Yet we were very loth to turn our faces away again from the grim giant who had defied us so long, and it was only with much reluctance that we decided to abandon the project. So for the third time I retired from the ramparts of Aorangi unsuccessful, on this occasion without even so much as an attempt.
We came down to the Hermitage once more, and after a day or two’s quiet rest yoked Dixon’s celebrated tandem up, crossed the Tasman River, thus cutting off thirty miles of our homeward journey, and reached Fairlie Creek in two days. Here I took the train, whilst Dixon and Johnson drove home. The drive down and back—500 miles—was accomplished in twelve days’ travelling with the same team of horses.
CHAPTER VII
FOURTH ATTEMPT TO CLIMB AORANGI
We reach the Great Plateau at last—Defeat again—The Crossing of the Ball Pass
‘Perge et perage.’
Once again, on January 4, 1890, in company with Mr. Arthur Harper, a gentleman who had then done two seasons’ climbing in Switzerland, I left Christchurch to try conclusions afresh with the monarch of the Southern Alps.
On this occasion we reached the Hermitage in two days from Christchurch, riding from Fairlie Creek, and crossing the Tasman River opposite Burnett’s Mount Cook sheep station. Here we were joined by Annan, who had already conveyed the bulk of our impedimenta to the Ball Glacier camp.
On arrival at this point I at once remarked that the ice of the Ball Glacier had risen above its customary level, and seemed to be encroaching in a lateral direction—a circumstance which undoubtedly points to a cycle of advance in the great body of the ice, to be registered at the terminal face in years to come.