Southern View: January 17, 2017

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4 Tuesday January 17 2017 Our People SOUTHERN VIEW Geoff Harrow Love of nature and adventure From climbing with Sir Edmund Hillary to walking on his own to the South Pole, Hillsborough resident Geoff Harrow spoke to Caitlin Miles about his achievements and receiving a Queen’s Service Medal HONOURED: Geoff Harrow received a Maori cloak when he retired from the Shearwater Trust. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN Firstly Geoff, congratulations on receiving your medal. I was quite astonished, it was quite a surprise. Really? Did you know that you had been nominated for it? I was told someone had nominated me at the end of October. I’m not sure who it is but I was a little embarrassed because, while I had worked hard for mountaineering and conservation and skiing, so have a hell of a lot of other people. There should be a couple of thousand other people that I know of that should deserve it just as much or more than me. How did you get started in conservation work? Well, I was always a bit of a wanderer. We lived in Upper Riccarton near the airport and we would go up around the countryside setting rabbit snares and collecting, dear I say it, terrible things like collecting bird eggs! I even collected bird eggs from the main runway at Christchurch Airport. I’ve always been interested in birds. I started off making a birds’ egg collection, which is a terrible no-no these days, but a lot of kids did when I was at Riccarton School. I’ve always looked at the Port Hills and tried to get my brothers and sisters to take me there and they rarely would but, as I got older, I went with school friends and I could see the mountains way out to the west. We had a school trip to the West Coast and we came right through Arthur’s Pass and I saw snow up on the mountains and glaciers and thought, oh, isn’t that amazing and that I’d love to get up in that country, but I was a bit small to do that at that stage. So I had an interest from a very early age, but I’ve been a member of Forest & Bird since 1938, and I’m 90 now so 79 years. You’ve also been interested in the mountains for a long time? I climbed Mt Oxford when I was about 12 and when I got to high school, I met up with other like-minded kids interested in tramping and one of them, his father, was a member of the mountaineering club and we went up to the Waimakariri in the third form (year 9) and we were right up there and it was quite something. We saw these back country huts so they were places to stay and the people that owned the huts said you kids should belong to the club because you’re using our facilities and very shortly after that I joined the mountaineering club, in 1945 I think it was. Did you work in the conservation sector? No. This was purely just a hobby. I worked for medical supplies’ companies. The whole of my life was spent in the marketing of research medicines to doctors and chemists. I’ve been retired for 32 years now. Pack a it ’ s Picnic, Island Time! 0800 436 574 www.blackcat.co.nz Discover walking tracks, native birds, penguins, the swimming beach and shipwrecks, all on the island that’s only 15 minutes from Christchurch! Start Exploring Otamahua/Quail Island today! DEPARTS: LYTTELTON QUAIL ISLAND Oct – Apr 10.20am 3.30pm Dec – Feb 10.20am & 12.20pm 12.30pm & 3.30pm FARE: adult $30 child $15 return CRUISES LYTTELTON & AKAROA HEAT PUMP SALE NOW ON! Amazin’ SUMMER Specials!! • We will offer you the best quality brands and option of heat pump for your home/business • Providing Heat Pump solutions for over 14 years to Cantabrians • We personally guarantee all our products & installs for 5 years (providing annual maintenance has been completed) Phone us today for your free consultation & quote 41A SHAKESPEARE RD, WALTHAM PHONE 03 366 0525 www.enviromaster.co.nz “A local team for local people” SKILL STANDS OUT N0.1 CONSULTANT FOR HARCOURTS CANTERBURY SINCE 2012
SOUTHERN VIEW Tuesday January 17 2017 5 leads to New Year’s honour You were a foundation member of the Craigieburn Valley Ski Club as well? I suggested to the mountaineering club that there were quite a group of young members who had their own set up and I was working in some of the sheep stations in the high country, Flockhill in particular and Mt White. In the Craigieburn Valley, they asked if I could show them how I get through that valley. I was a director for the Mt Hutt ski field for about 12 years and involved in the development right from the beginning. I was very lucky to get a trip to the Himalayas with Ed Hillary in 1954 with the New Zealand Alpine Club. That’s incredible, how did you manage to do that? They were calling for applications and I put my name forward and got on the team. What was that experience like? It was a very big challenge. We were in the Barun Valley mapping our climb and having a look at Makalu, the fifth highest mountain in the world. We got pretty high up that and then Ed Hillary collapsed, he was very sick and also had broken ribs SO CLOSE: A view of Mt Makalu, which is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas, 19 km south-east of Mt Everest. Geoff Harrow nearly conquered the mountain on a climbing expedition with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1954. because he helped one of our team out of a crevasse. He collapsed at about 22,000ft (6705m) and we had to stop and get him off the mountain. So that was the end of climbing Makalu. But the highest peak we climbed was Baruntse, which is about 23,000ft (7010m). Have you ever gone back and tried to climb Makalu again? I went back with my wife on a tramping trip. I didn’t get a second chance to climb those, but I went down to the Antarctic on a biological expedition for four months in 1965 or 1966, and we were studying penguins and I got a trip to the South Pole. There were a lot of planes going down there and I got asked if I’d like to go. I was lucky to get on that trip. The planes were C130 Hercules and they pulled up just by the pole station and the navigator that was on the trip said this wasn’t quite the South Pole. It was about 1km away, so I walked to the South Pole alone. You must have had quite a few ‘pinch yourself moments.’ What was it like rediscovering hutton’s shearwater birds? My wife and I were on holiday up in Kaikoura staying with Ivan Hislop. He found out that we were interested in seeing all the water birds and suggested some things that we could do. I asked if there were any mutton birds or hutton’s shearwater colonies on the Kaikoura coast and he said not on the coast but up in the mountains there were. I was astonished, there was little known about hutton’s shearwaters so I went and had a look. That was about 50 years ago and I have been working with them ever since. You’ve mentioned your wife a bit, how did you meet? We met at Craigieburn Valley Ski Club. I told her I was one of the founders of the club and she came up and we met and we’re still together almost 60 years later. We both still ski, we skied last winter at Mt Hutt and Coronet Peak. She’s joined me and encouraged me with the work and things I’ve done. Do you have children that are interested in the outdoors too? My son Paul does a lot of skiing and a lot of hunting. But he came with me on one trip and just as we were going over a very steep waterfall, a huge rockfall came through – several hundred tonne – rocks as big as pianos came smashing through us. There were five in our party, including two 12-year-olds, one of them being Paul. Not one of us got a mark on us. I was terrified and wanted to turn round. My brother-in-law was with us and he was a pretty cool customer. He said ‘look Geoff, it’s all over and you’ve got some pretty important work to do while you’re here.’ It was a near miss but we did carry on. Sell your home for a premium! Text “MIKEPERO” to 268 and instantly receive your FREE copy of my latest seller’s guidebook that will make you thousands extra when you sell your property. * texts may cost .20 cents depending on your current text / mobile plan Shady Attia Mike Pero Cashmere 03 423 9862 • 021 021 69996 shady.attia@mikepero.com www.mikepero.com Mike Pero Real Estate Ltd Licensed REAA (2008) F45 8-Week Challenge starts 6th Feb 2017! • 8 weeks of unlimited training • Each workout supervised by Personal Trainers • Daily meal plans & recipes • Weekly nutritional tips and videos • Online seminars • 45-point plan to guarantee results! • One on One consultation with F45 Trainer • Lionheart Heart Rate Monitor (valued at $89 rrp) • 3 Body Scans The F45 Challenge can help you DEFINE a fitter and healthier you. Before After Before After Only $539 + Free January TEAM TRAINING LIFE CHANGING For more info contact us TODAY at: christchurch@f45training.co.nz & 022 657 9433 or ferrymead@f45training.co.nz & 022 188 0850
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