JAPANESE SUCCESS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30634, 28 December 1964, Page 3

JAPANESE SUCCESS

Two Climb Ml Cook (N.Z. Press Association) TIMARU. Dec. 27. The first Japanese climbers ever to reach the summit of Mt Cook did so by the Linda Glacier route yesterday. They are Yuji Ito and Keisuke Kajino, two members of a four-man party from the Federation of All-Japan Mountaineering Unions, which is at present in the Southern Alps. Two other parties representing Japanese alpine clubs have visited Mt. Cook recently but were prevented by the weather from attempting an assault on the summit.

In addition to the two Japanese. eight other climbers reached the peak of the 12.349 ft giant on Boxing Day.

Two Invercargill mountaineers, D. Henderson and R. Miller, followed the Japanese climbers up the Linda route, which, because of the avalanche risk, is the most dangerous approach to the summit.

The Zurbriggan route, which involves a fair proportion of rock climbing, was taken by two Australians, D. Hatt and P. Judge, on their climb to the summit. Four Dunedin climbers also reached the summit of Mt. Cook by the Zurbriggan route. They were G. Hasler, G. Edwards, M. Hutchins and D. Brown, who followed Hatt and Judge up the rock faces.