THE MEMORIAL HUT ON MOUNT COOK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3239, 12 April 1916, Page 65

THE MEMORIAL HUT ON MOUNT COOK.

By Guide Conrad Cain

(See Illustrations.)

Shortly after the Mount Cook disaster on February 22, 1914, which cost the lives of threo men—Messrs Sydney King, of London, Darby Thompson, and Jock Richmond, the well-known guides from the Hermitage—a committee of friends and relatives of the deceased and other mountainlovers was formed, and by this means, with the aid of the Government, which supplied about half the funds, sufficient money was soon collected to erect a memorial to those who perished. The committee decided to erect an alpine hut as the memorial, and chose the Haast Ridge as the most suitable place. This hut will facilitate the climbing not only of Mount Cook, but also of Silberhorn, Tasman, Lindenfelt, Haast, Haidinger, and the Glacier Dome. The hut was built in Dunedin of the lightest wood obtainable, taken to pieces, numbered, and transferred to the Hermitage. The material was then carted to the Blue Lake and from there packed on horses to the Ball Hut. From this point the whole work had to be done entirely by human effort. Tho actual weight was not the only difficulty, as some of the pieces of timber to bo carried up the ridge were 15ft in length. This made the negotiation of the steep rock slopes very dangerous. It will be impossible for the reader to realise the work entailed in the building of a hut at such an altitude, but the photographs which appear in our illustrated pages, for which I have to thank Mr M'Kinna, will give him a better idea of the arduous nature of tho work. It is the highest building in Australasia, being situated at an altitude of 7000 ft. No more suitable place could have been chosen for the memorial to our lato comrades who would not, as Naturelovers, have wished a, more beautiful restingplace than the Linda Glacier on Mount Cook, which can be seen from the new hut.