WOMAN’S SKULL FRACTURED BY FALLING BOULDER ON TASMAN GLACIER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22620, 24 April 1948, Page 4

WOMAN’S SKULL FRACTURED BY FALLING BOULDER ON TASMAN GLACIER

(P.A.) TIMARU, April 24. TRUCK by a boulder weighing about 1301 b which rolled clown the steep face of the moraine into the Tasman Glacier immediately below Ball Hut, Mount Cook, Mrs. V. Morris, Pukekohe, received a fractured skull, multiple lacerations, and abrasions at 11.30 a.m. on Thursday.

She is now a patient in the Timaru Public Hospital and her condition is regarded as critical, Mrs. Morris, a guest at The Hermitage, was one Of a party of eight who under the care of Guide H. Ayres on Thursday set off on an expedition up the Tasman Glacier, their destination being the Hochstetter icefall about 2J miles up the glacier from Ball Hut. Having made their way on to the glacier down a steep track which winds down the moraine, the party were startled by the sudden dislodging of a large boulder, which rolled down 20ft., striking Mrs. Morris in the back

and throwing her heavily to the ground. Guido Ayres gave her first aid treatment and immediately carried her back to The Hermitage. From there she received further medical attention before being taken to the Timaru Hospital by ambulance. Falls of rock are not infrequent on the moraines of the Tasman Glacier and it is the custom of the guides to knock away all loose rock which they consider might be dangerous in the vicinity of the tracks the day before the party uses the track. On Thursday all seemingly dangerous loose pieces of rock were removed.