NEW MOUNTAIN HUT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 71, 25 March 1931, Page 3

NEW MOUNTAIN HUT

TASMAN GLACIER TRAGEDY

Advice has been received from th# Hermitage that the new liut at de la Beche Corner on the Tasman Glacier was sufficiently far advanced for the builder to live in it within four weeks of the day the materials left Timaru, states the "Chris .church Press." This is record time for the erection of a mountain hut. Materials weighing about three tons reached the end of the road near the Ball Hutt on 17tn February, and a team of four packers (under Kenneth Grinlhig, a former Hermitage guide) transported the whole lot in under a month to the site of the new hut, seven miles up the Glacier, at an altitude of 4750 feet. None of the men was used to glacier work, and all found the carrying of 50 'to 60-pound loads somewhat difficult at first. The hut is being built by Jack Pope, also an ex-Hermitage guide, and should ke finished by the end of this week. If; is expected that an official opening will take place at Easter, when the memorial tablet will be unveiled. A suggestion has been made that the opening should be attended by the three pioneer climbers who first established a bivouac oa the site of the new hut over forty, years ago; these are Messrs. G. E. Mannering, P. ll.' Johnson, and James Annan. The actual date was 4th Aprilj 1889,. and in Mr. Mannering's book, "With Axe and Rope in the New Zealand Alps," the place is described as "a snug hollow between the lateral moraines of the Tasman and Rudolf Glaciers." The cost of the hut itself will ba about £325, which is a few pounds less, than the amount subscribed by sympathisers and friends of the unfortunate party it commemorates. It is expected that after furnishing the hut and paying all expenses, there will be a defici* ency of £25. This amount would have been much larger but'for the fact that all the equipment, except the blankets^ has been supplied through the generosity of Messrs. Armstrongs, Ballantynes^ Beaths, D.1.C., Mason, Struthers, and Co., ana A. J. White. The liut will be a valuable refuge 'for parties crossing the divide over Graham's Saddle, and will also serve aa a base for climbing some sixteen peaks. In winter it will be an ideal place for skiing parties. It is the property of, tfie New Zealand Alpine Club, and will be under the control of- that body.