FATAL MISTAKE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11539, 16 January 1932, Page 5

FATAL MISTAKE

DEAD TRAMPERS TOOK WRONG PATH . SLEEP OF DEATH FOR MR. SMITH. COMPANION SLIPPED OVER. \ ; bluff - ■ (Press Association) • CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 15. Th© story of tho Hampers’ battle against the weather conditions is obscure, but they seem to have held out for two or three days. The fatal mistake that lod to tho death of two of the party, Messrs. Robbills and Smith, was in following (too high a p&tli after they had crossed'White Horns Pass into Canterbury. They should have descended several hundred feet to reach the saddle at tho head of Taipo-iti Gorge, hut instead they kept on at a high levol, and ended up in the fog and gathering darkness on the bluffs of a spur of Mount Isabel, whence they found it impossible to proceed in any direction.

During the night on which ihey remained there the slqep of death overtook Mr Smith'. Mr liobbins apparently awoke in time, but his frantic efforts .to release himself from tho maze of bluffs and precipices ended in his slipping over a bluff into tho .upper Taipo-iti Gorge, where his-'-body was found. . Mr j Loney, the survivor, made his way back over While Horns Pass, and found help at the camp qf Messrs. Wilson and Sweeney in Wilberforco Valley. , The heroic efforts of the searchers were favored by good weather. To retrieve tlm body of Mr. Smith it was necessary for the (rescuer? to mako almost a complete circle round Mt. Isabel, ploughing through deep masses of sliding shingle. Five of tho men look turns at carrying the body, blit all they could manage at a timo was 10 or 15 steps. The body was filially carried by a pack-horse t< Carrington hut. SURVIVOR’S STORY ATTRIBUTES LIFE TO EXTRA 'BLANKET PARTY SEPARATED IN BLIZZARD TWO NIGHTS’ SLEEPING IN THE OPEN MR SMITH FROZEN TO DEATH (Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 15. “We walked into a howling blizzard ,on Sunday afternoon near the summit of Harman Pass. There was sleet and snow, driven by a- (raging wind, and we could not sqe”, said Mr Keith Loney, thq only survivor of tho ill-fated trio of Canterbury school toachcrs, in an interview i t Bealey. Air Loney arrived at Bealey at 5.10 o’clock. He? had a blanket Wrapped round him. He looked cold and worn, but was in fair condition. “1 am the least experienced of tlie three, and I have come out alive, because I carried au extra hjahket, aud wrapped it round myself”., he said, “After we had lost each oilier on Sunday night, while the blizzard was still raging. I tried to find my Way to the top of the pass, but was driven back. Messrs Smith and Robbins must have tried to fight their way over too. Finding that I had completely lost my way, I curled up in a blanket in tlie lee of a rock, and spent the rest of th© night there. I was on the face of the ; mountain all day ;Monday, .and several times I thought I was gone, owing to the intense cold. I lost ail sense of time, and was vqry weak through lack of food. . “Darkness came again, with tho storm showing signs of abating. I spent the niglit in the same fashion as on Sunday. Dawn on fTuiesdJiy broke fino and warm. The sun saved my life. I walked back down the wav w© had conic, and found Mr fsmith dead beside a rock where he had apparently frozen to death. He had apparently fallen while trying to get up a steep faco and had lost his pack. I could not find Mr Robbins anywhere. MET MR WILSON BY CHANCE “I left Mr Smith and went back i to the Park Morpeth. It took me all day ‘lo gob there, and I met Mr Wilson by chance. I was relieved to see him. Ho put me inside the hut and gave me food, which revived me. MR WILSON’S NIGHT TRIP Mr Wilson then set out on a night trip to Carrington hut, to give them tho news, and to bring assistance from Bealey. I stayed at Park Morpeth hut. and on Thursday, ut about eleven o’clock, two men, who had travelled in racing kit from Carrington, hut. arrived, and brought mo over tho pass to the Carrington hut, where we arrived about, 6 p.m. BAD START FOR HOKITIKA “It was my first experience of a mountain trip of this sort”, said Mr Loney. “Messrs Smith and Robbins' were experienced men, and we had mad© all preparations for the journey, carrying plenty of food and clothing, /the weather was fino when we left Hokitika oh Sunday (January 3), bub ivo had not gone very far when "It commenced to fain. As wo pushed up the mountain 1 towards Harman Pass, mist and fog inade it very difficult to see any distance, and although it was ip the afteroon, it wus quite dark. We kept pretty woll together, and decided that instead of going over tho * route along the Tai-poiti river-bod, we would tackle the pass, • • SMITH REFUSES TO LEAVE •' ‘ ■' /LONEY •••■■“ , /■ • , “When wo walked into tho blizzard I asked them to go oil and leave me, but Mr Smith said ‘No, w '© will fight it out together.’ We kept pegging away but gradually we became lost, and I lost contact with tho others. J. made an effort to get' over on my own, but soon gave that up. Apparently Messrs Smith' and Robbins’’ also' lost touch With each other. It was all devilish hard luck, end might easily have happened to anyone.-;' F-g • yjf ■;-4

TRIP NOT TACKLED RASHLY

“Th© trip'was not tackled rashly. Messrs Smith and Robbins knew the country well.' We had maps, and we knew Vher© wo' were going. It was not like tackling "unknown country, but had we gone down the (riverbed, I think w© should all have got thrpughV'T was- thirty-six hours ton the mountain’ sido” before’ tho sun came, and Ido not knowhow-1 lasted 1 to'soe it/ Both the other fellows wore stronger than' I am, and 1 think they died of cold. I am glad I carried -my blanket. Had ~I not met Mr Wilson, th© chances aro I would not bo telling-the story, for I wus : all in’ and-cbuld not have carried on much longer.” ' '. THE INQUEST. DEATH FROM EXPOSURE. WORK OF SEARCHERS commended; (Press (Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 15. Mr. Loney repeated his story at the inquest held at Bealey to-night before .Mff'M. Fitzgerald; J.P.', and a jury. Tlid. following verdict was returned: “W© find that MessrgSmith and Robbins died at Harman’s Pass on or about January 11, while endeavouring to cross over the pass to Carrington hub, the cause of death being exposure, following exhaustion in a storm.”' A rider was added,., commending the Work of the search parties, particularly that of-Messrs. J. P. Wilson, Hv M. Sweeney, and F. W. Cochrane; a-ild Constable Robb. Sympathy was-extended to tlie relatives of the unfortunate Hampers.