Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/188

136 'Mitteilungen,' and a short English notice of the same may be found in the 'Alpine Journal,' vol. xii. page 163.

Shortly after this the Hermitage Company, Limited, was formed, and the Hermitage Hotel erected near the terminal face of the Mueller Glacier. This first Alpine hotel of New Zealand was not built without many serious difficulties, and the ultimate success of the undertaking speaks volumes for the perseverance of the enthusiastic manager, Mr. F.F.C. Huddleston. This gentleman has made various excursions on the Mueller and Hooker Glaciers since the building of the Hermitage, and possesses an intimate knowledge of the Alpine district around the hotel. He has, with a party of two others, penetrated, I understand, as far as the junction of the Empress Glacier on the Hooker, and has since effected the passage of the Ball Pass from the Tasman to the Hooker Glaciers.

In 1886 the author began his visits to the districts with properly equipped Alpine parties, the results of which expeditions have been given in the foregoing pages.

In 1889 the Government surveys were extended to the Mueller and Hooker Glaciers, under Mr. Brodrick, a gentleman whose capability and never-failing pluck in carrying out his work in such rough country is only equalled by his modesty concerning his Alpine achievements, which are necessarily incidental to his profession in the district.

Those of my readers who are acquainted with survey and topographical work amongst the Alps will appreciate the results of but two seasons' work in the map of the four great glaciers appended to this book. Climbers will be interested to know that amongst difficult points attained by Mr. Brodrick are the saddles at the head of the Mueller Glacier, that connecting the Murchison and Classen Glaciers, the lower summit of the Hochstetter Dome, and a peak of 8,015 feet on the Liebig Range.

In 1890, Mr. Malcolm Ross, of Dunedin, a gentleman who has done much travelling and some exploring in the Southern Lakes district, and had tried his 'prentice hand upon Mount Earnslaw, visited the Tasman Glacier in company with