EXPLORERS’ THRILLS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22296, 23 June 1934, Page 7

EXPLORERS’ THRILLS

GREAT ICE SLOPE CONQUERED STEPS CUT FOOT BY FOOT BLIZZARD RAGES TWO DAYS. Three weary young men, who crossed ocean and continent, have solved much of the mystery surrounding that part of the Coast Range, between the Selkirks and the Pacific, contiguous to Mount Waddington, 13,300 ft, British Columbia’s highest peak, known as Mystery Mountain until seven years ago, when its magnificent bulk was inspected at close range by Donald Munday, F.R.G.S., a Canadian alpinist. The trio have arrived by air here, says the Herald’s Vancouver correspondent, from Knight Inlet, where they arrived after traversing the Scimitar Glacier in a most dramatic and spectacular dash on skis —first thus to conquer these awe-inspiring slopes. , Sir Norman Watson headed the party; accompanying him were W T ing-commander Beauman, Royal Air Force, president of the English Alpine Club, who was a member of the expedition that conquered Mount, Kamet, in the Himalayas, at a height of 24,000 ft; and Camile Coutet, a noted Chamonix guide. The radio-telephone from Glendale Salmon Cannery at Knight Inlet broke the silence that shrouded the explorers’ movements since they set out from Tatla Lake with 21 horses and four packers on March 18. Four days later they brought up at the steep defiles of the valley of the Homatko. Here, at the foot of the glacier, the trail petered ''out. . Provisions and equipment were piled, and the party waved adieu to their packers and transport officer, Major E. J. King, M.C., as the horses were returned to the base. Ten days were spent in climbing the edge of Scimitar Glacier, whose canyons were traversed by ledges little wider than a catwalk. Here the party roped occasionally. They were obliged to backtrack frequently to get better footing over which to carry their supplies. Friday, April 13, saw the trio bring up sharp at the foot of Fury Gap, with the real task of conquering the great barrier ahead. Facing them was a steep ice slope of 2000 ft. With infinite patience they cut stepsu foot by foot. Two days later they returned down their ice stairs and packed their provisions forward, as six days’ supply had to be carried. As the party toiled upward to their new camp at 8000 ft, the bulk of Mount Waddington towered by their side. They camped suddenly when a blizzard blotted out everything for two days, Emerging from shelter in the lee of Fury, they reached the summit, and at dawn on April 18 started down Franklin Glacier for a ski-run of 23 miles in flawless sunshine. Coming to the timber line, they discarded their skis and hung them to the trees as souvenirs for those who would essay the journey after them. Until a trail is cut through the forest •from glacier to tide water, Sir Norman Watson says he has no particular desire to repeat the last phase of their journey through the woods. Thoroughly exhausted, they were.obliged to camp out within a few hundred yards of their destination at Knight Inlet.