195710
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195710 [2016/02/06 18:00] – [Your Walking Guide] kennettj | 195710 [2016/03/29 13:04] – [Seven Weeks in New Zealand -- Part VIII] kennettj | ||
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by Dot Butler. | by Dot Butler. | ||
- | The Almer hut is situated at the head of the Almer Glacier which makes a steep drop to join the Franz Josef Glacier about a thousand feet below. From a rocky platform a short way in front of the hut one gets an enormous sense of spaciousness. Away to the west extends a long horizon bounding the mist blue sea. In the fading twilight the slopes of the low hills are steeped in colours rich as a satin bower bird's wing. Back towards the east rises the snowy Main Range swathed in the lacy mist q of a summer evening, and the wide snow basin of the Franz Josef neve through which we had come that afternoon. But our eyes looked | + | The Almer hut is situated at the head of the Almer Glacier which makes a steep drop to join the Franz Josef Glacier about a thousand feet below. From a rocky platform a short way in front of the hut one gets an enormous sense of spaciousness. Away to the west extends a long horizon bounding the mist blue sea. In the fading twilight the slopes of the low hills are steeped in colours rich as a satin bower bird's wing. Back towards the east rises the snowy Main Range swathed in the lacy mist of a summer evening, and the wide snow basin of the Franz Josef neve through which we had come that afternoon. But our eyes looked |
down to where tomorrow' | down to where tomorrow' | ||
heard it calling. "Come down, you four little crawling creatures and see what happens." | heard it calling. "Come down, you four little crawling creatures and see what happens." | ||
- | The morning of 24th January dawned fine and calm. We weren' | + | The morning of 24th January dawned fine and calm. We weren' |
- | We got through the lateral broken ice and on to the glacier very successfully, | + | We got through the lateral broken ice and on to the glacier very successfully, |
George and Snow took off their boots and got into their sleeping bags and put their feet in their packs and their parkas over the top, and sitting on their boots tried to sleep. George sat partly sheltered by our excavation - it wasn't worth sitting right inside, as we found, because the water dripped in through the ceiling too much - and he says he slept well. He was the only one next morning with anything dry in his possession. Snow sat out on the ice, and the snow built up on his head and shoulders till he looked like a relic from Scott' | George and Snow took off their boots and got into their sleeping bags and put their feet in their packs and their parkas over the top, and sitting on their boots tried to sleep. George sat partly sheltered by our excavation - it wasn't worth sitting right inside, as we found, because the water dripped in through the ceiling too much - and he says he slept well. He was the only one next morning with anything dry in his possession. Snow sat out on the ice, and the snow built up on his head and shoulders till he looked like a relic from Scott' | ||
- | Now that our own voices were silent we became creepily aware of the noises around us. The glacier seemed alive and evil and monstrous shaken by inner growlings | + | Now that our own voices were silent we became creepily aware of the noises around us. The glacier seemed alive and evil and monstrous shaken by inner growling |
"Go back to sleep Snow. It's boulders rumbling down the watercourses under the glacier ice, | "Go back to sleep Snow. It's boulders rumbling down the watercourses under the glacier ice, | ||
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The weather was incredibly still. The sky, softly blue, seemed chastened and contrite after its stormy excess. The Minarets were breath takingly lovely with diaphanous swathed of white mist floating round their lower slopes. The whole of the western side of the Main Range, under its mantle of new snow, radiated tranquility and peace. But the eastern side, from the top of Grahams Saddle down to the Rudolph and then the Tasman, was a scene of complete and incredible wreckage. I have never seen so much destruction following a storm. The whole mountain side was scoured out. The snow couloirs we had climbed up only a few days previously were gouged out to the virgin rock. Huge rock avalanches had ploughed deep and dirty troughs down the mountain side and lay scattered in dark fans away below. As we gingerly climbed down, a whole face of the mountain dropped away in one terrific snow avalanche. | The weather was incredibly still. The sky, softly blue, seemed chastened and contrite after its stormy excess. The Minarets were breath takingly lovely with diaphanous swathed of white mist floating round their lower slopes. The whole of the western side of the Main Range, under its mantle of new snow, radiated tranquility and peace. But the eastern side, from the top of Grahams Saddle down to the Rudolph and then the Tasman, was a scene of complete and incredible wreckage. I have never seen so much destruction following a storm. The whole mountain side was scoured out. The snow couloirs we had climbed up only a few days previously were gouged out to the virgin rock. Huge rock avalanches had ploughed deep and dirty troughs down the mountain side and lay scattered in dark fans away below. As we gingerly climbed down, a whole face of the mountain dropped away in one terrific snow avalanche. | ||
- | Eventually we got down to the Tasman, then, as Whaka had unfortunately sprained his ankle, we sent George and Snow on ahead to tell the Mt. Cook bus driver at Ball hut that we might be about an hour late for the bus back to the Hermitage, and slowly came on our way. George went back with the bus, while Snow and a young Australian guide came back to meet us, and a special bus was sent back for us later (at our expense). We got down to the Hermitage and sent off telegrams and cablegrams to announce the fact that we were overdue and had been weatherbound | + | Eventually we got down to the Tasman, then, as Whaka had unfortunately sprained his ankle, we sent George and Snow on ahead to tell the Mt. Cook bus driver at Ball hut that we might be about an hour late for the bus back to the Hermitage, and slowly came on our way. George went back with the bus, while Snow and a young Australian guide came back to meet us, and a special bus was sent back for us later (at our expense). We got down to the Hermitage and sent off telegrams and cablegrams to announce the fact that we were overdue and had been weather bound in a hut for several days, then we went down to the Unwin hut for the night and caught the next day's bus to Christchurch, |
(And so ends what must be one of the most remarkable literary efforts ever to be associated with the " | (And so ends what must be one of the most remarkable literary efforts ever to be associated with the " |
195710.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/12 14:05 by tyreless