THE COPLAND PASS
As seen from the Hermitage, the Southern Alps form an apparently
impassable barrier between Canterbury on the east and the Province
of Westland lying between the mountains and the western sea. There
are certainly no coach roads or bridle tracks across the snow, but
with the help of a guide, a good walker, however inexperienced in
mountaineering, can without much difficulty cross the mountains by
one of the passes or saddles which divide some of the high peaks.
Accordingly, early in April, I was ready to cross the Copland Pass
with a guide who was returning to Westland--the same guide who last
year took me on the Franz Josef glacier.
Among the mountains the weather is always an uncertain quantity,
and the day fixed for leaving the Hermitage was hopelessly wet,
so we had to wait. The next day was fine, so in the afternoon we
started and walked along the track for seven miles up the valley
to the Hooker Hut, hoping to spend one night there and go on next
day. All that night rain poured in torrents and the wind howled
round the hut in furious gusts. Now this hut with its framework
of wood looks very fragile, and as it rocked and shook me in my
bunk all night I wondered would it stand the strain. I was assured
in the morning that it was built on very solid foundations and
anchored firmly to the rock, and not at all likely to be blown
over. That day and the following night the wind and rain continued,
so we left the hut and tramped back to the Hermitage and there
stayed for another two days.
On a beautiful sunshiny afternoon we tried again, and as we walked
up to the hut, Mount Cook shone pink in the evening glow, the sky
behind the mountains and away southwards down the Tasman Valley was
blue and clear, with a few dainty clouds, and there seemed every
prospect of fine weather. During the night up sprang the wind, and
it was blowing hard as we left the hut to have a look at the pass.
From the Hooker Hut a rough track leads up and over the tops of
rocky ridges, where sometimes there is no track at all, but you
must climb with hands as well as feet, and on this particular day
the wind was so strong that I could only just manage to stand or
breathe, and was glad to be securely roped to my guide and know
that if I did fall it would not be far. After two hours' climbing,
we had sleet driving against our faces to contend with as well as
wind, and higher up a snowstorm was raging, so back we turned, and
were glad to reach the shelter of the hut once more.
Snow fell round the hut during the night, but cleared off the
next morning, and soon after nine o'clock we made another start.
The day was quite still, hardly a blade of grass moved, masses of
white fleecy clouds floated round and above the mountains, and
as the sun grew stronger, light mists rose from the valley below
us, and scattered like thin gauze among the clouds. The Hermitage
showed clearly in the valley, its white wall and red roof in sharp
relief against a background of dark green and brown hillside; in
front of the Hermitage the wide-stretching grey shingle of the
Tasman river-bed, with the river apparently running uphill towards
Lake Pukaki, very blue and distinct forty miles away, and having
the curious effect of a lake up in the sky; behind the lake,
brown mountains sprinkled with snow showing plainly against flat,
indigo-coloured clouds, and over all a clear dome of pale blue.
Climbing up the track was easy work on such a quiet morning, and we
had at first no use for the rope.
After the rock-ridge come snow-slopes, where there is always the
possibility of slipping, so the guide put me on the rope and went
ahead, kicking steps in the soft snow, or cutting them with his
ice-axe where the snow was frozen. We went along the edges of deep
crevasses and past lovely ice-caverns, where fringes of glittering
icicles guard the entrances to blue recesses in the white ice, and
up one short ice wall, where hand holes were cut as well as steps,
and I climbed with hands and feet from one step to the next, with
the help of my axe stuck firmly in the ledge above.
At twelve o'clock we gained the summit, 7,000 feet above sea level,
and found a narrow rock-wall, a succession of sharply toothed
rocks, too sharp for snow to lodge on them, standing with their
bases in the snow. We stood there, beside the rocky wall, with one
hand in Westland and the other in Canterbury. It was now a radiant
day of brilliant sunshine and deep blue sky, and we were surrounded
by white peaks towering majestically into the blue heaven. Looking
back, we had a fine view of Mount Cook and the Mount Cook Range,
striking off at right angles to the main Divide. Mount Cook
stood at the head, very snowy and beautiful, and the mountains
of that range were a series of sharp rocky peaks, with patches
of last year's snow on their summits, and a powdery sprinkling
of fresh snow reaching far down their sides. Looking along the
main Divide to the south, were peaks of rock and snow between us
and the whiteness of Mounts Footstool and Sefton. These giants of
respectively over nine and ten thousand feet rise up grandly from
the valley--their steep, snowy summits glittering in the sunlight,
then rough ridges of rock alternating with glacier and snowfield,
falling away by degrees to the sheer mountain side of brown rock
and sombre green bush. Beyond Sefton and at right angles to the
main range were more peaks of rock and snow; facing us were other
mountains; far below lay the Copland Valley, a silver stream
flowing through it, and behind the brown peaks opposite, half
hidden by billowy white clouds, we had a distant glimpse of the
blue sea. The whole scene was as fair and wonderful as anyone could
wish for.
[Illustration: MOUNTS SEFTON AND FOOTSTOOL FROM COPLAND PASS.
_To face page 132._]
There are higher and grander mountains in other parts of the world,
but perhaps none more satisfyingly beautiful than the New Zealand
Alps, which always give one a happy feeling that they are exactly
right, and could not possibly be altered for the better.
Our next move was the descent into Westland. My guide stood in
Canterbury and hauled me over the summit like a sack of potatoes,
and then told me to slide down on to a narrow ledge, where I had
for my only hand-holds rock thickly glazed with ice; and then
to stand upright in snow which, apparently, had no bottom but
infinity: not altogether liking the look of it, I rashly said,
"I can't," and was answered instantly and very firmly with, "You
must." So I had to make the best of it, and with the rope to
steady me, found it quite simple after all.
When the guide had scrambled over, he again took the lead, and went
forward through the soft snow, kicking steps in a long steep slope,
which led us out on a stretch of rough moraine, where fragments of
rock of all shapes and sizes, with knife-like edges, lay scattered
thickly on the mountain side. You learn to walk cautiously on such
rocks, as their sharp edges hurt even through strong boots, and not
infrequently one treads on a loose stone, and gets an unexpected
tumble and a few bruises. Great boulders succeed the moraine, and
here we trod on crisp grass, and found a few late white lilies
and mountain daisies still in flower. Concealed by loose stones
under a particularly huge boulder were cups and a billy. A fire
was soon lighted, and we had an excellent lunch of tea and sardine
sandwiches. Over our heads flew a couple of keas in plumage of red
and green; beyond a steep precipice close at hand thundered a high
and sparkling waterfall, while all round us towered the mountains
in solitary grandeur.
One great charm of mountaineering in New Zealand is its
loneliness; you feel that for the time the whole world is yours to
enjoy--the beauty and the wonder are for you alone.
Right among the Alps there are only two hotels--one on either
side--from which it is possible to begin climbing, and if a party
sets out to go from one side of the mountains to the other, the
fact is known by wire immediately they have started, and news of
their arrival is anxiously awaited, and if any delay occurs, an
"urgent" telegram is sent round asking for news, so that, wherever
you may be, you are always protected by the thoughts of friends
from east and west. Not many people have yet discovered the
Southern Alps, very few even among the New Zealanders themselves
realise how big and marvellous a playground they have in all the
Alpine district: in whatever direction you go, you see peaks that
no one has yet climbed, and tracts of forest and mountain that
are completely unexplored. To climb at all in New Zealand, either
on glacier or mountain, you need some share of the spirit of
adventure, for you never know at the beginning of the day what you
will have done by the end of it; always you must have confidence
in your guide, and in your own feet and powers of endurance.
There are no planks laid across crevasses or ropes fixed in steep
places up the mountains--everything is entirely unspoiled, and the
mountains stand as they have done through the centuries before
any white man set foot in New Zealand. Until this season there
had never been a serious accident to any climber in the Southern
Alps, but last February--on February 22nd, 1914--as an experienced
English climber and two of the Hermitage guides were descending
Mount Cook, they were overwhelmed by an avalanche, and all three
killed, and so sad a disaster has thrown a gloom over all this
season's climbing.
From the rock where my guide and I had lunch, a narrow and
well-defined track, made only last year, winds gradually down
for two or three miles over rough shingle and across many creeks
hurrying from the snows. The track leads away down into the valley,
winding in and out among the scrub, where snow grass flourishes,
waving creamy tassels above thick clumps of long, bright green
streamers; and the hillside is dotted with shrubs, gay with
brilliant berries in all shades of red and orange. Always from the
track are wonderful views of high, bush-covered hills, with snowy
peaks ever rising majestically behind the green.
The Alpine plants now give place to the familiar ferns and mosses
of the Westland bush, and suddenly the track enters the forest
and continues through it for another three miles, sometimes over
tree-roots, sometimes leading over rushing torrents where you jump
from one boulder to another, but in the main it affords an easy
path, until it comes out upon Welcome Flat--a two-mile expanse of
open grassy country, with the Copland River running through in many
turbulent streams. The streams were too high and swift for me to
ford, so my guide took me over on his back, and the water swirled
madly round his knees, while I was very safe and quite dry. After
the fords we had to leave the river, and strike again into the
bush along a disused track, where tree-trunks lay right across the
path, bush-lawyers and tree-ferns trailed in our faces, and our
feet were entangled in moss-grown roots, and brought up suddenly
by deep black hollows, where the wisest course was to sit down and
slide from one level to the next. By daylight I am sure this must
be an enchanting way through a wealth of forest greenery, but in
the dusk and at the end of a long day's tramp it meant a difficult
half-hour's scramble, and it was a relief to emerge into the open,
and find ourselves at a three-roomed Alpine hut where we stopped
for the night.
Close to this hut are pools of hot sulphur water, fed continually
by hot springs. The pools lie in an open space amid the bush;
trees and ferns and green mosses grow down to the water's edge,
and between the separate pools of bubbling green water is a wide
deposit of silica in varying shades of pink--emeralds in a setting
of garnets--and about the pools, steam constantly rising and
floating away over the forest. While the fire was being lighted,
soup made and peas boiled for dinner, I had a bath in one of the
pools, by the light of a lantern stuck on a convenient post, in
delightfully warm water, which kept rising in fresh bubbles all
over me as I bathed: a dim moon looked down from a cloudy sky,
and all was wrapped in the utter peace and quiet of forest and
mountain by night.
The following day was gloomy, wet and disappointing. All round
Welcome Flat rise mountains of rock and snow, behind green bush
sloping down to the river valleys; I saw no mountains--nothing but
trees and valleys below a line of white, impenetrable mist. I was
mounted astride on a horse whose back I shared with the packs--bags
of sacking filled with rucksack and other bundles, all carefully
covered with more sacking to keep them dry. The track leads always
through the forest, up and down among the trees, and over many
glacier-fed streams--so rough a track that we could only go at a
walking pace. When we came to particularly strong and swift-rushing
torrents I had to dismount, and, once safe on a big boulder in
midstream, I watched admiringly while his master led the horse
through the water, and let him scramble up the loose stones of the
opposite bank.
At the end of thirteen miles we arrived at a homestead, where it
seemed strange to exchange the mountain solitudes for the bustle
of farm life, with barking collie dogs, quacking ducks, crowing
"roosters," horses, cows and sheep, and people constantly coming
and going in and out of a comfortable house, standing in its gay
flower-garden, surrounded by green paddocks. We were hungry, and
very glad to eat an excellent dinner of roast duck and apple pie,
and I was content to rest by a glowing fire and go early to bed.
In the morning, we hired a second horse, and rode the last stage of
thirty miles at a good pace, with a long stop at another homestead
for lunch. This was a better day than the previous one, part sunny
and part gloomy, and I had good views of the mountains. After
a few miles, the road--for it is more than a bridle-track just
here--leaves the forest and comes out on a wide shingle flat. Among
the grey stones a river wanders in many devious branches. Some
of the streams were shallow, but one, where the current swirled
furiously along, was well over our horses' knees as we forded it.
On the further side of the river we stopped, for this is one of the
best view-points in all South Westland.
Looking eastward to the mountains, we saw, through floating
masses of white cloud, the peaks which I have learnt to know
from the other side of the Alps. Haidinger Peak showed square
and white against blue sky, and we had fleeting glimpses of
Mounts Cook and Tasman--the latter, a sharp snowy peak at the
head of the Fox Glacier. Below Mount Tasman the glacier curves
down in a broad sweep of white ice, between sombre green forests,
towards the river-valleys. From where our horses stood, the
wide river-bed--grey shingle with silver streaks of water--made
a spacious foreground to the mountains. All about us were
low-growing, green shrubs, and tall, feathery, white sprays of
"toi-toi" grass. On our left, looking down the river, were low,
bush-covered hills, separated by broad gaps, where, only a few
miles distant, several rivers flow into the Tasman Sea.
To-day's ride was not lacking in excitement. The previous night
there had been a high gale, the telephone wire was down at the
fords; and in the forest, trees had been blown across road and
wire, one tree so big that it completely blocked the way, and we
had to get off our horses. The guide rapidly cut off straggling
branches with an axe, which he had brought in case of accidents;
we then climbed the trunk, and the horses easily jumped over.
We came safely to our journey's end at Waiho Gorge, by the Franz
Josef glacier, at nightfall, greeted cheerily by the light
streaming through the open door of the hotel, and by the kindly
welcome of my last year's friends.
[Illustration: GLACIER HOTEL, WAIHO GORGE. _To face page 143._]