Three Injured Climbers Flown To Hospital

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30026, 10 January 1963, Page 8

Three Injured Climbers Flown To Hospital

Three climbers injured when a rode avalanche smashed into the Pioneer Hut, at the head of the Fox Glacier, early on Monday morning, were flown to the Westland Hospital, Hokitika, yesterday after spending Tuesday night on the glacier because their rescue plane could not take off in bad weather.

Mr P. F. Dyer, of Lower Hutt, who was pinned under a boulder for eight hours after the avalanche struck, spent a cold night in the aircraft, a ski-equipped Cessna, with the pilot, Mr J. Stokes, and members of the rescue team. During the night, when temperatures dropped well below zero, the aircraft’s engine was started every two hours in an attempt to warm the cabin. Mrs Nancy Cawley, of

Christchurch, who suffered a broken collarbone, was flown out in a second flight yesterday, together with Mr K. McLeod, of Lower Hutt, who suffered a sprained ankle. As soon as the aircraft landed at Fox Glacier at 6 am. after its first flight. Mr Dyer was transferred to a Dominie aircraft and taken to Hokitika, where he was admitted to the Westland Hospital. He is suffering from a broken thigh, a broken ankle, and a minor fracture of the pelvis. His condition was reported by the hospital last evening as fair. Mrs Cawley and Mr McLeod were flown from the Fox Glacier airstrip to Hokitika on an ordinary service flight, and were admitted to the hospital at 12.30 pm Their condition is satisfactory. and they will probably be able to leave the hospital this morning, according to the hospital authorities. Cause Of Avalanche A lightning strike on the rock ridge above the Pioneer Hut on Sunday evening is thought to be the ca use of the avalanche Which damaged the hut, rather than the heavy rain which fell. Those who were in the hut remember the lightning striking on Sunday evening, and consider that it probably caused foe avalanche. Bringing the injured Mr Dyer from the hut to the aircraft on Tuesday evening proved no easy task. He was put in the aircraft at 9 45 p.m. after he had been lowered 150 ft from foe hut ridge on to the glacier in a rope sling. During the night the six men who helped in getting Mr Dyer tn the aircraft took turns at sheltering in the fuselage, and for the rest of the time sheltered in a snow cava dug on the lee ride For’them, the night was a long one. Fog which swirled around the head of the glacier early yesterday morning seemed likely to prevent foe Cessna from taking off, and plans were made at 8 am. for a rescue party to tramp from the Fox Hotel at dawn, in case foe aircraft was grounded. However, when

the Dominie aircraft, piloted by Mr B. Waugh, flew over the glacier at daybreak to investigate the rescue party’s movements, the Cessna was just tai ing off on its first flight. Return To Glacier As soon as Mr Dyer had been transferred to the Dominie, the Cessna returned to the head of the glacier, taking Messrs L. Mumford, formerly a guide at the Franz Josef Glacier. A Ure. a ranger based at Franz Josef. J. Sweeney, a former guide at the Fox Glacier, and Constable S. D. F. Reid, of Whataroa. They joined the other members of the rescue party flown in on Tuesday—Dr W. Roes, and Messrs M Bassett, N Hatchwell. P. McCormick. S Graham, and H. Snaddon. On its second flight from the glacier, the Cessna took Mrs Cawley and Mr McLeod, who for most of the night had sheltered with others in the remains of Uie Pioneer Hut. Members of foe rescue party had then to be flown out, and Mr Stokes called the Hermitage by radio to ask for help from another skiequipped aircraft piloted by Mr J. Evans. This aircraft *wm not needed, however, and the whole of the rescue party was flown out by the Cessna by 12.30 pm.