IN THE SOUTHERN ALPS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 January 1929, Page 6

IN THE SOUTHERN ALPS

EXPERIENCES OF HAWERA CLIMBER.

Ai.lv. Li, SYME ASCENDS MT. CODIv

Mr* Rod Symo and Ids Lu o oompamons, one or wnom was Air iiert Murray, of Eitnani, naci bad iuck in in© early part ox their stay in tno fejauthern rupis wiule waiting. tor conditions iavonrab,i3 for cl'imibmg. Tney iiad good weaitiier vlben tney arriveidi at tiie narnutag.© and got tneir base camp nxea isatisfactorny. it was id miles tioini the Jtiaast ±±ut and on Cnristnias Day they had a tine trip to SUOOrt. up x\lt. Oook slopes. Three .times they nad to turn back when on the route forth© Eootstoof, dOOUft. up the mountain.

Just after New Year they crossed to the West Coast. They crossed the mps via Copeland Pass, having to tramp <5 miles from the Hermitage with xieavy pack on back, but all were very lit. - To continue their ascent they had to go to the head of the Franz. Josef Glacier and over Graham’s Saddle, about a three-day trip to the Hermitage. They were back at the Hermitage oil tile 9th, and related that on the journey back they reached the Aimer Bivouac at the extreme head of the glacier. This was very .broken,, a maze of crevasses, but they wore'lucky in finding a route throu'gli and! readied the ‘‘bivvy” at a height of 550Qtt. There tiiev obtained a wonderful view over a great niuea of mountains and glaciers right out to Bake Mapourika and the West Coast. in the morning they had reached Graham’s Saddle at 6.15, and crossed again into Canterbury. They then climbed the two peaks of the Minarets, 10,022 ft. and 10,058 ft, and De !a Beebe ,10,058 ft., and reached the Tasman Glacier for lunch. The last-named peak Ml; Syme climbed last year, but from the opposite face, and this made the trip more interesting. The trip back to the: Hermitage made the round trip 120 miles —all' with packs of 401 ba each and sometimeg more. Bad weather continued to be experienced for some days, with 12 inches of fain, Mr Syme estimates, accompanied by thunder and vivid lightning. In, many places the road was completely scoured,, while the bridges were piled with shingle and it was impossible to get through. On the 14th they left for Ball. Hutt and thence to Haast Hut, to wait for an improvement in the conditions before trying the ascent. They were held up at ith© latter hut for a number of days. Writing on January 20 from Haast Hut, 7000 ft. above sea level, Mir Syme said that they were going out the follow in," day to. kick steps across the Linda Glacier in view of the return trip, so as to enable a start to be made, before daylight. Heavy winch fox* some days made climbing impossible. He records the arrival on the 19th of Mr Samuel Turner and his son to attempt Oook. Mr Svme adcis that the .season bad been particularly bad and many climbei’s had been prevented from making the attempt on Mount Cook- He added that he feared it was snowing further up and that this would make the rocks undimable. ' Apparently the weather continued bad until Saturday last, for on Sunday tli© two climbers, Mr Syme and Mr Mace, of Wellington, were then able to achieve the object for which they set- out, and now have 'bad the satisfaction of climbing the greatest peak in the Dominion.