ACROSS MUNGO PASS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22098, 2 May 1935, Page 15

ACROSS MUNGO PASS

CANTERBURY CLIMBERS SUCCESSFUL FIRST TRIP The first successful crossing of the Mungo Pass and the Toaroha Saddle, at the head of the Wilberforce River, by members of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, was accomplished by a party of three climbers who returned to Christchurch recently. Several members of the club have at various times attempted this journey, but until now bad weather or flooded rivers have prevented them completing it. The party of three set out on Good Friday morning and travelled up the Wilberforce River, camping at the junction of the Unknown and Gibson Rivers. The next day, under a misapprehension as to the whereabouts of the real Mungo Pass, they climbed into a large cirque on the southern side of the Gibson River, and ascended a high col which looks over into the headwaters of the Unknown River. The party retraced its steps to the lower slopes of the cirque and camped at 4500 ft.

Two days later a rather difficult short cut was taken down a steep ravine on the side of Mount Treadwell, and after a tortuous climb up a shingleslide the true Mungo Pass (5950 ft.) was reached. After Mungo Peak, which rises a few hundred feet above the pass, had been climbed, Brunswick Creek, which was almost dry in its upper reaches, was followed to its junction with the sunless Mungo River. At this point there are fine hot springs, which induced the party to camp. Many deer were seen and heard at night, both in the Gibson and Brunswick Streams.