High, Middle and Low peaks of Cook over the Baker Saddle with the Hooker Glacier out of sight beyond. Sharp rock peak centre right is Dilemma, with La Perouse, one of our 10,000 footers to left. Mt Dampier, (~11,000ft) left of High Peak

As seen from above Gladiator. Part of the Douglas Neve to the centre left. The black void is the bluff below which lies the Douglas Glacier and retreatal lake. Some mighty avalanches used to fall here, and still do in winter.

~10,400 as seen from near The Hermitage (hotel).

Large and Huge

~10,150ft. as seen from track to the old Ball Hut along the Tasman Moraine. The first Peak Tania and I ever climbed. We came up from the Pioneer Hut on the other side reaching the ridge at the little peak to the left and walked along the ridge to the summit. About 1955.

Large and Huge

~10,100ft and Mt Elie de Beaumont ~10,400ft). We (with Dr Anne Connyngham and Dr Bernie Heine) climbed Minaretts in 1953 and Elie and Green 2 days later. During training for TAE in 1955 we skiied off the top of Elie and dog-sledged back to the old Maltebrun Hut in an hour.
In 1953 it took 12 hrs there and back.

Large and Huge

The Upper Fox Glacier on a ski mountaineering trip in about 1958, probably not a dozen people had skied here at that time. On left is Dr Dennis Fogg and Dr Philip Houghton, (now a well known anthropologist), at that time a couple of medical students. Behind are Mts Haast, Lendenfeldt, Tasman, and showing up from behind the Tasman-Vancouver ridge, is Cook.
I found being a summer guide here at at the Franz in my University days. was rather more enjoyable that being on the chain at the freezing works as many other students did!

It is not always like this. Once in 1954 Dan Bryant (who had been on Everest with Eric Shipton) and I fought our way up here in a blizzard with a visibility of five yards! Later on the "Guides Picnic" we came down in fog and snow from Pioneer Hut (to the left) with probably the most distinguished coterie of guides that have ever been put together, Mick Bowie, Harry Ayres, Murray Douglas, Peter MacCormack, Murray Cassidy, Dan Bryant and I and got temporalily lost. Harry, my ex boss at Waiho looked unhappy, "What do you think?". I pointed left. "Right on!" says Harry. "Come on, you lot!" and lead us unerringly down for half an hour to emerge on Chancellor Ridge.

Huge