THE LEADER EXPEDITION IN FIORDLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10358, 13 May 1895, Page 3

THE LEADER EXPEDITION IN FIORDLAND.

SOME PARTICULARS. OF THE ' COUNTRY EXPLOHED. The members of the Leader expedition, who went overland to Milford with the view of exploring some new country in , Fiordland, returned, to io!rn on Saturday evening, weHsatisfied, with the work accomplislied. Indeed, the trip has been successful beyond expectation. A representative of this paper, who had a biief interview with Mr Malcolm' Ross yesterday, was able to glean a. few interesting particular!! of the expedition. Ifc would appear that the undertaking was not accomplished without difficulty wad a grvoi deal of trying work. The original intention wan to proceed to Milford Sound in the Hinemoa. which had beau placed at the disposal of the party by the Government, but &s tbe vessel was delayed so long in the north by bad weather it was decided not to we-it for her, but to proceed overland before it got too late in the season. This necessitated a complete alteration of * plans at the last moment, and a great deal of- hard work in the " swaggmg" of ■ 'provisions and camp impedimenta for the "double journey over ■ M'Kinnon's Pas 3. A good stuck of provisiona was taken as far as the hut r.t_ Lake Mintavo, and from there Mr R;>ss and Mr Fyfe maoe an attempt to scale Mount Balloon. The climbing was very difficult owing to the state of the mountain—large masses of show and an occasional piece of rock coming down over the precipices from great heights, and msking.the ascent dangerous, so thak after proceeding upwards from the Saddle for a cotiplo of hours it was deemed wisa to beat a retreat. Next' day the whole party crossed the p&ss, which was knee deep in snow, in a drivicg blizzard. The mountain 'scenery was grimd in the extreme —Mount Hart towering abovo a bank of cloud like a veritable Jtfutterhorn, and the mid-day sun glinting on the JervoU Glacier and the, snow - seamed couloirs of the more distant mountains. The advance guard of tbe paity arrived early at the Beech Hu!-8, Malcolm end Kenneth Ross rsmainicg behind to explore for a route to Ihe summit of Mount Billoori. from the head of Roaring creek. "What promised to be a fairly easy routo was discovered, but, bad weather coming on, a descent was made to the, Beech Huts !ate the same evening. Next day the Sutherland Falls' were visited, some of the party ascending to the foot of the first leap in less than »n hour and experiencing no difficulty in 1 the climb. In the evening tbr^e of tbe party returned to the assault on Mount Balloon, bivouacking in the bush some 1500 ft above ths Beech Hutu. Bad weather again coming on they had to rtturu next morning, and ib was decided to proceed on down to the Sound. The rivers wsd creeks were in high flood, some, of the stream's behij; crossed with difficulty,'but the Arthur Valley was a magnificent sighthundreds of watntfalls, many of them rivalling the Sutherland Falls both in beauty and height, thundering down over the granite precipices. A mile and a-balf from the Beech Huts the | party came suddenly upon Mr Bntler's Government road party, v.ho had been engnged for six months in these wilds extending the track from Lake. Ada to the falls. The pajrty were almost out of provisions and were anxiously awaiting the/arrival of the Government steamer. They had <xccritnced a remarkably finfi season, and had done eicsllent work. Indeed the evenness and stability of the track formed was quite a revel&tion, and Mr Ross eaya that nes* season, when thn -work 13 completed, there will ba cot the slightest difficulty in viding a bicjcle to the foot of the Sutherland Falls. Mr Butler and two of his men very kindly piloted the I party down fchfi Arthur, river mid across Lake Ada in their large boat. The track between I Lake Ada and the lower boa 1; landing on the i Atthur river was atao found in capital order, ; but not to the boats for the last f-tage of the journey. There was only a very old tad leilty white pine boat and a "flatty." These, however, were buJed out, and the ps.r£y, numbering seven, proceeded to feel their' way down the river to the sound. 14 v/as a. perfect, sunny afternoon, not a ripple ou tha water, as, baling their frail craft all the time, they rowed slowly down the quiet ranches of the Arthur river, and entered the still waters of Milford Sound,.whera the mountain?, and the splendid Bowen Fslls— swollea by the recsat rains—were mirrored as if in a lcoking-glass. It was a great surprise to the limited population of Milford to iind the party coming overland, and though provisions had run somewhat low,'ths strangers were made heartily welcome at Sutherland's. Next morning, tte weather being fine, Messrs Malcolm and Kenneth Rots, Mr Hodgkins, and Mr Fyfe started off up the north brauch of the Cleddau I river with the intention of exploring ifc to its source and locating and making the ascent of Mount Tutoko, the highest mountain in these | parts. Mr Fyi'e unfortunately was sufEfiiing from a severe attack of nenralgia, and alter proceeding a mile or Lwo had to return to Milford. The others were accompanied aa far as their highest camp by Mr Donald Ross, the Government guide, who proved himself an excellent bushnian, and rendered valuable assistance. The journey to the tipper camp— distant, only 10 miles fcom the Sound—occupied all day, and wis a vary arduous one, the party carrying heavy swags through the dank virgin forest and over the huge and slippery granite boulders, of the north branch of the Cleddau river, which for miles is a roaring torrent of very considerable volume. The gceuery of this valley was very fine. Nina miles up a glacier of considerable extent wa3 aten crowning the pass at the head of the valley, and splendid peaks rone oh either hand. On the right was a deep vallay with a glacier that came down to the bush-line, and a fine suow-ckd mountain at its head was supposed and turned out to be Tutoko, though nothing definite could be decided as to its position as the maps could not be relied on, the position of the river being wron*ly marked. For this mountain, howevtir, the climbeM made and camped on au ancient tree-covered moraine »t nightfall, 1100 ft above sea-level. Next day the brothers Ross and Mr Hcdgkins started ear"iy on their climb. A certain but somewhat difficult and dangerous route to the summit presented itself up the main glacier, but thia was abandoned in favour of a safer but more problematical routo to t,ha right of the glacier. After ascending some 2000 ft abova the camp the climbers were surprised to see, right above them, a magnificent:ice-fall which came from » plateau beyond. Getting above this &v easy route' over gentle snow slopes, cleft by great bergschrueds, led to the fiual peak, which the piirty now expected to reach in au hour. vTheir expectations, however, were not rea\istd, for the upper elopes very hard, aud a great deal of step-cutting'was required, while the rocks on the final peak were glazed with ice. The rope and the ice-axe 3 were here in continual use for four hours, and the greatest caution had to bs observed. It was not till suuaet that the crest of the fiual peak wa6 reached. The view as the sun gaak in a bank of cloud,'miles to the westward, over a, wilderness of peaks, and as almost simultaneonaly the moon rose behind Tntoko, was one never to be forgotten. Several interesting discoveries were made, aod the aneroid showed the mountain to be over 9000 ft high. The descent wan of rather a thrilliug nature, the party baying to spend tha night oat on the mountain 2COOf t above camp. But on these and ' other details connected with ths trip Mr Ross did not care to expresß himself tuo freely, wishing to reserve his narrative for the articles he 13 contributing to the Melbourne Age and " Fiordland." A few of the more important features of the country explored wore named in commemoration of the expedition and those identified with the project. A fine rock pes.k to the south-we&t of Tutoko was named Mount Syme; ,the larga glacier coming from ib and Tutoko, the Age Glacier; and the branon of the river issuing from the glacier, Leader creek. A magnificent «now-clad mountain abonfc 9000ffc high adjoining Tutoko on the west was named Mount

[ Posbcty, and the icofall on the main glacier the Herbert Icefall. To some of the other peaks ! and glasisra appropriate Maori nanie3 will ba ;' given. In answer to a cmestton aa to what impresses him moot on the trip Mr Ross stated that the view frotn Tutoko must be placed first, though the ecanery from Bl'Kinnou's Pass after the u>csnt snowfall "was exceptionally grand. Both Mr Fyfe aud hie agreed that the view embracing Mount Hart, Balloon Peak, aud particularly Mount Elliot an<l the pretty little Jervois Glacier, was as wild >..■'. remarkable a scene as they had ever gazfd noon in all their wanderings in the Southern Alps. Prom a climber's point of view, there are many peaks; far surpassing Mount Balloon; but tha 'climbing generally ia difficult, owing to the denite scrub and the polished granite slopes and precipices on the mountains. In conclusion, Mr Rosa, on behalf of himself and Mr B. T. Luke, referred to the indebtedness of the party to Mr Crosbie, of Lumsden, Mr and Mrs Snodgra-8 and Captain Duncan, of Te Anau, and Messrs iVlurrsll and Dare, of Mauapouri, for the mauy facilities afforded the expedition.; and spoke in terms of the highest praise of tha energy and perseverance of Messrs T. G. Fyfo, W. Hodgkian, C. Ziele, and his other companions—often in the face of conBidesrable difficulties—on the overland trip.