LOST IN ALPS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 262, 1 August 1933, Page 9

LOST IN ALPS

Tragedy at Arthur’s Pass Feared PARTY IN SNOW-SLIDE By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, July 31. Grave anxiety is felt for the safety of Edgar Russell, a Teachers’ Training College student, who was missed from a partv which attempted to climb Avalanche Peak, Arthur’s Pass, yesterday. He may have been caught by a snowslide which injured two others. His absence was not noticed until the party was returning to the township. The party, which included a- number of Canterbury College students and members of the Otago University debating team, found the trip up the peak strenuous, and only eighteen proceeded higher than the bush line. It has not yet been established whether Russell climbed the peak, as shortly after passing thebush line several members were caught in a snow-slide four feet deep, which broke without warning, crashing for 20Q feet. The members of the party received slight" injuries, W. 8. Gilkinson (Otago) being cut on the head, and W. Hursthouse receiving leg abrasions By the time the party reached Springfield on the return trip, it was' made certain that Russell was not accounted for, so six men returned to Arthur’s Pass by motor-lorry. The search party had to turn back while on Avalanche Peak- owing to wretched weather. This morning they found that the snow-slide is 150 yards long, 90 yards wide, and S feet thick. It is about 200 feet from the peak. . It is believed that Russell is buried in this snow, but a blizzard now raging makes a search impossible. In fact Guide Coberger says that the body, if it is buried, may not be found until the thaw in the spring. More snow has fallen overnight. DEFINITELY KNOWN Seen Above Snow-line By Telegraph.—Press Association. « Christchurch, July 31. It has been definitely established that Mr. Russell, the young man for whom parties have been searching Avalanche Peak, Arthur’s Pass, was lost in a snowslide which injured two other climbers. Until the weather at the Pass changes it will be impossible for the search to be continued, and members of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, who were at the Pass, returned to Christchurch to-day. There was some doubt when Mr. Russell was first missed whether he had actually been with the party when the snowslide occurred, but it is now known that he was seen well above tbc snow line and was therefore almost certainty among those who encountered the snowslide not far from the top. The party to-day made as thorough a search as possible under difficult conditions, but found no trace of Russell. During the night there had been a heavy fall of snow.