Tepee in the mountains

Press, 11 January 1978, Page 13

Tepee in the mountains

By

JOHN WILSON

There is nothing unusual about people sleeping out under canvas in New Zealand at this time of year. Any number of families will have spent, or are spending, their summer holidays camping. But few family tents are a match for the tent in which aspiring climbers who have signed up with Alpine Guides Mount Cook, Ltd, for a course of basic instruction in mountaineering, are using. In the Twins Valley, which drains from the Ben Ohau Range into the 1 asman Valley, down the road from the Mount Cook National Park, stands a faithful copy, in full-Hze, of a Red Indian tepee. Those responsible for erecting it found the plans in an American Whole Earth Catalogue. They learned not only how to erect the structure, but also the “spiritual” significance of its various c mponents and alignThe tepee was constructed by forming an inverted cone out of long poles, lashed together at 11 = apex. The tallest of these poles is 40 ft.

“Tepee flat” is 20 minutes walk from the end of landrover access up the valley, and the dozen or so poles had to be manhandled into the camp site. The cone of the tepee is tilted slightly, giving it a floor section which is roughly oval and giving the canvas at the back of the tent a steeper pitch than the canvas at the front. It is 22ft from floor to apex and roughly 22ft across (but the longest seam which had to be sewn to make the canvas covering was 46ft). The tepee sleeps 12 comfortably. Cooking is done outside the tepee, except in bad weather when the smoke flaps at the apex are adjusted according to the direction Of the wind to draw out the smoke. The Twins Creek basin was “discovered” by members of the staff of Alpine Guides one winter while thev were "helicopter skiing” (that is being lifted into valleys by helicopter to ski the virgin slopes). It proved a godsend to an organisation which was

having some difficulty running its basic instruction courses in the Mount Cook National Park, for various accommodation and administrative reasons. Alpine Guides still takes its stage 2 and 3 courses into the national park, accommodating them in igloos, snowcaves, and camps, as the huts in the national park are generally crowded during the climbing season. But in the Twins Creek, one hour’s walk above Tepee Flat, is a cirque which supports minor glaciers and some fine cliffs. They are ideal for giving beginners their first taste of mountaineering. In later years there may be a hut at the head of the Twins Creek making any tent in the valley unnecessary. But it seems likely that the name Tepee Flat will stick — a reminder of the days when trainees were accommodated in a form of tent which originated on the other side of the world, but which has proved admirable for New Zealand mountain conditions.