Mountaineering

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33189, 31 March 1973, Page 10

Mountaineering

The latest volume (No. 41) of The Canterbury Mountaineering Club’s journal. “The Canterbury Mountaineer,” is a record of very considerable achievement. Ascents of the Balfour Face of Mt Tasman and the South Face of Elie de Beaumont leave no major faces unclimbed at Mt Cook National Park. Four parties conquered the Caroline Face of Mt Cook, and a new first was established there when Max Dorfliger, a Swiss who has previously climbed the Eiger by the most difficult route, made a solo’ climb. Winter climbing has become increasingly popular in the last couple of years, and here too some good climbs were made, including a Grand Traverse of Cook, a traverse of Mts Hicks and Dampier, and ascents of the South Ridge of Mt Cook and the South Face of Mt Douglas. Good climbs were also achieved in the Darrans. As it is a record of considerable achievement, so “The Canterbury Mountaineer” is olso one of considerable losses. Obituaries recall the deaths of four prominent club members, two in the mountains, and other injuries and fatalities are recorded in the small print. Given the sharp rise in the amount of climbing being done by relatively inexperienced climbers, a significant increase in the rate of deaths, injuries and rescues seems inevitable. As usual, the articles included in “The Canterbury Mountaineer” vary in quality. Among the year’s best are B. Jenkinson’s “Peru—no mas!”, Peter Gough’s “On the Unicorn of a Dilemma,” and M. Browne’s account of the “First Winter Ascent of Mt Evans.” Decidedly the most individual is Graeme Dingle’s impressionistic “Cook —the South Ridge in Winter,” which makes a pleasant change from the more directly informative accounts. The photographs maintain the high standards customary amongst mountaineers, though the most powerful is the technically inferior shot (blown up from a slide) of Max Dorfliger alone on the Caroline.