MISSING GUIDE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 124, 21 November 1935, Page 25

MISSING GUIDE

SAGACIOUS DOG COMPANION Tributes to the personal qualities and alpine knowledge of Guide Tom Christie, who is believed to have been killed through falling into an ice crevasse on the Fox Glacier, Westland, on Saturday, were paid by Mr. F. N. Ambler, of Auckland, who was with Mr. Christie on the glacier only last week (states the "New Zealand Herald"). "He was one of the most expert guides I have ever met," Mr. Ambler said, "and I should think all who have been on the glacier with him must have been impressed with his knowledge of climbing and his enthusiasm for the sport." Mr. Ambler said there were many dangerous patches on the Fox Glacier, with deep crevasses providing veritable death traps in the event of an accident. Last week Mr. Christie had told him of a narrow escape he had had some time previously. "On all his trips," Mr. Ambler said, "Mr. Christie was accompanied by his dog, an exceptionally intelligent animal which is as much at home on the, 1 glacier as its master. It appears that the dog once attempted to jump a crevasse and a block of ice broke away as it landed. It front paws were just slipping from the ledge when Mr. Christie noticed its plight. He also leaped the crevasse, and, although the foothold was not secure where he landed, managed to grab the dog and pull it to safety." Mr. Ambler thought it almost certain that the dog would have been with Mr. Christie on his last trip, and in the event of a fall into a crevasse might j have been killed with him. However,, the dog was never roped but always found its own way even over the most treacherous ice.

Mr. Christie claimed that his dog had established many records, Mr. Ambler added. It had made the crossing of the Southern Alps with him on several occasions and had also scaled peaks which very few experienced climbers had conquered.