Mountains remain a lure

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33706, 2 December 1974, Page 20

Mountains remain a lure

(From Our Own Reporter) TIMARU. Although they are past middle-age. mountaineering is in the blood of a North Auckland couple, Mr and Mrs .1. Stewart, of Whangamata. ■ Mr Stewart, aged 66 and , his “rope companion.” Helen, I who is not much younger, 'have completed a trip to the iback of the Godley Glacier 'and into the head of the [Hooker Valley, to the Em- [ press Hut, at an altitude of [B3ooft on the west buttress:

[of Mount Cook, between the i Empress and Sheila glaciers. ' “Now they are going into the Tasman saddle (8021 ft according to the managing- ! director of Alpine Guides, Mount Cook, Ltd (Mr G. T. ■M. Wills). He said that Mr Stewart started climbing in the 1930 s and had made many exploratory ascents. His - wife had also made some notable climbs. It was the first time the couple had been to Mount Cook National Park for several years, said Mr Wills, and they intended remaining, in the region for a fortnight. TALE FOR GUESTS An “epoch making'', climb had been an ascent of Mount Sefton (10,359 ft by | the manager of the Hermi-i tage (Mr N. Harper). It was the first time in 90, years that a manager of thei hotel had climbed Mount! Sefton. A rudimentary’ cob hotel, for visitors to Mount Cook' was established in 1884 bv 1 Mr F. S. C. Huddleston at I White Horse Hill, in the[ shelter of the old terminal [ moraine of the Mueller' Glacier. It was the first of threehotels Mt Cook National: Park has known, all called [ the Hermitage and, as far asj was known, no previous!

.manager of the Hermita,. had climbed the peak [Mr Wills. ’ [climb on November 24 w , tl> , Mr Harper made , h » I climb on November ->4 u ~k ! Messrs R. WLnte Zdenti? of Nelson; J. Braithwaite’ managing-director of [ M Oil. also of Nelson- MWills. who left the part\' and two guides. B. Carter and p Scaife. They climbed from th# i western side and spent a [night camped in a crev a « on Welcome Pass, on the [western side of the divide, before into the Copland Valley.

MOUNT COOK CLIMBED , The first climb of M Oant [ Cook for the season was don* two days earlier bv a emd* B. Sprecher, with M r g i Elder, of Greymouth On the same day. B Hear[field, of Christchurch a 'director of Alpine Guides : and Mr D Cowie c ii mbe ‘ d I Zurbnggen Ridge to the hi»h peak. * [ The west ridge of M oun t [Cook, a long and strenuous [trip, was climbed later f- om the Gardiner Hut bv Mr Sprecher with an American client, Mr K. Apgar Climbing conditions were good at high altitudes but there was soft snow at lower levels, said Mr Wills.