NOTABLE ALPINE CLIMBING FEAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13077, 17 January 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

NOTABLE ALPINE CLIMBING FEAT.

j PARTY RKACHKS THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT COOK. A SENSATIONAL DESCENT. A xoTAlil.K feat in alpine climbing, namely, j the first climbing of Mount- Cook, has been accomplished by a party consisting of Mr. Turner, of London, and Messrs. T. C, Fife, Peter Craham. and Malcolm Ross, three New Zealanders. A start was made from a high bivouac by moonlight at eleven p.m. 011 January 9. and the summit was reached in 15 hours. The weather was line, and the views during tin- ascent, and from the summit, were indescribably magnificent. Mr. Ross took the tirst photographs of the party an the summit, and Mr. Turner also carried a camera, and ured unique photographs. At one p.m. the descent, on the western side, to the Hooker glacier was commenced, and owing to the adverse conditions was of a .sensational character. The rock-; were halt-covered with snow, and glazed with enormous icicles. In two extremely "diHi; ult situations the party were lowered singly down the precipitous faces of the ice-glazed rock by the alpine rope. The descent, under such adverse conditions was a piece of work almost unique in alpine climbing, and Mr. 'Turner says that in all his experiences he has not witnessed so brilliant a feat. It- was made without the slightest slip or accident, though considerable risks were run. 11 was not till seven p.m. on January 10 that the descent of the rocks was safely accomplished. At this point a long couloir of snow (2000 ft), looking down to the Hooker glacier, was reached. It was found to be in a very bad condition, and the party, roped together, slowly cut steps down the frozen slope. The descent of this slope took five hours. It was accomplished in a bitterly cold wind, and amid considerable danger from the falling ice and stones that occasionally swept the centre of the couloir. A thousand feet from the bottom. Mr. Turner wan struck on the head by a falling splinter of stone, butescaped serious injury, and was able to continue the descent. The last, part of the climb had to be done in moonlight, in a freezing wind. Just after midnight on Thursday, Jan. 10 the party set foot on the gentler slopes of the Hooker glacier, and the first attempt to climb right over the monarch of New Zealand mountains, from the Great Ta-sniaii to the Hooker glacier, bad been safely accomplished. The descent, of the Hooker glacier was made in the moonlight, and the party reached the Hermitage after a.long and arduous journey of 36 hours in .ill. with only brief halts, and but little food. Mr. Turner is rapidly recovering from the effects of his accident, and the other members of the party are fit and well. They are all delighted with their climb, which is certainly unique in the annals of New Zealand mountaineering.