CLIMBING MT. COOK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 February 1929, Page 9

CLIMBING MT. COOK.

Mil. ii-OD SYMEo ASCENT. vo-wi'l'fUNS SPECIALLY DIFFICULT. The present -season in the Southern fArps. -osp-dci-aiiy -since Ohnstni-as, ftas o-eeii exceedingly unfavourable- for enmbing. This .Has been acknowledged, ..j till parties who have been at tne Herimta-ge awaiting tne chance to make- tne ascent, and it was tn-e, experience- of ivi-r nod Syme and Ins companion, Mr W. G Mace, of Wellington, who were there about six weeks and liad to endure a. ..succession of un-IUYO-urabie days. They had' made preparations on a. number of occasions and had beeii •disappionted time after time. On Saturday fast, January 26, .they did tne preliminary kicking or steps on tne Linda Glacier, and resolved on Sunday to make the- attempt- despite" the unfavourable condition's and m company with -two other parties of two who -shared the -stepcutting. they, achieved, the summit of Aft. Cook alter a strenuous climb and i ©turned to tne Haa-st Hut .after having been out j list on twenty-five hours. The account in Thursday’s “.Star” gave, some detaii'-s of tlie previous ...rinndng, aud th© rather weary waiting lor good conditions. Oil his {return to Hawera yesterday Mr Syme gave a “Haw-era Star” representative some further details of his experiences. He said that on the return of himself and Ids companion from the' West Coast tiie.y decided, to concentrate oh the ascent of Mt. Cook. They cho-se the Linda Glacier route. They went to the Ball Hut on January 13, and -after it, da-y’s speiii, due to bad weather, they continued three mile's up the ice of the Tasman’ Glacier to the foot 1 of the Ha-ast Ridge, which- was then climbed for 3000 ft. to the King Memorial! Hut at a height of 7000 ft. This was erected to the- memory of the three climbers who- were overwhelmed by an -availianche while returning down the Linda Glacier after an ascent of the peak on February 22, 1914. This hut is used -as -a base for all climbs on the. eastern fade. The route sdieete-d led up to- Glacier Domic, 8000 ft., and down to 7200 ft. oil the Grand Plateau, which -is crossed for -a distance of two miles; then up th-o Linda for.its total 1 ; -length of about 3-f miles to the summit rocks of Cook, which are succeeded by an ice cap of about- 800 ft.

The 16th was a lovely day, and they kicked steps up the Dome, across tin© Plateau and up through the crevasses >f the Lower Linda; which was very broken this year. This) was the usual procedure on tlie day before a climb, as the snow slopes, frozen in the early morning, are soft in the atfernoon, and a trail of good stops is thusr’ieft through a. maze of crevasses that would otherwise cause a serious loss of time in the darkness of the early morning start. They went to bed that night with hopes cf ideal l weather conditions for the following day. They were awake at midnight., but just after breakfast a north-west wind was blowing, which soon increased! to a. gale, and, with heavy rain, lasted for two days, oausinrr the climbers further, delay. On the 19th the weather gradually cleared, and once more they kicked steps up the Linda, the previous steps having disappeared! It was found necessary to change the route somewhat, because seme of the snow bridges crossing the crevasses had! fallen_ in. One© more they were up at midnight on the 20th, and once again the nor'wester blew a gnfe’ with heavy rain. It cleared the following day, and again the work, of steps was done., but the snow continuing, it was decided oh the 20th to return to the base camp for more supplies. The Hermitage was reached on the 24th._ . The weather clearing on the following day, they returned to the Haast Hut, though the prospects did not look good for some days.

THE BIG' CLIMB. However, it was better on Saturday, 26th, and as their holidays were nearly over, they decided to set out in the morning and go as far as possible. Up at 12.30 a.m., they got away at 1.15 a.iu., but found very soon that it would be impossible to complete the climb that day, for they were almost immediately in soft snow, knee deep one moment and then in places waist deep; to break a trail through this was arduous work. They continued, however, up to 9100 feet, and by that time were half-way up the Linda" Glacier. At this point they were joined by Mr S. Turner and his son Cyril, and as there appeared to be only slight hopes of being able to do the step kicking alone, it was resolved to make a combined attack on the mountain the following day . They returned after sofne hours of stern work to the hut, and there found a lady. Miss M. B. Byles, of Sydney, and Guide Bmstad, who asked to he allowed to join in the attack on the Sunday. " *

Up at midnight, Mr Turner’s and Miss Byles’ parties left at 1.10 a.m.,

and Mr Synie and Mr Mace at 1.55 a.m., following the tracks of the previous day. These' led to the huge crevasses across the Linda Glacier, which on the previous day appeared ( tp he bridged. But it was now discovered the bridges had fallen iri, and it was found necessary to retrace steps for another route through the broken iee at the right-hand side of the glacier. It took two and a half hours to get hack to the other side of the crevasses and by another route to scramble over the debris. The presence of several large avalanches made the route very dangerous, hut at length it was" overcome, and they reached the head of the Linda and stood at the foot of the Summit ! Rocks, about 11,000 feet above sea level. This was reached at 10.30 a.m.. and the party had another breakfast, while one of them insisted on a short sleep. .... THE SUMMIT ROCKS. The- weather alien was gloriously fine and the view beautiful beyond description, with a panorama ranging for mile after, mile to the surf of the west coast and with glimpses of the east coast through the haze. There were about 800 feet of the summit rocks to be negotiated, and snow and ice on the rocks made it very difficult, and in order .to get Band or foot hold this' had to be chipped. These rocks were climbed by 2.30 p.m., arid they had a taste of . what was to follow. The strong . icy southerly that was blowing made it necessary to put on all available clothing before setting out on the exposed ice cap.. Here, it is of interest to note, they saw a photograph of Mr Turner’s daughter left by him in a tin 10 years previously and in a perfect state of'preservation. The honour of leading and of step cutting fell to Mr Syme, and he was fortunate in that the exertion kept ' him warm throughout the last freezing .stage of about 700 feet. Thirty-five minutes were occupied in that climb, the snow being in good condition, hut the wind was so cold and fierce that it made step cutting and climbing very difficult. It was necessary some times to lie flat on the slope until tli© gusts had passed. Finally the summit was reached at half-past three, the date being Sunday, January 27.

THE DESCENT. They left almost immediately on the return, staying only for a brief view and a couple of photos. They soon reached the summit rocks,' the wind having increased to a fierce gale and the cold being very severe. Mr Syrne considers they were lucky to get down under the conditions ruling. He had a fortunate escape, too, from a boulder that struck his knees, and only by desperate efforts was lie able to regain his footing. Luckily he was only bruised. It was imjjossible to move at any speed, and it was seven o’clock before they reached the foot of the rocks.

Tlienee, however, progress was more rapid, and by 8.30 p.m., when darkness fell, they were in the broken ice of the Linda Glacier, Progress was again difficult because of lanterns that would go out and the consequent difficulty of finding the steps of the morning. It was a slow struggle, and all were glad when they reached Grand Plateau and found the well-defined steps of the previous day. These were reached at l a.m., and then.began the slow toil up the Glacier Dome and down to the liut. This they reached at 2.45 a.m., exactly 24-hrs 55min after Messrs Syme and Mace left the hut. Under the circumstances it was good going.

They found two others in the hut who had been anxious for their safety and were waiting for daylight to see what had happened. BACK AT THE HERMITAGE The following day (Monday) broke with a change of wind from south to north-west, with heavy rain and hail, and they were exceedingly glad to be out of it. On Tuesday they left Haast Hut and reached the Hermitage, where they were all given a great reception. There were about 12 students from the university who put in the vacation acting a,s porters and thus making some money and getting a good holiday. They comprised medical students, teachers and training college boys, and they gave the party a great time that evening There seemed to be lio doubt, said Mr Syme, from the opinions of men of experience, that the conditions under which the ascent was undertaken were extremely unfavourable and made the climb really dangerous. Probably, he added, had the holidays not been at an end, he would have waited for better weather. Mr Syme added that the actual climbing of Mt. Cook was not so hard, but it was the weather conditions that caused the difficulty. There were two other peaks in the Alps which were worse. He was keen to go again, and looked forward next year to making the traverse of Mt. Cook, uu by the same route and down on the western., slopes