Survival thoughts leave no time for boredom

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 1

Survival thoughts leave no time for boredom

'ln spite of their long incarceration in an ice cave near the summit of Mount Cook. Mark Inglis and Philip Doole cannot afford to be bored. Their battle for survival is undoubtedly a full-time job, one that demands total concentration and will-power. “Boredom is a luxury they can ill-afford,” said an experienced ranger at Mount Cook yesterday. The climbers have been weatherbound now for more than 270 hours in a hole in the ice about 3600 m above sea level. The schrund is known to be cramped; a low and narrow burrow of frozen whiteness. Mr Don Bogie, a senior mountaineer at Mount Cook, who knows the schrund, described it as barely big enough to accommodate the two men and their sleeping bags. He believes that they have the entrance of their shelter sealed with packed snow to keep out the freezing westerly gales that for 13 days have lashed the summit ridge at up to 100 knots. While the temperature outside has been about -15 deg., the air inside the cocoon is warmer, about zero. Dry clothing and sleeping bags with special thermal pads for insulation, which the men received in the emergency supply drop soon after they were found on Tuesday, should ensure that they are dry and reasonably warm. Doctors are confident that

both climbers are endeavouring to treat their frostbite and keep the circulation flowing to their bands and feet. “They will have their feet slightly raised and will be trying to maintain regular, gentle movements of their fingers and toes,” said Mr Bogie. The two men would probably sit up in their sleeping bags and cradle their primuses between their knees as they, prepare hot meals and drinks, he said. Mr Inglis, whose job as a ranger includes the maintenance of the park’s radios, will have his portable transmitter-receiver inside his sleeping bag, to prevent the batteries from freezing. His knowledge of radio procedure is thought to be the reason why only bis voice has been beard during the transmissions. (It has been confirmed it was. Mr Doole who ventured out of the cave to recover the supply drop on Tuesday.) The men are thought to have a transistor radio but no reading material. They will not be sitting in perpetual darkness;'the interiors of schrunds are reasonably light. “All climbers get used to lying about doing nothing, waiting in a hut for a week while a mountain is clagged in. It is just part of normal climbing,” said a Mount Cook ranger.