Warning To Employers

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29772, 15 March 1962, Page 9

Warning To Employers

( N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 14.

Auckland provincial employers have been warned ‘hat they will be breaking the law if they put staff off work on Tuesday, April 24, and work them for eight hours at ordinary rates at some other time in lieu of the day. Tire warning has come from the Auckland Provincial Employers' Association.,

now lay before us. We set base camp at a height of 12200 ft and before our tents, rising above the thick scrub, was the North Wall, 3000 ft high vertical cliffs crowned with ice. First Problem <

That was our first problem. For it was only by crossing this wall that we would come to grips with the Pyramid itself.

On the following day’ the bearers moved two tons of airdropped supplies from the dropping site, two miles away.

Our individual tents were erected facing the North Wall, each flying its occupant’s national flag. Five flags were represented—Harrer’s Austrian, Temple’s New Zealand, Huizenga’s Netherlands, and my own Australian, as well as the West New Guinea flag. All five were later to be flown from the summit of the Pyramid. On both sides of our base camp were towering, scrubcovered limestone mountains. In front was Lake Discovery, hidden from our view by a low saddle. Beyond was a high ridge behind which lay Lake Larson Behind and above this, revealed now and again through the misty clouds, lay the 4000 ft high North Wall. Off to Camp I

On February 1, with Temple as guide, Harrer and I left the base camp to establish and occupy Camp I and explore a possible route over the North Wall. Temple, while waiting for the main party to reach him, and already reconnoitred a possible site.

The carriers were carefully selected, clothed in boots, trousers, jackets and balaclavas, all newly-issued. They were to remain throughout our stay in the mountains and carry over to camp H in the Merendal, the valley beyond the North Wall. The rest of the carriers returned home to Haga. The party climbed from base camp around the shores of Lake Discovery and up the steep tussock grass slopes to Lake Larson, which at 13,700 ft, lay 1500 ft above base camp in a depression immediately below the North Wall. We continued on. below the cliffs of the North Wall,

over the 13,900 ft Lani pass, and pitched our tent at 13.860 ft. Temple and the high altitude carriers returned to base camp and Harrer and I settled ourselves in. Camp I was in a beautiful position. The high walls of the North Wall broken face from the usual steep rock by grass slopes, rose sharply above us to the south. Behind, to the east, lay Lani Col. To the north lay outriding peaks of the Carstensz Range, separated from each other by steep valleys and basins tumbling down to the high plateau. To the west, the tussock slopes dipped to enclose the blue, calm waters of the Dugundugu Lake and beyond. the shelf rose to Dani Col and disappeared toward the high enclosing rock walls of Dyak Bridge. The North Wall On February 2, fine and surprisingly clear, Harrer and I left our high camp and, set for discovery, started the climb over the North Wall. We thought the ascent, still very steep, could be negotiated by laden carriers and the grassy slopes would lead us above the lower cliffs on to a broad ledge. This proved correct, and we were able to traverse into a barren, rocky gap up which we climbed to reach NewZealand Col named in honour of the work done by the previous year’s expedition of the New Zealand Alpine Club. Passing beyond, this 14,850 ft col looked down into the fabled Merendal with its glaciers and tumbled, rocky floor.

More important, we found ourselves viewing for the first time the sheer rock walls, the jagged ridges and beautiful sncw-y crest of Carstensz Pyramid. We descended almost to the floor of the Merendal. putting up rock cairns to mark the way in this jumble of scree and then returned to Camp I. It had been a successful day We had made the first crossing of the North Wall, surprisingly easily, and we had made the first ascent of the New Zealand CoL The way was now clear for the establishment of Camp 11. On February 3. Temple arrived with news of what appeared to be cases of dysentery in base camp. So leaving Harrer and Temple, I returned. I remained for two

days, while the Merendal Camp was established and stocked with food. Walls of Rock

On February 7 we were ready for the attempt on the Pyramid. Camp 11, in the Merendal, at 14,200 ft, was placed on a shelf of broken rocks overlooking a green lake.

A thousand yards up the valley lay the grey snout of the Meren Glacier, rising in smooth folds to the Middle

Snowfield, and above us, the North Wall Snowfield. Behind rose the icesmoothed rock of the North Wall and across the valley a high rocky ridge separated the Merendal from the Gelendal—twin valleys forming the depression between the North and South Walls. The Pyramid formed the greater part of the South Wall and towered above us. It was a magnificent peak. Down the Merendal the floor dipped, falling away to the swampy Cartensz Meadow and revealing the tangled mass of peaks further to the west. The Merendal and Gelendal were almost bare of vegetation, strewn with boulders, dissected by morains left by the retreating glaciers. Twenty-five years ago, when the Dutch expedition under Dr. Colijn was in this area, the place where our tent now stood was hundreds of feet below the ice of Merendal glacier. On February 8 we made the first ascent of a beautiful snow peak, the East Carstensz Top, the second highest mountain in the area.

It was while climbing the Carstensz glacier to reach the peak that we were treated to the most fascinating view of our entire stay. Standing on the blue-green ice of the glacier we were able to look down on the steaming swamps and jungles of New Guinea s south coast, aid trace the rivers and their estuaries to where they emptied into the Arafura Sea only 60 miles away. February 10 was spent measuring the retreat of the glaciers from figures and stone cairns left by Dr. Colijn in 1936; on the next day we made an excursion on to the North Wall and climbed a minor peak. Tropical Snow The snow conditions made climbing very strenuous. The tropical snow was soft and wet. We sank waist-deep at nearly every step, and throughout the day mist and snow made visibility difficult. Every day the weather closed In at' midday, and it rained (or snowed, depending on the altitude) for the rest of the day and most of the night. Each night we would prepare for “the climb”; each morning we changed our plans. On the morning of February 13 Temple cooked breakfast at 330 am. Mist was covering the summits but at 5 a.m. we left the tent. It was still dark as we stumbled and slipped by the light of torches over the morains and through the gap in the Middle Wall—the ridge dividing the Merendal from the Gelendal. By 6 a.m. we had reached the site of the 1936 expedition’s highest camp, with its well-preserved but empty tins and other containers. Then in the first light of dawn we set off up the scree slopes to the foot of the North Wall. Roped Together Here we roped up in pairs —Harrer and I, Temple and Huizenga. each pair being tied together with 100 ft of nylon rope. Two clouds hid the summit as we scrambled up the 50degree slabs of the North Wall. Then came steep, broken rock, overlaid by newly, fallen snow before we reached the crest of the West Ridge, 2000 ft above the start of the day’s climb. Mist closed in around us and snow began to fall heavily. These conditions were to stay with us throughout the climb. The ridge led us on and up, with the north and south walls falling away vertically on either hand. At times we -were forced to traverse broken ledges on the great south face above the South Wall Hanging Glacier. At times w-e had to descend, on doubled ropes, into and across gaps in the ridge. Knife-Edged Crest ilna lly we ascended on steep, soft, very exposed snow moving along a knife„ged crest with soft continuously. Suddenly we found we need climb no higher. There

was no higher pinnacle. We had arrived.

By 7.30 p.m. we were down again, enjoying hot mugs of tea brewed on the spirit stove and quiet reminiscences of the climb.

Two days later, Harrer, Temple and I again ascended the North Wall and made the first ascents of five peaks, each over 16,000 ft, as well as the second ascent of Nyga Poeloe (16.600 ft the third highest peak in the area. All told, we had made 11 first ascents and one second ascent, of peaks over 16,000 ft. But the Pyramid was the prize—the highest peak in the Pacific climbed by a truly international team.—(Associated Newspapers Feature Service.)