Night in the snow

Press, 30 August 1977, Page 1

Night in the snow

Two young Christchurch trampers were found about 3 p.m. yesterday after a cold night on Mount Oxford. In spite of the bitterly cold night they had endured in the falling snow both were able to walk out with their rescuers.

Patrick Barnett, a .6-year-old Xavier College pupil, of 14 Gordon Avenue, and Alexander Joosten, aged 21, an electrical engineering student, of 34 Bames Road almost certainly survived their ordeal because of their previous tramping experience. The two had been climbing with 35 other members of ’he Catholic Tramping Club on Sunday, leaving Sladdens Bush Road about noon and reaching the Bie

Ben Saddle three hours and a quarter later. Shortly afterwards a southerly blew up, and although most of the party returned to Sladdens Bush Road the two continued, intending to climb Mount Oxford. A search began only at 11 a.m. yesterday because the police had confidence in the men’s ability to survive a night in the open. "We didn’t talk about spending the night on the mountain. We just knew when the clouds packed in about us and we couldn’t see a thing that was what we had to do.” Alexander said. "We walked down to .he bushline, going from one tree clump to the next. We found a solitary tree and put on all our clothes —

shorts, trousers, overtrousers, shirt, two jerseys, parka, balaclava and mittens — and were settled in for the night by about 5.20 p.m.”

Alexander slept — Patrick did not.

“When I woke up we were both in a very poor condition. We couldn’t stand up properly and we weren’t speaking very coherently.”

The two men stayed In their shelter for about five hours, talking intermittently and trying to .keep warm.

They decided to exercise near their shelter, and 300 feet further downhill found the fence they had been looking for the previous afternoon as a landmark to guide them down to ’he road.