FEWER ASCENTS OF MT. COOK

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27500, 6 November 1954, Page 10

FEWER ASCENTS OF MT. COOK

FOUR PARTIES REACH SUMMIT

ACTIVITY DUtfING LAST SEASON “The Press" Special Service WELLINGTON, November 5. “It was a trifle lonelier on the summit of Mt Cook (12349 ft during toe past climbing season,” says toe New Alpine Journal.' “Only four parties reached the top. Last year there was a record number cerits.” x The first ascent this year was not made until January 26 when B. ». Gillies and guide Hany Ayr« wcended by way of the Zurbriggen Ridge to toe High Peak. For Ayres tow was his- twelfth ascent of' Mt. Cook, and his total is now exceeded only by Peter Graham with 13. Ayres has now elimbed every major ridge on Mt. Cook and to date he is toe only person to have, done this. On January 29. A. L. Brown, A. K. Fairmaid, T. Nuttall, and G. E. Hassell passed over the summit in the course of. a grand traverse from Haast Hut to toe new Canterbury Mountaineering Club Empress Hut on the upper Hooker Glacier. Two Invercargill climbers, L. Warburton and L. Kitson, with Guide Murray Cassidy, made an ascent of toe High Peak via the Linda Glacier on February 12. The season’s activity concluded on February 16 with another grand traverse, this time in the opposite direction. The climbers were two young Australians, M. A. Cutclifte and Miss Mt Tasman (11.475 ft In contrast to Mt. Cook, had a record season with 11 ascents, over a variety of routes. On December 31, 1953, W. G. Croll. P. Sheehan, W. Romanes, and T. McCann, ascended by way of Syme Ridge and descended via Silberhorn. On January 4, 1954, J. N. Hamilton and T. Sidler, having climbed from the new Pioneer Hut via Marcel Col and Lendefeld Peak (10,503 ft descended via Silberhorn to Haast Hut. These two climbs repeated traverses which had not been made since they were first accomplished in 1937. >