NGAURUHOE.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 830, 17 March 1909, Page 4

NGAURUHOE.

SHOWERS OF DI'ST ANO OF ; STONES. I i AX ASCENT DESCRIBED. \ The toMoviii" is a graphic description oi an asronl ol Ngaurnhoe to the brink ol' the volcano by an ; Auckland Herald representative who I aicompaiiiod an exploring party:- ! -The great slopes ol NgauruJiot' ( support no vegetable life, and the pro- ; vailiny characteristics are boulders • and broken rocks, and long slopes ol : .-.rri-y sind black sand, with here and there lava ridges. These slopes are stoop. It was only possible to dlnnb at all by using alpenstocks as support tor every step, and at that high altitude a halt lor breath was necessary every lew yards. It was a long, weary climb. •••At about the (JOOOft level a heavy Uv came up from Tonga riro. the vast area ol' which had been in I airly clear view down below, but a lew minutes before thus mist drove across Xgauruhoe's slopes to such effect that we were wet through in a very .-hort time. But still the sll'ow dogged progress was continued. The last lew hundred feet were climbed in very short laps, with long breathing tnnevi in between, and when a lifting ot the mist Tor a lew moments showed the exact *pot there was a final struggle up this lava ridge, and the climbers wore just at the back of the crater ed< r i. The persistent fog had closed i 11^1 "a m. and all that was visible was jusAhat sudden end of the slope on which the party stood. At ilength ill,, log thinned' out a little, and the explorers got a peep for a moment or two as through a chiffon veil into the In-art of the crater. •Steam holes wore shooting up wicked-looking columns with great rapidity. One vent was throwing up ' mwiii, '.-ind Hiei) showers of dust and stones, above tin- roaring of the stejiui. fruin the vents, which seemed coi.iiitU-.-i. There was a harsh -grinding sound Irom the (centre of activity. I'roin tliis vent there issued a rush of steam something like that from the great blowhole <>» White Island. Then came ;t shower of sand. Krr ili.-it s;uid had tiini' to fall back there was a bigger rush, and then a bigger still, and stones were Hying up, and lost to view in the dense masses of strait: coni iniia'lly billowing up. The crater i- a quarter of a mile across, bur it was impossible in the fog and steam to see more than even half jf ii. Kor just a brief second the lip ul the crater in what was taken to be the west side loomed dimly, through the fog, and it seemed as if some change had taken place there. Portion of tlie wall seemed to he missing, lvii whether it had actually been blown out, or whether that portion was si. ill there, and concealed by one of the billows of steam, it was impossible to .say. JSo lava' streams could be seen, but there was plenty of scoria about, and a piece of flint, which seemed to have been only just deposited on Ihe edge of the crater, was' brought away as a souvenir. ■No one ever wished for anything more than that exporing porty wished for a clearing of the fog. if only lor 10 minutes. The thick veil was down again, and it refused to lift, and drove against our faces, and our clothing dripped with moisture. Suddenly there was a terrifying convulsion somewhere in the crater. A crash that sounded like the explosion ol a battery of big guns was succeeded by a loud screaming of escaping .-.team, and there came another loud boom, and dust fell on our faces; but what, had happened could oiiHy "be guessed. We were 7515 ft above sea level, the air was charged with sulphur, and the. danger of descent through the fog had yet to Jbe faced. '•.Inch by inch, and testing every foothold with the alpenstocks, we staited down the steep face. At last we came on a soft sand and rubble face, and here progress was rapid, rather too rapid sometimes, but the niist eventually thinned below, and it was only a case of making for a known point. A drive back to Waiotiru through a violent thunderstorm and pouring rain was nob at all a pleasant ending to the journey, and while there is a (lot of satisfaction about climbing a volcano, there is also a lot of misery when the weather conditions are perverse. At any rate, it was lucky that wo were off the mountain before the afternoon had set in, for then the volcano and all mei ne surroundings were enveloped in dense fog. and rain fell continually Irom 3 o'clock until late at night. •'.Judging from observations extending over three days cflose beside the mountain, the activity on the <rater. while still continuing on a greater scale than normally, seems to be gradually decreasing, and the volcano appears to be resuming something like it ordinary state."