FOOLHARDY CLIMBER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23123, 23 August 1938, Page 8

FOOLHARDY CLIMBER

SLIDE TO DEATH RISKED ill-equipped on egmont TIMELY ARRIVAL OF OTHERS [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] NEW PLYMOUTH, Monday A plucky but dangerous attempt by a poorly-equipped young man to reach the summit of Mount Egmont at the week-end might have resulted m disaster but for the timely arrival of two alpinists, who roped him to themselves and made a safe descent. Without an ice axe and with boots insufficiently spiked, the young man set out for the summit in spite of advice. On the icy surface full of peril, it was considered remarkable that he went as far as he did without sliding to possible death. Two members of the Taranaki Alpine Club, Messrs. W. Liley and Edgecombe, were returning from a summit climb and had descended about 200 ft. from the crater when they met the young man climbing on his hands and knees and using the steps they had cut a short time previously. It was not without difficulty that he was persuaded to desist from going further. The two climbers attached him between them on a rope in order to make him secure in case he should slip on the descent. They reached the lower slopes in safety. "It is a miracle he reached the height he did without slipping," stated a member of the Alpine Club. "The upper slopes were in a most dangerous condition for a man without proper equipment, and if he had slipped he could not have stopped himself as he had no ice axe. In that case he would have gone 3000 ft. down the ice slope and crashed over Ambury's Bluff. Although he climbed safely and might have gained the summit, he would have met certain disaster on the way down. His action was most foolish and could easily have involved the others in danger."