Oldest surviving guide a ‘rugged individualist’

Press, 4 June 1984, Page 2

Oldest surviving guide a ‘rugged individualist’

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor New Zealand’s oldest surviving alpine guide, Mr Frank Alack, made the most of the Hermitage centenary at the week-end to open, in his own words, the “rusty old gates of memory.” Mr Alack, who is 85, was one of 136 guests invited by the Tourist Hotel Corporation to Mount Cook to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of Frank Huddleston’s first Hermitage of sod and iron in 1884. The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, and Lady Muldoon, were the guests of honour. A self-confessed “rugged individualist and loner, Mr Alack, who is remarkably fit for his age, would have preferred marking the occasion by scaling one of the peaks near the Hermitage, Mount Sebastapol, for instance. “Human company is to me more of a luxury than a necessity,” he said. Indeed, be shunned the comfort of a complimentary room in the Hermitage for the seclusion, of a modest annex at the rear. On Saturday evening he had to be coaxed by hotel staff to attend the official banquet. Once there, however, memories flooded back. Mr Alack, who is Austrian-born,

became a guide at Mount Cook in 1925. Life was tough then, he recalled. “We had no electricity. Candies were used for lighting and hot water came from an old ship’s boiler which we had to keep stoked. We milked a cow for

milk, made our own butter, and killed our own meat.” The guides at first lived in an annex behind the Hermitage, but they soon became tired of being “kicked out” whenever the Hermitage was over-booked. “When that happened we slept wherever we could — under a tree or in the stables,” he said. “We got fed up of that so we took over an old unlined and unheated iron hut. In winter we could often lick the icicles hanging from the roof without lifting our heads from our pillows. “Now everything is far too posh; I just cannot dovetail in with all this comfort and luxury,” Mr Alack said. Other guests at the celebrations were given the chance to experience some of the lesser comforts of earlier times when, on Saturday, they were carried either by stage coach or vintage cars to a barbecue on the site of the first Hermitage at the base of White Horse Hill. Later, Sir Robert Muldoon and Lady Muldoon were flown in a ski-plane for a landing on the Tasman Glacier at Climbers’ Corner, about 6000 ft above sea level. They were accompanied by the Minister of Tourism, Mr Talbot, the general manager of the T.H.C., Mr Michael Hoy, and

the chief executive of the Mount Cook Group, Mr Philip Phillips. The official party spent about 15 minutes admiring the view in perfect weather. Sir Robert vetoed a suggestion by Lady Muldoon that they should ski down the glacier. Moments later they boarded a waiting Mount Cook Line helicopter for a scenic flight round Mount Cook before returning direct to the Hermitage lawn. In his address to guests at the centennial banquet on Saturday evening, Sir Robert described the skiplane flights as “the best aeroplane ride in the world.” He praised the foresight and dedication of the late Sir Henry Wigley who pioneered the ski-plane landings in 1955, and was presented by Mr Hoy with a miniature of the first skiequipped aircraft. Lady Wigley was among the guests. Sir Robert . also paid tribute to the work done by others in developing the Hermitage and its associated tourist attractions. Also present were two former managers of the Hermitage, Mr Laurie Dennis and Mr Tony Young, who were also former general managers of the Tourist Hotel Corporation.