Recent Ascent.

A combined Wellington and Blenheim climbing party planned to attempt Tapuaenuku during the late summer season when the high rock ribs are clear and the mountain is free from snow.

Morning mists in the Hodder Valley.

Floods on the direct route up the Hodder River forced us into the Shin Valley. From a base-camp at 1,800 feet we climbed towards Tapuaenuku via The Pinnacle 8,860 feet, but our attempt was foiled by adverse weather, and the main party were compelled to return. During a second attempt by J. Magurk and the writer a severe electrical storm drove us back to the sheltered Shin Valley. We decided to adopt “siege tactics” in spite of the words of the wise old psalmist, “The high hills are the refuge of the wild goats.”

A third endeavour to enter the “promised land” proved successful and a high-level route brought us to the head of the Hodder Valley. In this alpine fastness, hidden away in a fold of the Red Hills, mountain sheep and chamois have found a natural sanctuary, and we envied them as they scrambled along the narrow ledges and splintered crags above their highland glen. Later, from the summit rocks of Tapuaenuku, we were rewarded with a view of the vastness of the wild domain.

Alongside pointed the needles on Mt. Alarm, across the wide cree basins rose the spires of the Mitre, below were the shattered knobs of the Red Hills and a maze of minarets and jagged rock outcrops—relics of volcanic action centred in this district aeons ago. The steep fall of the valleys from Tapuaenuku do not hold the glaciers and snow-fields of lesser peaks in our Alps, yet the heart of Marlborough has a rugged beauty of colourful scenic splendour which will always hold a charm for the lover of our high hills.