ON ICY MOUNTAINS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20181, 25 June 1928, Page 12

ON ICY MOUNTAINS

ASCENT ON KILIMANJARO GREAT FEAT BY WOMEN. Tljp three first women to climb Kibo, the highest peak of Kilimanjaro 19.000 feet, in Tanganyika, East Africa, accomplished that feat last, year. The first woman to reach the top was Mrs Latham, who was accompanied by her husband. The second was Miss R. E. Htuart Watt, a missionary’s daughter, who ascended with three native porters. j Miss Stuart Watt’s account of the i climb is as follows: —“I started at 6.30 a.m. with three natives, and we | warp soon under cover of a forest | dripping from heavy rains, so that 1 ! was soaked to the waist. By now jwe reached Bismarck’s Hut, where T. I enjoyed a cup of tea. made a fire, an I dried my clothes. There we spent a comfortable night, the porters sleeping in the open. At 7 o’clock in the morning we started in a Scotch mist over the moorland and reached Peter’s Hut. at a height of 13,500 feet in five ; hours I was. much surprised to come across elephant spoor as high as this. “Next morning I Lad difficulty m getting the natives to move out of the camp, for it was very cold and the ground frozen. But ere long the sun peeped through and the peak of [Mawenzi appeared mantled with fresh snow and half encircled by stormy clouds. By nine o’clock we reached the saddleback between Mawenzi and Kibo, where a strong north wind was blowing, and both peaks were covered with clouds. “The porters now began to complain of their hearts and chests. How ever, by 2 p.m., trudging over sandy wastes, we reached the caves that nestle at the foot of Kibo. Here we all had tea and bread and butter round a camp fire, firewood and water having been carried from our last camp at Peter’s Hut. The porters took up their quarters for the nignt in the big cave, and my tent, was pitched at the back of tho cave. “That evening as the clouds lifted I took a good photograph of Kibo and Mawenzi just as the sun was setting, but in doing so I was chilled to the bone. The sunset colours behind the peaks were gorgeous. In the night I had little sleep owing to the hign altitude bringing on snow-sickness. Having wrapped ourselves in everything that could give warmth we Ftarted at four o’clock in tho morning by the light of a lamp. “'When the dawn came we left the limp behind, for our breathing had become so short that we had to stand every few yards to get our breath. As wc climbed we left behind all our impediments; a sandwich box, fieldglasses, a sunshade, a heavy coat, aud a second camera. About one o’clock , wo reached the summit. } “Towering above us was a massive ' I cliff of sparkling ice decorated with j | icycles, and caved, shelved, and terraced most beautifully. Through a break we reached the edge of the crater .which cradles a field of snow. On the right the big cliff of icc flanked the crater, and on the left were pillars of ice shining bluish-green in tho sun. As j we gazed on the scene of dazzling f white one of the native said: ‘This is I God’s house. There is no house in all ! the world clean but this one.’ j “Our return journey was a down | ward glide, and we reached the caves i at 4 p.m. in an hour. We spent the night at Peter’s Hut, and the next day reached our bungalow, where for jfour days I was nursed in bed by iny mother while my frost-bitten and sunburned face recovered. My bandaged iace looked as if I had returned from a field of battle instead of the peaceful heights of Kibo.”