DEATH IN TEE ALPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9564, 21 October 1892, Page 4

DEATH IN TEE ALPS.

The Geneva correspondent of the London Standard describes the death of Mr R. L. Nettleship, Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, on Mont Blanc, on 28th August. The party, which left Chamonix, was composed of three persons —Mr Nettleship and two guides. They attempted the ascent of Mont Blanc by the Aiguille dv Goiiter, spent the night at Col de Voza, and the next morning started for the Aiguille, which they reached in the afternoon. There they were suddenly surprised by a snowstorm, but continued their ascent, expecting to get to the Vallot refuge at 4 p.m. The weather getting worse, and darkness coming on, the party decided to remain over night in a hole of ice, which they dug for the purpose. Upon the insistence of the tourist, and in spite of the bad weather, they consequently resumed their route, but Mr Nettleship soon gave way, his strength failed, and ultimately he expired of cold and fatigue. The guides being unable to bring back the body alone, one of them descended to Chamonix for aid, and a party of eight men returned to fetch the corpse. The further accounts of Mr Nettleship's ill-starred attempt upon Mount Blanc will not (says the Pall Mall Gazette) lessen the pity felt for the untimely death of a man who enjoyed in unusual measure the affection and respect of his friends and pupils. The moral of the accident is the old, old story; that nobody who is not iii the hardest possible condition should undertake any mountaineering expedition which is liable to entail long exposure. But the manner of Mr Ivettleship's death, as recorded in an interesting despatch has something fine in it:—"They dug out a hole in the Bnow and passed the night there. Mr Nettleship was the gayest of throe, singing from time to time to prevent sleep, which would have been fatal. The next morning the storm continued with unabated violence, but Mr Nettleship refused to remain any longer, preferring to risk an almost impossible descent to remaining there to await death. A start was, therefore, made, but Mr Nettleship seemed very weak, and after an hour's fruitless battling with the storm he fell exhausted and died, after shaking hands with both the guides, and saying a few words in English not understood by them." There is a note of dignity in the record, not unworthy of the death of a man and a philosopher.