Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/105

Rh to be found in a loose-fitting boating 'sweater' worn over the waistcoat.

For provisions we generally rely on fresh mutton, to be fried in the pan or boiled in the 'billy,' bread, biscuits, rice, oatmeal, Liebig's Extract, chocolate, tea, and so on. A pound or two of fresh butter is always a boon, and a few tins of marmalade, whilst to some men onions supply the oft-felt want of a vegetable diet.

There is another indispensable, which here, as in the Caucasus, is very necessary. I refer to the late Mr. Donkin's naïve requisite at the end of his Caucasus list—'infinite patience'; and to this may be added fixedness of purpose, determination, and perseverance.

Mount Cook, or Aorangi, from a climber's point of view, is a very difficult peak to climb, even to a height of 9,000 feet, which our party attained on this occasion, chiefly on account of the length and tiresomeness of its approach. It is simply part of a great ridge which branches off in a southerly direction from the main divide of the Southern Alps. From its three peaks, all situated on this ridge, diverge four main spurs (or arêtes, as Alpine men call them). From the lowest and southernmost peak (11,787 feet) descends to the Ball Pass the southern arête; from the middle peak (12,173 feet) the eastern arête, descending on to an enormous buttress which separates the Ball and Hochstetter Glaciers; from the northernmost and highest peak (12,349 feet) two arêtes diverge, the north-eastern, separating the Hochstetter and Linda Glaciers and terminating in the ice of the Great