A MOUNTAIN ROUTE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17251, 19 August 1916, Page 4

A MOUNTAIN ROUTE.

NEW TOURIST TRACK! ALONG ALPS. FROM HERMITAGE TO LAKE OHAU. Mr B. M. Wilson, General Manager of the Tourist Department, conferred in Christchurch yesterday with Mr P. Graham, of tho Hermitage staff, as to opening up a new tourist route over tho mountains in the south.

Tho route is from tlio Hermitage to the Mueller Glacier, oyer the Barron Saddle) and down to tli9 head of Lake Oban, where, it is proposed, travellers will be met by Mr Wigley’s motor-cars and taken back to. civilisation. There are two valleys oh the ether side of the glacier that may bo traversed. One is tho Hopkins Valley and tho other th» Dobson Valley. Mr Wilson and Mr Graham favo'ar tho latter. It is mostly open tussock country, with beech forests on each side. There is au accommodation house on the Mueller. It will be necessary to erect another one at the head of the Dobson Valley, and a third at the end of the journey near the head of Lake Oliau. The journey will occupy three days, ineluding' a thirty-mile ride on horseback. The route rises to a height of between €OOO and 7000 foot nt tho Barron Saddle, but on tho whole it is a fairly easy one, and the scenery, AftGraham states, is magnificent. Mr Wilson and the Hon Dr M’Xah. Minister in.chargo of Tourist Resorts, will, inspect the rente, probably at the beginning of November. In the meantime, Mr Wilson is 'arranging for opening the usual season at the Hermitage in November.