James Robert Dennistoun (7 March 1883 – 9 August 1916) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and airman in the First World War. He is known in particular as the first person to climb to the top of Mitre Peak / Rahotu.
Early life
Dennistoun was born the middle of the three children of Emily (née Russell, 1856–1937) and George James Dennistoun (1847–1921) who farmed at Peel Forest Station which is located near the settlement of Peel Forest near Geraldine on the South Island of New Zealand. His siblings were older sister Barbara and younger brother George Hamilton Dennistoun (23 September 1884 – 16 June 1977). Dennistoun attended the Collegiate School in Whanganui and later from 1894 to 1901, Malvern College in England.
After he left school, he took up sheep farming, while his younger brother George eventually went into the navy. He bought a farm at Hawea in April 1910 but ended up selling it in September 1910. He then bought another farm near Lumsden, in the South Island.
Mountain climbing
Attracted by the nearby mountains he became passionate about mountaineering, climbing Little Mount Peel at the age of 12, Big Mt Peel at the age of 14, Ben Nevis at 15, Ben Lomond at 16 and later a number of other of peaks in the Southern Alps including Mt Cook.
In 1908 he and 1905 All Black Eric Harper were the first to cross the 1899 m high pass in the Southern Alps that now bears his name. In March 1910 with Jack Clarke and Lawrence Earle he made first ascent of the Mount D'Archiac in the Southern Alps.
Mitre Peak
Undoubtedly his most famous climb, was the first known ascent of Mitre Peak / Rahotu. While only 1692 metres high, the mountain rises almost sheer from Milford Sound and up until that time was considered to be unclimbable.
In 1911 Dennistoun walked in to Milford Sound from Lake Te Anau over McKinnon Pass, and inquired among the track porters in the hope of finding someone to climb the peak with him. None of the porters had any climbing experience, but one of them, Joe Beaglehole (1875–1962), had read Scrambles among the Alps by noted climber Edward Whymper and was thus chosen by Dennistoun to accompany him.
During a sea voyage in the area with brother George in HMS Pioneer in 1909 Dennistoun had identified what he thought was a possible route but as he wasn't able to reconnoitre it he instead decided to take a route recommended by Donald Sutherland. Sunderland had in 1883 unsuccessfully attempted to climb the peak.
After rowing across in a boat to the mouth of Sinbad Gully at the base of the peak they starting climbing at 7.30am on 13 March 1911. Dennistoun and Beaglehole climbed via the south east-ridge through the bush until 300 metres short of the summit Beaglehole decided it was too difficult to continue and stopped. Dennistoun continued on alone up steep, smooth slabs of granite, to reach the summit at 1.15pm.
Descending back down Dennistoun rejoined Beaglehole and they continued with the descent. Unfortunately to avoid climbing back over the Footstool, they decided to descend straight into Sinbad Gully, which meant they had to resort to using a rope to lower themselves down bluffs. They eventually reached the valley floor in darkness, and it soon commenced to rain. With no camping equipment, they had no choice but to continue on until they reached the boat at 9.45pm, cold, wet and exhausted. They then rowed back across to spend the night at the hotel operated by Elizabeth Sunderland.
In 1914 Dennistoun's handkerchief was found in a small cairn on the top of the peak by Jack Murrell (1886–1918) and Edger Williams (1891–1983) when they completed the second ascent of the peak. When J.H. Christie and G. Raymond completed the third ascent in 1941, they found remains of the handkerchief, as well as two halfpennies left by Murrell and Williams.