A STRENUOUS EXPEDITION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20969, 7 March 1930, Page 2

A STRENUOUS EXPEDITION.

THREE PEAKS IN A DAY. The ascent of three peaks in one day is a performance requiring no little fitness and endurance, yet last week three young men and a guide did just this thing at Tongariro National Park. The climbers were Mr W. M‘D. Mirams (Wellington), Mr A. W. Lord (Sydney), and Mr R. M. Kay (Tiraaru), with Guide Alexander Salmon, and the p'eaks to be treated thus lightly were Tongariro (6458 feet), Ngauruhoe (7515 feet), and Ruapehu (9174 feet). The party set out from the chateau at 4 a.m., motoring to the prison camp that marks the termination of the road in the direction of the Mangatepopo Huts. As well an the men. the expedition then included Miss Helen Dunn (Wellington), Miss Janet Paterson (Timaru), and Guide Mary Smith, who intended to climb the first two peaks. In darkness the party threaded its way through the tussocks along the five-mile track to the huts. Only the glimmer of the chateau lights miles across the park relieved the quiet loneliness of the scene.

As the hut drew near dawn began to break, and by the time the billy was boiled there, there was enough light in the sky for the peaks to be clearly discerned and the Waimarino Plains to show dimly in the sou’-west. The climbers pushed on without delay. The sun must not come over the hills before they were well on their way. An hour and three-quarters later the first of the party stood on Tongariro, the highest point of that great broken crater. At one time Tongariro must have been higher than Ruapehu, but now it is just a battered shell, in length about a mile and a-quarter from lip to lip. There is crater within crater, the rock and stone distorted and . multi-coloured. Delightful little mountain lakes are discernible and hot springs and soda springs call for hours of exploration. A walk of about three-quartffers of a mile across the crater leads to the slopes of Ngauruhoe, a steep but not difficult peak. From the summit of Ngauruhoe a magnificent view is revealed similar to that from Tongariro but more extensive. To the north the blue waters of Taupo lie between jshores which seem enchanted, their white cliffs are so lovely. Belts of forest half-shrouded in mist spread towards the east. To the west the rolling plains give place finally to bush-clad hills, receding. into the distance. Southwards lies National Park, a maze of river valleys, with Ruapehu towering up an incredible distance away. Ngauruhoe itself demands attention and awe. .One goes over a low part of the outer rim into a huge, irregular crater bounded for half its circumference by huge rock cliffs, whose strata reveals all colours of the spectrum. On one side the stream puffs and curls from innumerable vents. Under foot there is nothing but a dirty rubble of broken rock and cinders. Sometimes the-latter are too hot to hold. From the big crater, which is about half a mile across, it us possible to descend into a deeper crater, and within this second cavity there is still a third crater, from which, on this occasion, great masses of sulphurous smoke were issuing. “It horrible,” said one of the party; I d like to have taken to my heels then and there.”

By this time the men were far ahead making for their third peak. The ladies worked round the volcanic cone and then descended the scoria-covered sides into the Makihikatoa Valley. After this had been followed for about two miles, the poles marking the Mangotapopo-Chateau track.were hailed with joy. and the party followed these for the remaining seven miles of the return trip. At 6 p.m„ 14 hours after starting, the ladies tramped into the basement of the Chateau, thankful to find a lift there to take them to their rooms on the npper floors. For the next few hours everyone was in suspense, wondering if the other partv had reached its goal. The uncertainty was increased by the knowledge that if the men were vert; late they might spend the night out at the ski-hut. However, at 11.25 p.m. the enthusiasts who had stayed up were delighted to welcome four weary hut triumphant mountaineers. So far as is known, they had performed a feat which had never been accomplished before.