In Southern New Zealand the line of perpetual snow is much lower than it is in the Alps of Europe. It varies, of course, in different parts of the range; but generally speaking, a mountain 12,000 feet high in New Zealand carries as much snow and ice as one of 15,000 feet in the Swiss Alps, and New Zealanders point with pride to glaciers comparable to the Aletsch and the Mer de Glace. On the west, some of the great ice-streams descend to within seven hundred feet of sea-level, and below the line of perpetual snow the steep declivities are covered with a thick and tangled forest, extremely difficult to penetrate, where tree ferns grow luxuriantly in the depths of the gorges. The region is one of the wettest and most thickly wooded in the world; and it is a region that might have lain long unexplored, except in those few spots where gold has been found, had it not been for the growth, about seventy years ago, of the passion for mountaineering, which has carried British climbers all over the earth in search of places where their prowess could find a field for its display. The first who forced their way into it were some New Zealand Government surveyors in 1862.
The first mountaineer to attempt Aorangi was my friend the Rev. W. S. Green of Dublin (now one of the most honoured veterans of our own Alpine Club), who had all but reached the summit when nightfall and bad weather forced him to turn back. After him came some bold New Zealand climbers and Mr. E. A. Fitzgerald. One of the former, Mr. T. C. Fyfe, with his companions, George Graham and J. Clark, reached the very top of Aorangi in 1894. Among these native mountaineers Mr. Malcolm Ross has been one of the most daring and most persevering. I had the pleasure, at Wellington, New Zealand, a year and a half ago, of listening to a most interesting description which he gave of his adventures and those of his comrades, and could realize from it the dangers as well as the hardships which the climber has to face in New Zealand. The weather, on the west coast especially, can be awful, for fierce storms sweep up from the Tasman Sea, that most tempestuous part of the Pacific, whose twelve hundred miles furnished the twelve hundred reasons why New Zealand declined to enter the Australian Federation. The base of operations is distant, for no alpine hotels and hardly any shelter huts have yet been built, such as those which the Swiss, German-Austrian, and Italian Alpine clubs have recently provided in their mountain lands. The New Zealand climber, who has been almost always his own guide, has sometimes to be his own porter also. And the slopes and glens, when one approaches the west coast, are covered with so dense a growth of trees and shrubs that progress is always slow and often difficult. No finer work in conquering nature has been done by climbers anywhere than here. But the guerdon was worth the effort. The scenery is magnificent, with a character that is all its own, for New Zealand landscapes are unlike not only those of our northern hemisphere, but those of South America also; and the youth of the Islands have been fired by the ambition to emulate those British mountaineers whose achievements they admire, as well as by a patriotic love for their own beautiful and fascinating land. I hope that the fresh and vivid descriptions Mr. Ross gives of the charms of New Zealand landscape, and of the scope which its peaks and glaciers afford for the energy and skill of those who find that the European Alps have now little that is new to offer, may draw to it more and more visitors from Britain.
February 2, 1914.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I |
| DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL |
| PAGE |
| Terra Incognita—An Experiment in Acclimatization—The Volcanic Mountains—The Thermal Region—Volcano of Ngauruhoe—The Southern Alps described—Physical and Economic Aspects—Influence upon Character—The Early Explorers—Green’s Historic Climb—First Ascents—Immunity from Accident |
| [1] |
| CHAPTER II |
| IN THE OLDEN DAYS |
| Across the Mackenzie Plains—The Alpine Lakes—The Cuisine en route—A Jehu in a Rage—The Old Hermitage—A Passing Storm—Provisioning a Camp—A Huge Moraine—Sub-Alpine Vegetation—Adding to the Larder—Crossing an Alpine River—We bivouac in the Valley—Feathered Visitors—In Tent in the Wilds |
| [24] |
| CHAPTER III |
| IN THE OLDEN DAYS—concluded |
| First Sight of the Hochstetter Ice Fall—An Alpine Panorama—Bad Weather—The Musings of a Lady Mountaineer—A Storm in Camp—An Acrobatic Feat—Return to the Hermitage—A Scramble on Sealy—First Meeting with Fyfe—An Avalanche from Sefton—On the Mountain-Side |
| [39] |
| CHAPTER IV |
| THE CONQUERING OF AORANGI |
| We arrange an Expedition—The Difficulties of Transport—Quicksands in the Tasman River—The Manufacture of Ski—Flight of our Porter—The Climb to the Bivouac Rock—Difficulties with the Cooker—Preliminary Step-Cutting—Plans for a Higher Bivouac |
| [52] |
| CHAPTER V |
| THE CONQUERING OF AORANGI—continued |
| The Joys of High Bivouacking—Caught in a Storm—Thunder and Lightning—We lower the Tent—A Cold Repast—Retreat—We lose our Swags—New Fashions at the Old Hut—Other Arrivals—A Cook in Trouble—Another Storm—I return Home |
| [65] |
| CHAPTER VI |
| THE CONQUERING OF AORANGI—continued |
| Another Attack—Digging out the Frozen Tent—Camp on the Plateau—Finding a New Route—Blocked by a Wall of Rock—Some Acrobatic Performances—Defeat once more—Finding the Lost Swags—Return to the Hut—A Fourth Attempt—Back to the Plateau—Climbing by Lantern-Light—Loss of an Ice-Axe—The Final Ice-Cap gained—Retreat once more—A Terrible Storm |
| [77] |
| CHAPTER VII |
| THE CONQUERING OF AORANGI—concluded |
| Green’s Route abandoned—Fyfe and Graham explore the Hooker Side—Camp on the Ice—Serious Work at a Schrund—A Long Couloir—Green’s Saddle gained—Difficult Rock-Work—Success at Last—The Descent—Falling Stones |
| [105] |
| CHAPTER VIII |
| ABOVE THE PLAINS |
| The Tararua Range—A Mountain Railway—Our Unknown Host—The Charm of High Places—Through the Beech Forest—Insects and Birds—Mr. and Mrs. Kohoperoa—A Botanist’s Paradise—The Old and the New—A Reverie on a Hill-Top |
| [116] |
| CHAPTER IX |
| DOWN IN THE VALLEYS |
| The Valley of the Mueller—A Trying Moraine—Our al fresco Camp—A Bivouac Dream—Retreat in the Rain—In the Valley of the Tasman—Reflections on being one’s own Porter—The Curious Kea—Dentistry at a Mountain Hut—An Evening under a Rock |
| [128] |
| CHAPTER X |
| AN ASCENT OF HAIDINGER |
| A Glacier Tramp—The Penguin Rocks—A Fairyland Grotto—Second Breakfast and some Reflections—Rock Avalanches—Beautiful Schrunds—A Sharp Arête—Scaling a Precipice—Zurbriggen’s Axe—A Difficult Ice Slope—A Problem solved by Rubber—On the Summit Ridge—A Splendid Panorama—The Descent—The Bivouac again |
| [144] |
| CHAPTER XI |
| AN INTERLUDE |
| Thunderstorm at the Hut—The Sun-bonnet Brigade—Our Habitation—The Housing Problem—Cooking al fresco—Cards and a Late Dinner—Memories of Boiled Mutton |
| [158] |
| CHAPTER XII |
| DE LA BÊCHE AND THE MINARETS |
| Mount De la Bêche—Early Attempts—An Historic Bivouac—Heroic Pluck and Endurance—View down the Valley—Reflections under a Rock—Caught in the Mist—Provisions run low—Moraines by Candle-light—Breakfast on a Summit—A Scene in Cloudland—Crossing a Bergschrund—First Ascent of the Minarets—A Quick Descent—Return to the Hut |
| [165] |
| CHAPTER XIII |
| ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ALPS |
| We decide to make a New Pass—Bivouac at Malte Brun—A Start by Moonlight—Early Morning on the Glacier—Dawn on the Pass—Rotten Rock and Broken Ice—Some Difficult Climbing—An Ice Fall and an Avalanche Shoot—We reach the Whymper Glacier—A Cannonade from the Dome—We explore New Country—West Coast Vegetation |
| [178] |
| CHAPTER XIV |
| ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ALPS—continued |
| An Uncomfortable Bivouac and a Frugal Meal—We start down the Valley—Through the Virgin Forest—Grandeur of the Scenery—An Interesting Discovery—Blocked by Gorges—A Veritable Fairyland—We bivouac on the River Bank—A Sleepless Night |
| [193] |
| CHAPTER XV |
| ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ALPS—concluded |
| An Adventure in the River—Dripping Mountaineers—The Sand-Flies have an Innings—On Short Commons—Wild Cattle in the Forest—Footprints on the Sands—Down the Broad Valley—A Habitation at last—Fyfe goes into Hospital—An Exciting Ride—Gillespie’s Beach—In a Miner’s Hat—Bivouac under a Rock—I recross the Alps alone—Back at the Hermitage |
| [202] |
| CHAPTER XVI |
| IN KIWI LAND |
| Early Expeditions—A Lost Explorer—The Aborigines—The Great Lakes—Primitive Navigation—The Grandeur of Te Anau—Over MacKinnon’s Pass—Views from the Summit—Mount Balloon in Dangerous Mood—A Bivouac in the Forest—Camp Cookery—Down the Arthur River—In Milford Sound |
| [215] |
| CHAPTER XVII |
| IN KIWI LAND—concluded |
| Some Unexplored Country—Discovery of New Glaciers—Camp on an Old Moraine—The Birds of Kiwi Land—A Spotless Glacier—Strange Bergschrunds—Difficult Step-Cutting—Ice-Glazed Rocks—An Exciting Glissade—Benighted—A Cold Bivouac—The Southern Stars—The Cross and the Bear—A Dreary Vigil—Camp again—Return Journey in the Rain—Countless Waterfalls—A Concert in Camp—The Lost Explorers |
| [236] |
| CHAPTER XVIII |
| THE FIRST CROSSING OF MOUNT COOK |
| Incidents en route—Digging out a Hut—On the Liebig Range—Dawn on Mount Cook—A Minor Peak—Elie de Beaumont—Defeated by the Weather—A Splendid Sunset—Keas again |
| [264] |
| CHAPTER XIX |
| THE FIRST CROSSING OF MOUNT COOK—continued |
| Testing a Leg—A Moonlight Ride—We start for the Traverse—Avalanches—The Rolling Mists—The Commissariat—The Plateau by Moonlight—Schrunds in the Dusk—A 3000-Feet Slope—On the Main Arête—Snow Ridges and Rocks—Magnificent Views—The Final Slopes—The Summit gained |
| [283] |
| CHAPTER XX |
| THE FIRST CROSSING OF MOUNT COOK—concluded |
| On the Summit of Aorangi—We commence the Descent—An Ice-Glazed Rock Arête—Suspended over a Precipice—A Sloping Chimney—An Ungraceful Descent—Graham loses his Hat—A Cold Wind—Down a Frozen Slope—Falling Stones and Ice—An Accident—Cutting Steps by Moonlight—The Final Bergschrund—Crevasses by Candle-Light—Our Second Sunrise—The Hermitage at last |
| [297] |
| INDEX |
| [313] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| Mount Cook, from a Tarn on the Sealy Range | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| Ruapehu from Ngauruhoe, looking through the Rift at the Side of the latter Volcano | [6] |
| Crater of Ngauruhoe, party on farther lip of Inner Crater through which clouds of steam rise 3000 feet | [10] |
| Kaufmann, Rev. W. S. Green, and Boss in New Zealand | [16] |
| Jack Clark, New Zealand Alpine Guide | [16] |
| Peter Graham, New Zealand Alpine Guide | [16] |
| The Hermitage, Mount Cook | [30] |
| Crossing the Hooker River in the Cage | [48] |
| Crossing the Tasman River, Dixon driving | [54] |
| Camp Cookery at Bivouac Rock, De la Bêche | [54] |
| The Mount Cook Bivouac | [66] |
| The Hooker River, Moorhouse Range in background | [74] |
| Camp on Plateau, during attacks on Mount Cook | [88] |
| Crossing the Murchison River—Fyfe and Turner | [88] |
| Elie de Beaumont, from Malte Brun Bivouac | [100] |
| Mount Cook from the Upper Tasman | [114] |
| Mount Darwin | [122] |
| Mount Sefton; the short white line at foot of dark moraine in middle distance is the Hermitage | [130] |
| Cooking Scones at Ball Glacier Camp | [140] |
| T. C. Fyfe, emerging from Murchison River | [140] |
| The Sun-bonnet Brigade, on Tasman Glacier Ice Cliff | [158] |
| On the Upper Tasman, Mount Darwin in background | [158] |
| De la Bêche Bivouac Rock | [166] |
| Crevasse on Tasman Glacier, from 400 to 500 feet deep | [182] |
| On Lake Te Anau | [222] |
| Homeward Bound, Sealy Range with Footstool of Sefton in background | [244] |
| Mount Walter, part of Elie de Beaumont on right | [272] |
| Above the Clouds: view from Mount Cook Bivouac; Tasman Glacier thousands of feet below; Leibig Range in background | [286] |
| Mount Tasman, from 11,000 feet on Mount Cook | [290] |
| A 3000-feet Slope, the dotted line indicates route to where the Zurbriggen Arête is reached | [296] |
| Summit of Mount Cook: First photograph of it taken: Graham, Turner, and Fyfe on summit | [296] |