ATTEMPT ON PEAK FAILS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30109, 18 April 1963, Page 8

ATTEMPT ON PEAK FAILS

Alps Crossing By Climbers (From Our Own Reporter) GREYMOUTH. April 17. Five Greymouth climbers failed at the week-end in their attempt to climb Elie de Beaumont, a major climb in the Southern Alps near the Tasman glacier, and finished up at the Hermitage from where they were flown back to the West Coast on Tuesday. The five were Gordon Howat, Michael Wilkinson. Alan Gill, Michael Scott and Terry Sweetman. They set out from Greymouth at 4.30 a.m. on Good Friday and drove to the Fox glacier where two ski-planes flew them to the head of the Tasman glacier. The party was landed in a foot of powdered snow which had fallen during the night. They then made their way to the Lendenfeld saddle (8000 ft above sea level) where they built an igloo from ice and snow and in tt spent Friday night. Wilkinson and Howat climbed Hochstetter Dome (9300 ft on Saturday morning, but the other three failed in their attempt to climb Elie de Beaumont.

When the five joined up again at the igloo, they packed their gear because conditions threatened to deteriorate still further, and descended down the Anna glacier, trudging on to the Tasman glacier at a point directly below Malte Brun hut.

This was about 9 p.m. and, as darkness had fallen, the climbers camped behind some rocks, moving to the hut on Sunday in heavy rain which continued throughout the day and night On Sunday evening it snowed and the fall continued until Monday morning when conditions started to improve. The climbers then walked to Ball hut and finally reached the Hermitage.