Avalanche hits

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32679, 7 August 1971, Page 18

Avalanche hits

Graeme Dingle was carried about 1000 ft by an avalanche at the head of the Fyfe Pass yesterday but though he lost some he escaped unhurt. His companion on a three-montb traverse of the Southern Alps, Jill Tremain, was also caught on the moving snow but managed to get off it before being carried far. The climbers lost an iceaxe, a glove, and one of the snow shoes air-dropped to them on Wednesday. A ski pole and one of their packs were broken. Mr Dingle and Miss Tremain had gone to within 50ft of the top of Fyfe Pass —their probable route across the Main Divide to the Mueller Glacier—to see if it was suitable for a crossing. On return, after their experience in the avalanche, to about 200 ft from the head of the pass, there was a “white out” everything being shrouded in an impenetrable white mist—and it was still avalanching. SKI PLANE FLIGHT A ski plane will leave the Hermitage at Mount Cook at daybreak today to take two Dunedin men to the Mueller Glacier. The men will then climb to the Hermitage side of the Fyfe Pass or Hardies Gut to meet Mr Dingle and Miss Tremain if they are able to cross.

The men will carry a portable radio to keep in touch with the climbers. The weather in the area is expected to improve. Neither the Fyfe Pass nor Hardies Gut has been crossed in winter, it is believed. Mr Dingle hopes to be in Ashburton this evening to keep a lecturing engagement.