Page:Through South Westland.djvu/339

Rh southern face of our mountain, it ended abruptly in a snow-saddle. We now knew, however, that what lay between us and Aspiring must be the head snow-fields of the Bonar glacier, from which rises the Waipara, a tributary of the Arawata river, which empties into Jackson’s Bay (West Coast). On rising early next morning we decided to make the col at the head of the river, and were rewarded by a beautiful view of the Waipara valley, and also of the main ice-fall of the Bonar glacier; but we found it impossible to get to our peak from this saddle. Our one hope now lay in returning some distance down the river and trying another saddle, which we hoped would give us access to the “névé” of the Bonar, over which we trusted to pick a route that would bring us to Aspiring.

“Accordingly, next morning we started on our final attempt, taking all camping gear with us. We climbed slowly up a good leading spur for some hours until reaching a height of between five or six thousand feet, where we decided on a spot suitable for a bivouac. The day was beautifully fine, with scarcely a cloud in the sky. After having made all preparations for camp, Clarke and I went on in the afternoon to the high saddle we were making for, and on which all our hopes lay in gaining access to the peak. We were all struck with the wonderful and beautiful views that surrounded us on all sides; and the amount of Alpine country, and the fineness of most of the peaks was much