AN ALPINE TOUR.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1734, 9 February 1921, Page 2

AN ALPINE TOUR.

DISCOVERIES ON GODLEY GLACIER. An interesting Alpine excursion into the practically unexplored region of the Godley Glacier, in the Lake Tekapo district, was made during the recent holidays by a party consisting of Messrs T. A. Fletcher, of Wellington of the "School Journal" and the "New Zealand Alpine Journal," Which is now being resuscitated after having been in abeyance for about 15 years), W. A. Kennedy (of the Woolston School staff), Johannes C. Andersen (librarian of the Turnbull library, Wellington), and A. S. Sutton-Turner (of the Education Department, Wellington), with Mr J. Lipp as guide. Speaking to a "Press" representative, Mr"'Fletcher, who is an old Christchurch boy, said that his recent trip was the. third he had made into the district. He met with exceedingly bad weather in the two former' trips and in the second one his party's camp was burnt out, necessitating a complete reconstruction and a refurnishing of supplies. As' the camp was 26 miles from the nearest station, and the intervening country extremely rough, the experience was little short of heart-breaking. On each visit, however, new peaks were discovered and conquered, and one of them now bears Mr Fletcher's name. The recent trip marked the first occasion on which any of the peaks on the Divide had been climbed. The Godley Glacier district, Mr Fletcher stated, was a very fine one, and the scenery was splendid, but it was very difficult of access, the means of "communication being very bad. As 'previously stated the nearest station was 26 miles away, and the provisions and outfit generally had to be taken many miles up the lake and then "packed" for several miles more. On this occasion it took the party about five days to establish its base, though rain at times 'interfered with the operations. • _ The party left Timaru on December 22nd, and established its base camp at the foot of the glacier, the bivouac being placed about six miles further! up. For the next ten or twelve days, exceedingly fine weather was experienced, and the climbers succeeded in 'getting" five peaks, three of them being previously *> unconquered. The first was a fine one of just under 8000 feet, and they named Mt. Dennistoun, after the late Mr J. R. Dennistoun, of Peel forest, who had been over the district once or twice. Mr Dennistoun lost his life in the war. He was in the R.F.C., and his machine was shot down in flames in France, Mr Dennistoun dying in a German prison from his injuries. The climb proved a good one, though the rock was very bad.

A smaller peak beside Mt. Dennistoun was the next scaled, and was named Malthus Peak,' after the owner of the Lilly .Bank Station, who had given the party considerable assistance. Cumine Peak to the left of Sealey's Pass was next climbed, and then the party got a new one which they named McKinnon Peak, after the head shepherd on the. station referred to. Cumine, .said Mr Fletcher, was wholly a snow climb, but later on in the season its ascent would be impossible, owing: to the schrunds, or crevasses.' Early in the season these crevasses were passable by snow brides, but later these bridges disappeared. » The last peal* scaled by the party was Wolseley, which Mr Fletcher described as a ''proper snag," being' wholly composed of rock. It was, he said, the finest rock peak in the whole Alps, though that distinction was supposed to belong- to Malte Peak in the Tasman district. There was, however, a great deal to choose between the two in favour of Wolseley. The mountaineers discovered an interesting and hitherto unknown fact about Wolseley, and that was that, contrary to the official map which places it on the Divide, it was not on the Divide at all, but about half a mile from it, on a spur running down from the Divide. It had a commanding position, and was originally surveyed from the glacier below, where it appeared to be on the Divide. However, as stated, -it was half a mile or so away, and none of the water from it ran down to the West Coast side. After the ascent of Wolseley, the weather broke, and the party could do no more. They made an attempt on Petermann, one of the 1 most beautiful peaks in the Alps, but the weather drove them back. Speaking generally of the excursion, Mr Fletcher said that the climbing was hard, particularly in tne case of Wolseley. The district lent itself to magnificent scenery, but "the chief drawback of the Godloy Glacier was its ungodly moraines." From Petermann, at the head of the glacier, on the Terra Nova Saddle, a fine view over into the Itangitata could bo obtained. From some of the other peaks there was a line view right up to the Rakaia, while all the peaks in the Mt. Cook district could be seen, and several on the West Coast side that were not on the map at all. As far as cliffs were concerned, the Moffatt and Livingstone Peaks on the Divide were the finest on the Alps, and they provided sheer drops of .1000 feet. Avalanches came down them practically continuously, so that it was a very wise policy to "keep from under," but the party approached them almost to the toot. McClure, at the head of the Godley Glacier where the Two Thumb range branched off was also a pretty peak, but Petermann was probably the most spectacular of them all. "Undoubtedly," remarked. Mi- Fletcher, "some of the finest scenery in the whole Alps is to be seen from the Godley Glacier, but it is rapidly retreating." Incidentally, Mr Fletcher remarked that the party had "solved the difficulty of keeping warm when camping on the ice." They slept out on the glacier on sereral occasions, and found that by placing an oil-sheet on the ice, then a good supply of snow grass, and then another oil-sheet, they formed a kind of mattress on which they were perfectly comfortable and thoroughly warm. Mr Fletcher succeeded in securing a very fine collection of photographs during the trip, which he intends to repeat on the first suitable opportunity.