Mountaineers and their Explorations

PROFESSIONAL wanderers like Douglas of Westland and McKinnon of Milford have had few successors. To-day only ‘Arawhata Bill’ (William O’Leary) and occasional prospectors combine the pursuit of gold with the search for solitude of the back country.

Useful travelling was done from the nineties onwards by various amateurs. FitzGerald, the English climber, did good work with his guide, Zurbriggen, when they crossed the Divide near the Copland Pass, but extravagant claims that this was the first crossing of the Southern Alps could not be supported. Scalping of innocent mountain sum­mits continues to this day, but the ascent of a virgin peak does not necessarily mean that the conquerors have added any knowledge to the maps. The modern mountaineer, however, has a greater mobility than the surveyor, and the intelli­gent use of mountain-tops as panorama-points can fill in map details or alter existing inaccuracies.

Of those who opened up new country for a hobby the most persistent was perhaps J. R. Dennistoun. He was a sheep-run holder, and his object in life was to cross the Rangitata Divide to Westland. He made several attempts before he was successful, and then, when the Main Divide had been crossed, severe floods prevented the party making any further advance. Hungry and ex­hausted the men had to fight their way back over the range to settlement.

Dr. E. Teichelmann, with his guides, Graham and Clarke, did much valuable work in Westland. Roberts, the old surveyor, directed a lot of their activity from his office in Hokitika, so that the mountaineers brought back good information as well as alpine scalps.