Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/140

94 'shocking state of repair' of these lower slopes, and seemed to lose his nerve entirely, though he is accustomed to work on the higher beats in mustering, &c., and he declared his intention of going no farther than the bivouac at 7,400 feet, which we reached in the afternoon. We at once saw that it would be useless and dangerous to persuade him to join us in the final assault, for if his self-reliance failed on these lower slopes, what would the state of his nerve be on the upper ice work where so much step-cutting would be necessary? Dixon and I knew that we ought not to try to ascend the peak alone, that such work as we—two guideless amateurs—were about to attempt, would not be looked upon with favour by such a body as the English Alpine Club; but we were so tired of knuckling under to Aorangi that we were becoming desperate, and we decided to try conclusions without a third man.

Two hours of excavation work removed two feet of snow and eighteen inches of ice from our bivouac, revealing the faithful 'Aurora' stove and sundry potted meats left twelve months before by Harper and myself, and soon we had the tent pitched and were snug for the night.

At three o'clock on the Saturday morning Dixon and I crawled out of our sleeping-bags, and by 4 we were on the snow slopes, determined to make a vigorous attack upon the peak which had so long defied us.

Two hours on fairly good snow slopes and a scramble over a nasty slab-like face of rock, and once again the plateau, and that glorious scene of Aorangi and Tasman, were before us.