CONQUERING COOK

Evening Star, Issue 22233, 10 January 1936, Page 11

CONQUERING COOK

DIFFICULT MOUNTAIN ASCENT DUNEDIN ALPINISTS’ SUCCESS That glorious sense of achievement when the goal is attained after hours of constant toil evading Nature’s cun-ningly-set traps is the alpinist’s crowning moment. Such a feeling has to be experienced to be appreciated, and there are evidently many in Dunedin who relish this exhilarating feeling to the full judging from the record contingent of Otago members of the New Zealand Alpine Club who indulged in the sport at Mount Cook under the best conditions in years over the Christmas vacation.' NATURE SPREADS HER CANVAS. Not a few of the visiting alpinists to this snow-bound hinterland of the Dominion successfully scaled its roof —the summit of Cook itself; one Dunedin party essayed the climb and was forced back by howling winds vuon 12,000 ft had been negotiated, but another, comprising Messrs J. H. Gilkison, S. D. Divers, and G. M. Edwards, were favoured with perfect weather and rewarded for their achievement by a view from the highest point of the country that defies description. hey basked in the sheltered heat of a broiling summer’s sun, and surveyed in one sweeping view various South Island scenic glories that people travel hundreds of miles to see singly. To the south rose Mount Aspiring and Mount Earnslaw, the latter dwarfed in comparison, and both wearing their heavy whit© coats. Lakes that appeared pellucid pools were Ohau, Te kapo, and l Pukaki. Then, in another direction stretched the outline of the West Coast, but the East Coast could only be glimpsed through thin wisps of a thick belt of fog. The trio admired the panorama for an hour on the summit. THROUGH SNOWY WASTES. The alpinists departed from the Haast hut at 1.45 a.m. last Friday to conquer Cook, their route leading them through the Linda Glacier. Thick fog was'met until about the 9,000 ft mark, but once above it the air was clear and bracing. Ear below, the climbers could only see the thick blanket with the peaks rearing up proudly aloof. A previous party had blazed the trail with ice axes through two breaks of the crevasse system in the glacier, and their action served to save the alpinists’. time. It was in this region that the music of the mountains was heard, several small avalanches from the ice cap thundering their uncontrolled way down slippery slopes and reverberating eerily in the sparkling atmosphere. The party was fortunately well out of range, hut took the precaution of making baste over the more dangerous places. Snow and ice were left behind once the summit rocks were reached. These rocks were found to be in perfect condition, and some of the most enjoyable rock climbing obtainable in New Zealand was found here. The ice cap was admirably suited for the use of crampons, a ill progress was accelerated to the summit, which was reached at 10 a.m. A FAST DESCENT. Stifling heat was tivo predominating feature of an uneventful descent, and the Linda Glacier, particularly, resembled an inferno. Over the level portion of the Grand Plateau the three men trekked before tackling the exasperating climb again of I,oooft that brought them over Glacier Dome to the Haast ridge, and also to journey’s end, the hut, which was regained at 6 p.naan absence of 164 hours. That experience would be a-necessary ally in this formidable climb can bo gleaned from five ascents of other peaks by other Dunedin climbers, who ascended Hardinger, Malt Brun, Elio de Beaumont (all over 10,000 ft), the Green Minarets, ami Darwin while in the Hermitage district.