FALL INTO AN ABYSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

FALL INTO AN ABYSS.

MOUNTAINEER KILLED.

SUP OVER PRECIPICE.

COMPANIONS' ALL-NIGHT VIGIL,

]? ailing 200 ft. down a, peak in the Snowdon range, Mr. Reginald Charles Clinker, aged 57, of Rugby, a climber of international experience, recently received injuries to which he succumbed on the mountainside. He was leading a party of four in an attempt to scale Carnecld Llewellyn, which is 3484 ft, high. Tho party included Mr. T. A. Wadsworth, his son, Mr. Arthur Wadsworth, and his brother, all of Rugby, who had been staying at Capel Curig. They set out from Dolgarrog, and <ift<?r climbing for some hours were making an assault on Craig-yr-Isag, a well-known spur somewhat off the beaten track.

Mr. Clinker, who was well in front, slipped as the party were passing over the edge of a precipice, and fell headlong into the abyss. Ilis companions could see him lying on the jagged rocks below. Using ropes they made the perilous descent, reaching where he lay after nearly an hour's toil. They found him unconscious and suffering from injuries to the head and tho uppeh part of the body. Using pieces of material torn from their clothes and handkerchiefs, they rendered first aid.

It was impossible to move the injured man unaided, and one of the Wadsworth brothers set out over the mountains and

rearhed Capel Curig in an exhausted condition. Immediately the news of the accident was received a stretcher party started out. Two climbers with considerable knowledge of the Carnedd fell in with the rescue party, and accompanied them. The party reached a gully near to where Mr. Clinker lay after four hours' climbing in darkness and mist. "With great difficulty they descended with the stretcher, and -were about to Carry the unconscious man away when he died. They decided to stay the night by the body owing to the darkness and the great danger in attempting to carry a stretcher.

At daybreak the party jet out with their burden, taking it over the mountains to Dolgarrog, an arduous journey, in which they had to clamber over rocks and boggy land until reaching a road. Then a motor-car was obtained to take the body to Dolgarrog. It took the rescuers 16 hours to make the return journey.

A verdict of " Accidental' death " was returned at the inquest on Mr. Clinker. Mr. Thomas Wadsworth, one of the climbers, was the only witness. He stated that they went over the side of the Carnedd Llewellyn. Just before six o'clock they suddenly saw Mr. Clinker fall when ho was about ten yards ahead. He rolled five or .six times, and hit projections on the rocks. Mr. Wadsworth added that there was moisture in the

gullies and on tho grass, and Mr. Clinker had warned them to keep off the grass. Ho did not notice any stones fall. Iu his summing-up, tne coroner remarked that if tho party had been roped together all of them would have been pulled down. Mr. Clinker was a member of the Alpine Club and of the Midland Mountaineering Association, and had several times climbed in Switzerland. Mountaineering was his one great hobby. He was chief research engineer for tho British Thomson-Houston Co., and had been with tho firm for 35 years.