First Ascent By Woman Claimed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31262, 7 January 1967, Page 1

First Ascent By Woman Claimed

Two Christchurch climbers claim to be the first women to climb Mitre Peak, which rises to a height of 5560 ft above Milford Sound. They are Mrs J. Clark and Miss A. Forbes.

“It would be quite a climb, as Mitre Peak involves a fairly long ascent that is often underestimated,” said Mr J. E. Ede, a Christchurch mountaineer with extensive knowledge of the Milford area, yesterday. Asked whether the claim was correct, he said he thought it unlikely that women had climbed the peak before. He knew two men and a woman had attempted the ci mb some years ago, but were not successful. The two women say they made the ascent on December 31, and that Mr J. Clark,. Mrs Clark's husband, and Mr F.

Dennis, using another rope, made the ascent on the same day. Miss Forbes mentioned the climb in a letter to her parents in Christchurch. The climbers are still away on holiday. Mr and Mrs Clark, members of the New Zealand Alpine Club, have climbed extensively in Europe. Another man who yesterday said he first climbed the peak in 1914, Mr E. R. Williams, described it as not a particularly difficult climb, but one that involved some exposed areas. To climb up and back, from sea level, in one day was a good effort, he said.