U.S. Mountain Club On Tour

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31568, 4 January 1968, Page 10

U.S. Mountain Club On Tour

The best way to ensure the preservation of New Zealand’s wilderness areas was for the public to become con-servation-minded and active in conservation matters before pressure from commercial interests became too strong, said the leader of a group from the Colorado Mountain Club (Mr D. Johnson) in Christchurch yesterday. He said his club had a membership of 2500, and was one of a number of such organisations which combined to fight commercial enterprises in these areas. Mr Johnson, who comes from Boulder, Colorado, is accompanied by his wife and 12-year-old son. Most of the 28 members of his group are from the same city or from nearby. One is from Ottawa, Canada.

The ages of those taking part in the four-week tour of New Zealand’s mountain resorts range from 27 to 65. There are 17 women mem-

bers from the club. They arrived in Auckland on December 28, and left for Arthur’s Pass yesterday. They also plan to visit the Franz Josef Glacier, Alexandra, and Mount Cook, and walk the Milford track. Mr Johnson said that from time to time efforts were made by commercial organisations to reduce the few wilderness areas remaining in Colorado by putting through short-cut highways and building dams and commercial sites.

“This is a difficult thing to fight because commercial groups are working 24 hours a day in their own interests, and we can devote only a small part of our time to resist them because of our other duties. Some state representatives are very sympathetic, and we keep the pressure on by writing to senators and congressmen.” Mf Johnson said most members of the party were hikers

and “would-be mountaineers." He was a keen climber-nim-self and hoped to be able to find a climbing companion at Mount Cook. He said New Zealand was roughly the same in area as the State of Colorado, and was about the same latitude south as Colorado was north, but there the similarity ended. Although Colorado had 54 peaks of 14,000 ft and over, most could be walked up on one side at least fairly easily, even If they were as straight

as the wall of a house on another.

The timber line was about 11,500 feet, and the few glaciers were very small. There was an abundance of wildlife in the high mountain valleys. The photograph shows,

from left, Miss Dorothy Peck, from Ottawa, Miss Agnes Scheetz, from Denver, Mrs Johnson, Brad Johnson, and Mr Johnson.