THE EGMONT TRAGEDY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 5 August 1930, Page 4

THE EGMONT TRAGEDY

WORSE ONE AVERTED RESCUExvn- CLOSE CALL Worn out through struggling for hours oven snow and ioe-covered slopes on Alt Egmont to convey to safety tne injured man HaU, whose ice axe pierced his chest when glissading near Warwick Castle on Sunday afternoon, a rescue party of 10 and the man they were aiding were saved from death from exposure by a very narrow nnir-o-iu Heavy falls of snow had obliterated everv track, and at midnight the party was on a plateau exposed to ah the elements. When they werd located by a search party from JNew llymouth they were on the verge of faffing asleep in the snow. The. possibilities are that had the search party arrived much later it would have been to find their dead bodies. . Leaving Dawson Falls for Humphries’ Castle about 9.30 a.m. ou Sunday, six members of the Mt. Egmont Alpine Club —Messrs O. Ambury,< 1. Jobson, M. Shaw, F. Kendall, P. Pettett, and! G. McGlaslian —set out with the intention of joining a large party of climbers who had gone up from the North House. Two of them McGlaslian and J obson —decided to rest on a stoney ridge on the Stratford side of Humphries’ Castle, when they were'met .by Hail aiici AVhite, who'commenced glissading a little further along. Hall apparently somersaulted and the point of his ice axe penetrated his chest close to the lungs, which, fortunately, were not pierced.. AVhite - made liis way back to Jobson and McGlashan to inform them of the accident, and! 'by this time the two had been rejoined by their former companions. Ambury and Kendall were sent to the Stratford House for assistance, and McGlashan, Shaw, Jobson, and Pettett stayed with AVhite and the injured man. On the way to Stratford House Ambury and Kendall met a party in the Manganui Gorge comprising Messrs 3>. Bullock, Carryer, N. Johnson, L. Gibson, Grubb, and Hamilton. They were informed oi : the accident and immediately went to render what aid they could.

When Kendall and Ambury reached Stratford House about 3.30, Messrs A. Haldane and AY. Heggitt left a few minutes later with a stretcher, rugs, tea and whisky, and they were followed later by Messrs AV. Pettigrew and Ambury, who were provided with hot water bottles and flasks of tea. Meanwhile the party with the injured man had started to carry him towards Stratford House, two going ahead and cutting a track over the ice. Progress was very slow and difficult, and a stretcher was made from a sack and ice axe handles. They were then met. by the party that Ambury and Ken- - dall had sent out from the Manganui Gorge. After struggling along for some time the whole party lost their way until Haldane and Heggitt located' them. The latter had left the stretcher on the North Egmont side of the Manganui Gorge, and AVhite and a companion went back for it. Hall was then wrapped in blankets and roped in the stretcher, and, on the advice of Mr. Haldane, who saw that there .was no .possibility of getting the stretcher through the gorge, the party turned to face an arduous and dangerous traverse in the • ark to North Egmont. The conditions were steadily becominrr worse, and Messrs Grubb, Bullock and Hamilton were sent to the Stratford House to make certain that the North Egmont House was informed of the accident and the position of the party, and also to advise Dr. Dons Gordon not to attempt to reach the party from the Stratford House, Haldane, Heggitt and Gibson were then sent to the North House for further assistance, and they had been gone only a few minutes when Ambury and Pettigrew came up with the party. They advised that the North Egmont party was on the way and that Kendall'and Dr. Gordon had both turned back. , .. It took the party of ten nearly three hours to make their way back with the injured man to tlie -scene of tbe accident, and everybody was “all in.” Human .endurance oould not have carried them much further, and. the on'ly remaining thing was to wait the arrival of the party from North Egmont. It was now close on midnight and from sheer exhaustion several fen asleep. Some of the party managed to keep awake and shouted at intervals to guide the party that they hoped was fast nearing them from tbe North side. Despite the fact that the rescue party had to be brought from New Plymouth, they left the North Hostel at 9.30. GoodI’time 1 ’time was made until the party reached the ski track near the Hen and! but from then until the others were located between midnight and 1 a.m. the difficulties were extreme, and most of the track had to be cut step by step. Fortunately it was found that Hall could walk if assisted! round some of the more danger- r ous places where the stretcher could not be negotiated, particularly so as the stretcher suddenly slid over the surface of an ice face and was. lost in the inky ■darkness. The endurance of the whole party was fully tested Over the ice slopes, but the party .eventually readied the North House about 6 a.m. without further mishap, and Hall was immediately given medical attention by Dr Doris Gordon.

GIBSON’S DEATH A NIGHT~OF AGONY. Hopelessly lost in the darkness in treacherous snow and iee in their endeavour to reach the North House, Haldane, Gibson and Heggitt spent a night of agony. They had turned down the mountain in the vicinity of the Hen and Chickens and in the darkness, buffetted by a freezing wind, and lashed by rain and fitful falls of snow, all sense of direction Was lost. There was no option for them but to spend the night exposed to the elements. At dawn Mr. Haldane found his bearings, and the three set off again for the North House. Gibson, who was wearing only'shorts, a shirt and two pull-overs, with short socks and boots, was inadequately clad to withstand the severity of the conditions, and his sufferings through the night must have been terrible. With each yard the party traversed he became gradually weaker, and finally collapsed, death intervening. Themselves in a precarious condition, Haldane and Heggitt staggered towards the hostel, and Haldane recognised the old survey line between North Egmont and Dawson Falls. This they followed and reached the hostel about 10 o’clock yesterday morning with the news of Gibson’s tragic death. For a man almost 70 years of age, Mr. Haldane showed wonderful loneliness in surviving the conditions in what is considered one of the worst nights experienced on the mountain. Mr. Heggitt also displayed exit erne fortitude in facing the ordeal, end both appear little the worse for their ordeal.