Warning
This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.
Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.
New Zealand mountaineering, in common with that in other countries, has had its share of accident and tragedy. Local climatic hazards, variable ice conditions on the higher peaks, and a mountain river system subject to heavy flooding have taken their toll.