INJURED CLIMBER FLOWN TO HOSPITAL

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29713, 5 January 1962, Page 8

INJURED CLIMBER FLOWN TO HOSPITAL

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, January 4. An injured climber was flown to Frankton Hospital, near Queenstown, on Wednesday after a rugged two-day struggle by fellow climbers who cut a track through dense bush to carry him to an airstrip. And the climber, Mr Harry Sharman. aged 31, of 61 Ometa road, New Plymouth, who is nursing a broken ankle, is a grateful man.

“The boys really worked like galley slaves to get me out,” he said today. Mr Sharman is a member of the Taranaki Alpine Club, and on Monday he and three other members set out to traverse the north branch of the Wilkins Valley, about 45 miles north-west of Wanaka.

The party was on top of Mount Perseus (about 6000 ft) when rain set in. The climbers decided to come down and about 5000 ft were inching dowm a steep snow and scrub-covered slope.

Mr Sharman was leading when he slipped and fell about 20ft. He rolled over several times, breaking his left ankle. It took the rest of the party nearly four hours

to bring him back to camp on a stretcher made of pack frames and ice picks. Back at camp one of the climbers then sought help at Jumboland Flat, where the Otago Tramping Club had its headquarters. He then went to Mount Albert Station, travelling through the night and arriving at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Three horses were brought up by the station owner to the club’s camp where a rescue party of trampers and climbers had been organised. Mr Sharman’s injury prevented him riding and he was again carried on a stretcher.

At 3.30 p.m. on Tuesday the party set off, cutting a new track through the bush to Top Forks. They reached it after four hours of hard going and camped there that night. The next day, because Mr Sharman was still unable to ride, they decided to fiy him out. He was taken to an airstrip five miles away and Sown to Frankton Hospital by Southern Scenic Air Services.

Mr Sharman expects to be discharged from hospital this week-end.