ASCENT OF MITRE PEAK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 11, 14 January 1941, Page 7

ASCENT OF MITRE PEAK

FIRST SINCE 1914

WELLINGTON CLIMBERS’ SUCCESS

A successful ascent of Mitre Peak was made on January 5 by Messrs. J. H. Christie andG. P. Hayward, operating from Milford Hotel, states a radio message received by the general manager of the Tourist and Publicity Department. The last recorded ascent was made in 1914 by Edgar Williams and Guide Murrell. Mitre Peak was climbed in March, 1911, by the late Mr. J. R. Dennistoun, R.A.F. Both the latest successful mountaineers are Wellington men, and this is understood to be their first important climb together. Mr. Christie is assistant designing engineer in the Public Works Department, and lives at Ngatoto Street, Khandallah. He has done a great deal of climbing in the Otago Alps. Last year, accompanied by Mr. Shannon, he made the first complete crossing to the West Coast by Hector Pass. Hector crossed the pass in the early sixties, but did not reach the coast. Mr. Christie has climbed amongst other peaks Mount Christina, near the Homer Tunnel, and Mount Aspiring. Mr. Hayward is in business in Wellington and a resident of Muritai Street, Eastborne. He has climbed Mount Cook and many peaks round the Rees Valley, at the head of Lake Wakatipu. Though not ranking among the great giants of the Southern Alps, Mitre Peak, on account of its precipitous nature, provides special difficulties for climbers, states the Tourist Department. On one face it rises to its full height of 5560 feet practically sheer from the deep waters of the sound. The approach was made from Sinbad Gully, following the route taken by the previous party, and on reaching the original camp at the bush line, the climbers found the records left in 1914. Mitre Peak earns its name from the great similarity its summit bears to a bishop's mitre, and It is this feature, with its hare and weatherworn rock, that provides a formidable obstacle on the last lap of the climb. The peak is well known to the passengers of cruise ships which pass close beside its enormous bulk when voyaging to the head of the sound.