Wednesday, the main effort on Thursday was considerably delayed by soft snow and unanticipated breaks in the glacier on the way to Tuckett Col. The col was not reached until 9.30 a.m. after the start from the bivouac had been delayed until 3.30 a.m. by mist. Sent Astray by Fog . Prom the col the climbers faced a narrow, steep, slightly twisting ridge loose rock towering almost directly above them to the summit. The faces on either side gave no chance of turning the steeper pitches, so, keeping to the crest for six hours of unrelieved climbing, the party first made a delicate traverse of exceptionally loose rock, found slightly easier going where the angle eased slightly, and found the climax of their ascent in 200 feet of perpendicular but safe and firm rock below the summit. Soon after 3.30 p.m. they descended into the Westland mists, but found it quite impossible to see far enough to find a way through the neve of the Douglas Glacier. So they were diverted unwittingly to dangerous ground above the Prism Glacier and the Copland Valley, and here decided, at 7 p.m., to make camp and hope for better -visibility on the Friday morning. They- described their night in their rock bivouac at about 8000 feet as more or less comfortable. Next morning they made fast time on crampons l?ack to the Douglas Glacier. From here the usual western route was easily followed to a saddle near Scott’s Peak, across the Takano Glacier to the usual bivouac site, and thence down grass and bush slopes to Scott’s creek, the Copland Valley, and back upstream to Douglas Rock hut. On Saturday they crossed Copland Pass to' the Hooker Valley and returned to the Hermitage. The opinion that the summit ridge erf Sefton was more difficult and longer than any of the recognised rock climbs in the Southern Alps was expressed by Guide Cox.