Mountaineering expeditions in the Southern Alps

A record of climbing expeditions in the Southern Alps made by Alister Duthie and other mountaineers from 1931 to 1934.

The first is a single group photograph of a party of eight, one of whom was A P Harper, leaving 25 Mile Hut in the Rees Valley in 1931/1932. Another copy of this print is in the collection at Photo Archive ref PAColl-8102-5-63 and it carries a caption naming each person in the party. The print in this album is surrounded by their signatures. The caption on the copy print also states that this photograph was taken on the occasion of the first New Zealand climbing camp.

The second expedition recorded took place from the 4th of January to the 10th of February 1934. Initially the party comprised Alister Duthie, Lella Davidson, and Greta Stevenson. It involved climbing mountains in the general vicinity of Mount Cook. They began by crossing the Copland Pass to Welcome Flat. At Waiho the party was joined by Kurt Suter who was working as a guide at Franz Josef Glacier. The party did much climbing which included Mount De la Beche, the Minerets of Mount Drummond, Mount Spencer, Glacier Peak, Mount Lendenfeldt, ending up at De la Beche Hut on January the 24th, at which point Lella Davidson left to return to Dunedin. The remaining three continued their climbing expedition during which they made the first crossing of the Southern Alps divide by way of Clarke Saddle, a high col at nearly 10,000 feet between Teichelmann Peak and Mount Bountier.

The third expedition recorded took place earlier from the 25th of December 1933 to the 2nd of January 1934 when Alister Duthie and W H W Walker made an usuccessful attempt on Mount Aspiring. They were foiled by the weather and their tent was "blown to bits."

However, from the 12th to the 19th of April 1934 a party consisting of Kurt Suter, R Pinney, and Alister Duthie climbed Mount Aspiring via the north-west ridge, and also climbed Plunket Dome and Cascade Saddle.

As well as photographs relating to these expeditions, the album contains many other images of mountain peaks and river vallies in the Southern Alps.

An article by Alister Duthie on the first crossing of the Southern Alps divide via Clarke Saddle is housed at Photo Archive ref PAColl-8102-7. It is from The New Zealand Alpine Journal, Vol 5, June 1934.

The crossing of the Southern Alps divide via Clarke Saddle was reported in the "Star." A photocopy of the report can be found in the collection at Photo Archive ref PAColl-8102-6-12.

Quantity: 1 album(s).