PERISHED IN RANGES

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 94, 15 January 1932, Page 12

PERISHED IN RANGES

Trampers’ Bodies Found SMITH AND ROBBINS Perilous Journey in the Dark MR. J. P. WILSON’S ORDEAL By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, January 14.* After an arduous journey, searchers at 4.45 this afternoon brought in the dead bodies of the missing trampers, Harold Smith, of Chancellor Street, Shirley, aged 27, and Charles Bernard Robbins, 11 Bunyan Street, Waltham, aged 27. The bodies were brought to Bealey by Mr. F. W. Cochrane. Mr. Loney is safe, and he , will be brought down to Bealey tomorrow. Mr. Robbins’s body was found in the Taipoiti stream at 7.30 a.m. Mr. Smith’s body was found in the range at the back of the stream, about 400 yards away. Mr. Robbins was badly cut about. It looked as though he had had a bad fall and apparently he fell into the stream and was drowned. Mr. Smith probably died in his sleep. Mr. Robbins’s body had to be brought down from 2000 feet, and was carried across a snowfield; it was then carried across the Taipoiti River, which had to be forded twelve 'times. Mr. Smith’s body was brought down a shingle slide (o the river and brought across. Both bodies were then placed 'on pack horses and conveyed to Bealey, arriving at 4.45. • An inquest will be held at Bealey tomorrow. Perilous Journey. When Loney staggered into the camp of Messrs. Sweeny and Wilson in the Harman Pass on Tuesday night Mr. Wilson lost no time in setting out for assistance. He reached Carrington hut at midnight, and after having a meal commenced the perilous descent In the dark to Bealey. In his attempt to cross a deep ford in the Waimakariri River he almost met with disaster. He was unable to find his way in the darkness and was caught in the swift current. Fortunately he was washed to the bank, but on the side from which he had set out. He crawled up the bank and then, deciding that it would be futile and foolhardy to repeat the attempt, he went back to the hut to wait for daylight. Journey Resumed. Mr. Wilson left Carrington Hut for the second time at six o’clock yesterday morning and reached Bealey at 9.20. He had not spared himself on the run down to Bealey, and arrived at the Glacier Hotel in an exhausted condition, having covered a distance that normally takes five hours in three hours and thirty minutes. Attempts to persuide him to remain at Bealey failed, and mounted on a hack he was the first to set out again to the rescue. TRACK LOST IN FOG How Men Met Their Deaths FALL DOWN WATERFALL Dominion Special Service Christchurch. January 14. From what can be learned it appears that the Alps tragedy was one of misfortune and not of negligence. Each ,of the three trampers was an experienced mountaineer and a sensible man. Each had on him dry waterproof matches, spare food and spare clothing. It has been possible to reconstruct their movements fairly accurately, and there is no doubt that they died through exposure after missing their track in a thick fog and being overwhelmed in a storm.

The men left Hokitika a week ago last Wednesday. On Saturday there was a heavy .fog in the region through which they were travelling, and probably on that day they missed an important track from Harman’s Pass, which would have led them in safety to the Carrington Hut, and wandered more and more hopelessly up the mountain side. On Sunday afternoon when they were almost exhausted by their continuous climb they were overwhelmed in a severe storm. That night, after shedding some of their clothes and throwing away part of their baggage, they apparently bivouacked under a sheltering rock about 1009 feet above Harman’s Pass -and about eight miles from Carrington Hut. Mr. Loney, Mr.-J. P. Wilson (to whom Mr. Loney brought the news), and Mr. Evan Wilson have together reconstructed the events of the following morning. Mr. Smith obviously died in his sleep that night. Mr. Robbins apparently was first to awake. He found Mr. Smith dead by his side, and believed that Mr. Loney was also dead—as apparently he almost was. Mr. Robbins therefore set off by himself to walk to Carrington hut. He was on the right track looking for a safe descent from the precipice upon which they found themselves, when in his weakened condition he must have lost his foothold and fallen fully .100 feet down a waterfall.

Here he was found by Mr. F. W. Cochrane’s search party.. Mr. Loney, waking up later, found one of his companions dead and the other missing. He determined to retrace their track to the Park-Morpeth hut. He was almost completely exhausted, and crawled several miles on his hands and knees before, by a lucky chance he happened upon a camp in which Messrs. J. P. Wilson and M, Sweeney were resting for the night. • / . Leaving Mr. Sweeney to take care of Mr. Loney, who was by now delirious, Mr. Wilson set out on the long and treacherous journey to the Bealey Hotel, making it in the magnificent time of 10 hours. This trip is usually reckoned as a two-days’ march.

“The three men made a genuine effort to get down the eliff, and it was pure misfortune that they failed,” said Mr. Evan Wilson, who led the Canterbury Mountaineering Club’s search party. “They missed the track and went up and up in the fog until ultimately they were overcome by the weather. They were fully equipped: they tried to weather the storm out under shelter, but it was too severe.”