TRAMPING ON EGMONT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 224, 20 April 1933, Page 8

TRAMPING ON EGMONT

Stratford Party’s Experiences ' i MR PERCY THOMSON AND j SONS i i Three Days on Mountain | A comprehensive tramping of* Mount Egmont was made by Em Wor- | ship the Mayor of Stratford, Mr. Percy Thomson, and his two elder sons, Charles and David, during the Easter period. On Good Friday the party left the Stratford Mountain House sit 10. a.m. stopped at the Manganui Hut from 11.30 til! 12.15 p.m., for lunch, and during the hail and ram shower crossed the North Egmont track at, 1.45 p.m. and reached Holly Hut at j 3 45, "Weather conditions were very wet and misty. The hilly was boiled ] and the party left again at 4.15, at - | riving at the Kahui Hut at 5.45 p.m. j Nothing of the scenery was visible more than for a few yards owing to j heavy mists. ■ “Full House” at Kahui Hut | At Kahui the party found a full j house, there being nine men from the j single unemployed men’s camp near Opimake and 1G young men and wo- ! men of the North Egmont Alpine | Club. One party had to he , satisfied j with spending the night lying on tour j wooden forms. . . i On Saturday Mr. Thomson and his sons left the Kahui Hut at 8.5 a.m. with the intention of continuing on I round the lower slopes of the menu- i tain above Lake Dive and back to the Stratford House, climbing down Jacob’s Ladder-some 200 feet into I the bed of (he Okchu Gorge. lie party ascended by the bed of tie stream to its source, where it conies out from under the rocks. Here ley found a herd of a dozen goats. Impressive Scenery They then climbed out of the gorge j on its southern side by what is known, j as Street’s Slide. The gorge is a wonderful piece of scenery and very impressive with its sheer rock sides of 200 to 300 feet and over. The Mail* ganui would he dwarfed in it. The slide, however, is a steep sand aim rock slope of perhaps 500 feet loading to an opening at the top through which one gains the country above the sides of the gorge again. Once out of the gorge the party searched up and down ror a trace ot a track. A mountain plan prepared m 1923 by Mr. B. H. Horner, surveyor, speaks of the track then being almost obliterated. After trying to penetrate the thick scrub and quickly being soaked to the thighs, and misty conditions obtaining, it was decided to turn back. Descending back mto the gorge, the rest of the day was spent, in exploring it and climbing to the top of a wonderful rock fortress once occupied by the Maoris and known as Maru. This rocky eminence has an awe-inspiring sheer face of a couple o hundred feet facing the stream bed, but the party climbed up by a steep slope on the rear of the eminence. It , was wished that Mr. W. H. Skmiiei was present to tell of the history ol the rock. Thick Mist Experienced On Sunday the party had hoped to climb by the now usually-used route on the north side of the Okehu Goigc towards the summit and oyer Fantlinm’s Peak, but owing to thick mist it was not possible to see more than 1 yards from the hut, and it was decided to return around the mountain i Leaving Kahui at 8.20 a.m. Holly Hut was reached at 10.15, through heavy mist and driving, drenching ram. From Stony River to the Wtanvakaiho Ridge track, the track was simply a stream and mud channel and the going was very heavy, but it was hoped that with the turn round the top of the Kokowai Gorge better weather conditions would be found and this proved to he the case. The country below could be seen. The Stratford House was reached at 2.25 p.m., and after half an hour s stop, the party pressed on, reaching home at Stratford in time for tea.

Guests of British Members of Parliament Mr. W. J- Jordan, M.P., was the guest of honour at a meeting of members of Parliament at the House of Commons on M.nrch 9. The lit. Hon. George Lnnsbury presided. Mr. Jordan, who was invited to address the meeting, referred to the difficulties which arc being experienced m New Zealand and the need for closer co-operation between the producers m New Zealand and the consumers xn Great Britain. He made an appeal fox consideration of the introduction of a reciprocal pension arrangement between the several parts of the Empire, particularly the British Isles and New Zealand.