CHAPTER III
FIRST ATTEMPT TO CLIMB AORANGI
First impressions—Swagging—The Hochstetter Glacier—Defeat—The perils of river crossing
'To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.'
It was on March 24, 1886, that I left Christchurch, in company with my cousin, Mr. C. D. Fox, on my first visit to the great Tasman Glacier and Mount Cook, or Aorangi.[1]
I often look back now with feelings of amusement at the audacity with which we determined to make our first attempt to scale the great monarch of the Southern
- ↑ The Maori name of Mount Cook is 'Aorangi,' or, more properly, 'Ao-Rangi.' The commonly accepted meaning of the term is 'Sky-piercer,' but as the Maori language admits of many varieties of translation, each version hovering about the region of true meaning, it is only natural that authorities should differ as to the correct construing of the word.
One good Maori scholar, whose reputation as such is almost pre-eminent, gives the poetical translation of 'Light of Day'—a singularly beautiful one, for it is the first peak to catch the morning light and the last to show the glow of evening.
Another very well-known Maori scholar, the Rev. J. W. Stack, assures me that the most reasonable interpretation that can be put upon the word 'Ao Rangi' is 'Scud Peak'; and this is a singularly apt one, for the prevailing nor'-west winds always cause condensation and the gathering of cloud-banners about the higher parts of the mountain. 'Heaven-piercer' and 'Cloud-piercer' are also often used, but are to a certain extent fancy names.
