HAZARDOUS TASK

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 201, 22 May 1936, Page 12

HAZARDOUS TASK

Recovery of Body From Crater Lake RUAPEHU TRAGEDY Three Men Lowered Down 400 Feet Ice Wall Dominion Special Service. Auckland, May 21. With great difficulty the body of Mr. James Alexander Gordon, solicitor, of Taumarunui, who slipped and fell into the crater lake while climbing on Mount Ruapehu, was recovered about 11 o’clock this morning and was later brought to the Chateau. Three men were lowered 400 feet down a sheer wall of ice, and just as the last man was about to begin his ascent after the body had been recovered the waters of the lake began to steam. After the accident occurred yesterday determined efforts were made to reach Mr. Gordon, but the task had to he abandoned late in the afternoon until to-day.

Leaving the Chateau at 3.30 this morning a party of 14 men set out again for the crater. Eight members of the party hurried on ahead and reached the crater just after sunrise. The hazardous task of reaching the lake then commenced. After steps had been cut in the ice five of the eight men roped themselves together, and using crampons and • iceaxes began to lower Messrs. Arthur Sandel and John Bryan, of Taumarunui, and Mr. C. Risberg, the chief guide at the Chateau, down separately in the south-east corner of the crater. The drop was 400 feet, and at times in their descent the men were suspended in mid-air. The lakeside was safely reached, but then the men had to cut steps in the ice and make their way around the edge of the lake to where Mr. Gordon was last seen. The distance was about 400 yards, and owing to the treacherous state of the ice care had to be exercised every inch of the way. Half floating and with his face downward, Mr. Gordon’s body was discovered about 10 yards out from the shore and close to the spot where he had fallen. The water was warm and only about 3ft. deep. It is considered by Mr. Risberg that bad Mr. Gordon had sufficient strength he could have reached shore safely. The body had been almost stripped of clothing in the fall, and there was evidence of serious head injuries. Skin had also been removed from the hands and from one arm.

Using their ice axes, Messrs. Risberg. Sandel and Bryan drew the body through the shallow water close to the shore to where they had made their descent. A rope was made fast to it and 0 then the difficult task of getting the body up the wall of ice began. Several times it was thought that the rope would part, and the men below stood clear. Eventually, however with the combined efforts of the five men on top and those of the six remaining members of the party, the body was safely recovered. ~ Messrs. Sandel. Bryan and Risberg were then hauled up separately. “By the time I left the lake had begun to steam and I was very glad to get out of it,” said Mr. Risberg. who was the last to be hauled up. An attempt was made to carry the body down to the Chateau, but it was found to be too heavy. It was then hauled for a distance on skis until a packhorse was obtained. The Chateau was reached about 3.30 this afternoon. An inquest is being held to-night. Relatives and friends of the late Mr. Gordon cannot speak too highly of the efforts of the party in recovering the body. In particular they praise Messrs. Risberg, Sandel and Bryan for their courage in descending into the crater. SECOND TRAGIC FALL Wanganui Man’s Death Three Years Ago Three years ago almost to a day, on May 19, 1933. Mr. John Wall, a young Wanganui man, halted near the edge of the crater lake in Mount Ruapehu, stepped forward, and disappeared before his companions could do anything to prevent an accident. He fell on to some pinnacles of ice fringing the lake over SO feet below. His position was quite inaccessible from above and a rescue party which went out was prevented from making a direct descent by overhanging rotten ice. After a hazardous climb round the lake along a narrow ledge, two members of the party. Mr. R. Cobbe, mantiger of the Chateau, and Mr. C. Taylor, wito was then chief guide, reached the body. A bad overhang of rotten ice made the men afraid to speak in case the vibration of their voices brought down a mass of ice on top of them. The body was eventually floated a quarter of a mile round the edge of the lake by means of motor-tire tubes which the two men had carried with them. The carrying of the body back to the Chateau was completed the following day, night overtaking the party after they had been out from the Chateau for 15 hours. The two companions of Mr. Wall were unable to explain the accident. They had been to the summit of the mountain and had stopped at the lake's edge to look at the view. They thought Mr. Wall must have had a seizure or fainting attack because he said nothing and did not call out as he fell.