Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/130

 

CHAPTER IX

FIFTH ATTEMPT TO CLIMB AORANGI

Avalanches—The bivouac again—First attempt repulsed—Second attempt—The Great Plateau—The Linda Glacier—Hard work step-cutting—The terrible couloirs—Victory at last—Descent by lantern-light—Back to civilisation

Are not the mountains, waves, and skies a part
Of me and of my soul, as I of them?
Is not the love of these deep in my heart
With a pure passion?

 

Whymper was eight seasons climbing the Matterhorn. Dent made innumerable attempts ere he conquered the Aiguille du Dru—why should we despair about Aorangi?

We certainly were at a great disadvantage as compared with Swiss mountaineers; we had to begin at the very bottom rung of the ladder, having no trained guides. But I am confident that if we had been as many years climbing with guides as we have been without them we should be far less proficient mountaineers.

Probably our case is a unique one, and I doubt if there exists another instance where two or three novices—at any rate at ice work—have banded themselves together and gone systematically into heavy Alpine work 'right away' (as the Americans say), doing all