SCALING MOUNT RUAPEHU.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12771, 18 April 1910, Page 4

SCALING MOUNT RUAPEHU.

The "Timaru Herald" gives tho foi- . lowing from Percy Capper, a Timaru ', boy, written to his parents: — . "Eff and I had a great holiday trip. We accomplished tho feat of scaling Mt. Ruapehu, 9715 feet high, and I will try and give you an account of it, just as it happened. Beforo starting we got particulars from a friend in Ohakune, regarding what we should provide for the trip — blankets, smoked glasses- (for the snow) chocolate, raisiris, cocoa, biscuits, billy, etc. Wo made up canvas swags with straps for our shoulders, so as to leave our hands free. We left Auckland on Thursday night (9.15 p.m.), travelled all might (no sleep); and reached Ohakune, the starting plaoe at 7 next morning. We went tb an hotel for breakfast, found a party in charge of a guide starting immediately, so we joined them, and with pur swags strapped on started off on a bush track, 12 miles long. It took us fivo hours to get through "this to the, half-way house (tent rather). It was an awful climb, dense bush' all the way, with only a "blazed" track, that is, the trees were notched here and there to mark the way. It was push and struggle the whole time, and when we reached the end of the bush wo were utterly exhausted. Eff and I were both too tired to dream of going further then, but the rest of the party (five) said thoy would tackle the mountain that night. ; They started off, and as they did not return we sat up and coo-eed and fired revolver shots to guide them back in case they were near at hand. Four of them turned up next mornamg, nearly frozen to. death, and looking like old haggard men. They had spent the night on the mountain just below the snow line, but had luckily got a few bits of wood together, enough to , keep a small fire going to warm themselves. The fiftli man got separated from his companions, and they did not know what had become of him. He was found next morning by a party from Wanganui. He had got what they call mountain toothache, the intense cold making all his teeth and jaws ache, and he was semi-mad through cold and fatigue. We started at daybreak on Saturday morning, and reached the summit, tho highest point of the North Island after six hours solid climbing. In some places it was sheer perpendicular rock, and we scrambled up on our stomachs. It was the first time Eff had seen snow near, so we walked across one of the glaciers, about a quarter of a mile wide.; There were great crevasses in it, the surface is very hard and smooth* , and very slippery, so you can imagine we went very carefully. The ice in this glacier is 80ft thick. When we reached the summit we , oould see Mt. Egmont quite plainly ih the distance. The day was cloudy, or we would have been able to see the sea on both sides of the island. It was a marvellous sight as it-was. We were ' right above the clouds, and the surface looked exactly like pictures of .the North Pole,; the clouds looked just like snow, a glorious sight.. There is a lake in the crater, bufc we did not go down to it, as it was so frightfully cold that we only stayed about 10 minutes. " (The lake is not frozen, because the volcanic heat keeps it warm) It took us as long to get back to the, half-way house as it did to get up (six hours.) That will give you an idea how rough it is. Our intention had been to go through the bush to Ohakune the same night, but we dropped on the floor of the tent when we got there, and.lay.like logs. Our feat wore blistered and swollen. JVc stayed there that night,* but we could not sleep for the cold, and at 3 a.m. we had to get up and make a firo to warm ourselves. We left tlie tent at 6 a.m. on- Sunday ,and reached Ohakune at 11. By that time we were absolutely starving, as for two days and a half we had lived on chocolate, raisins, etc and biscuits, that we had bee nadvised to take, as sustaining and light to carry. When we got to the hotel my boots were falling off my feet, ripped . and torn as if I had hacked them with a knife. They were only an old pair, but I had had hob-nails put in them for thetrip,and these were worn quite flat. We had some tea and sconos, and cheese at once, and when dinner come on you should have see nus eat! It was the first time in my life I had been starving. Chocolate and raisins may be sustaining, but they leave the stomach an aching void. We left Ohakune on Monday night, and reached homo on Tuesday morning at 7.30. I don't suppose I had more than six hours' sleep from Thursday night, and when I got to bed on Tuesday night I slept like a top. However, now it's all over I'm glad we went, but I wouldn't like to tackle the trip again for a long time.