THE INQUEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3959, 28 January 1930, Page 6

THE INQUEST.

GUIDE HILGENDORF’S EVIDENCE.

TERRIBLE STORM ON THE GLACIER. CHRISTCHURCH, January 22. ‘After I left the Malte Brun Hut the blizzard increased in intensity, vivid flashes of lightning cleaving the heavens The conditions were so unpleasant that the metal head of my ice-axe sparked and sang whenever the lightning struck it I was compelled to tie the axe to the end of two crampon straps. I then dragged it behind me.” The foregoing was a portion of a statement made by Guide Hilgendorf, who discovered the bodies of the Blomfield party after the blizzard of Sunday, at the inquest into the circumstances of the deaths of the four young women and the guide, which was held at the Hermitage this afternoon. Those who lost their lives were:—Doris Herbert-Brown, of Rangiora; Dorothy M. Smith, of Auckland; Helena Keane, of Christchurch; Mary Monteath, of Christchurch; and John Edward Blomfield, of the Hermitage staff. Mr E. Macdonald, J.P., of Fairlie, ‘acted as coroner, with a jury of four. Constable A. Mackintosh, of Fairlie, conducted the proceedings for the police. Mr L. E. Finch, of Timaru, appeared in the interests of the Mount Cook Tourist Company, and Mr W. D. Campbell, also of 1 imaru, represented the relatives of Guide Blomfield. The first witness was Alexander Sinclair, solicitor, Dunedin. He identified the body of Guide Blomfield, who was a son of the late Dr E. E. Blomfield. Geoffrey Gould Wolley, assistant manager at the Hermitage, identified be bodies of Doris Herbert-Brown. Mary Monteath. Dorothy M. Smith, and Helena Keane, who, he said, had been guests at the Hermitage. On Januarv IS the four left for the Malte Brun Hut in charge of Guide Blomfield. They were all in good health and fit to make the trip. Charles Digby Elms, licensee of the Hermitage Hotel and manager for the Mount Cook Tourist Company, said Blomfield had been employed by the company as a guide for the past two seasons. He was a professional guide and a very experienced man. Guests had spoken very highly of him during the several periods he had been at the Hermitage. Prior to the last two seasons he visited the Hermitage and had done a great deal of climbing. Charles Hilgendorf, employed as a guide at the Hermitage for the last two seasons, said that on January 16 he left the Hermitage with a party for the Malte Brun Hut. He was at that hut when Guide Blomfield arrived with a party of four ladies on January 18. On the following day Guide Blomfield and his party left the Malte Brun Hut at 10.30 a.m. to return to the Hermitage. Witness told Blomfield that he would follow after he had cleaned up the hut. It was raining slightly when Blomfield’s party left. At that tune witness did not think it would be a rough day. When the girls left they all appeared to be well and happy. They were clothed much as were all women who visited the hut. Witness tidied up the hut and followed them about an hour and a-half afterwards. It was raining very heavily, with lightning and thunder, and as he continued his journey the weather became worse, and a gale sprang up. When witness reached the glacier the condition of the ice was very bad, and he had to put on crampons. Even with crampons the going was v ery difficult. The blizzard was the worst that he had known. Just as he reached De La Beche Corner he saw a woman lying on the ice, and he discovered that she was dead. She was lying face downwards in a hollow in the ice, having apparently been sheltering from the wind. He sawno disfigurement of any sort. About 30 yards further on he found another woman. Her face was cut on the cheek, but he did not take particular notice of it. About 10 yards further on there were two more women, one of them with her face under some water. The other was lying on top of her companion. They were both dead. He pulled them out of the water on to the hard ice, and proceeded to go down to the Ball Hut. Very soon after he left the bodies the weather improved, and he made good time. The bodies were about six miles from the Ball Hut. Witness reached the Ball Hut about 3.30 p.m., or a little more than three hours and ahalf after he had left Malte Brun. He found the bodies about 2.30 p.m. He reported the tragedy to the guide in charge at the Ball Hut. At the time he discovered the bodies of the women he did not see that of Guide Blomfield, probably because he was crawling on the ice when the blizzard was raging. Witness crawled on his hands and knees to the corner. The wind was _so severe that he was unable to stand "up. “ I could do nothing else but crawl,” he added to Mr Finch. Witness also said that the storm from the nor’-west came down the Rudolph Glacier, striking the Tasman at De La Beche corner. The bodies were at the worst part of the glacier for weather, being exposed to the wind coming down the Rudolph Glacier. To Mr Campbell; I have been following mountaineering since I was very young. I have known Guide Blomfield for two years. I found him a man of sound judgment, and always careful for the safety of his parties. There was no reason why Blomfield should not have left the Malte Brun Hut on Sunday morning. I have left the Malte Brun Hut under conditions similar to those existing when Guide Blomfield left the hut. Michael Robert Bowie, a guide employed by the Mount Cook Tourist Company, said that on Sunday, January 19, he was at the Ball Hut in the afternoon. Guide Hilgendorf arrived about 3.30 p.m. He said he had seen four women dead at the De La Beche corner, but he had not found Blomfield. Witness obtained six men from the Ball Hut, and spread out about two miles below the scene of the tragedy to search for the party. They took lanterns, stores, and food. The bodies were eventually

found. The position of the bodies was slightly different when the search party arrived from that described by Guide Hilgendorf. The wind had probably moved them. Three of the women were together, two being frozen under water. f‘l think their deaths were caused by the severe gale,’’ added witness. The deceased Blomfield was about 150 yards away from the wonmn. He was stretched put on the ice. He had probably been crawling towards Malte Brun. He was in his shirt sleeves, and had thrown away Iris rucksack. He had lost his hat, and his ice axe was some yards away from his

body, in the ice. The search party tried to revive Blomfield. He was wrapped in blankets and rubbed. The others looked »■ hopeless. They were stiff, and two of them were in water. Blomfield’s hands were badly torn by the ice. All the skin was off the back of his hands. The bodies were wrapped in blankets. When Guide Hildendorf reported the tragedy at the Ball Hut it was still raining, but the weather was clearing. In the morning it was raining very heavily at the Ball hut, and the weather looked very thick towards .Malte Burn. The witness Hilgendorf (recalled) said that he did not think that anyone could live under the same conditions, wearing the same equipment. “ I do not know that I can say that if I had been with the party my end would have been the same,” he added. “ I was pquipped very differently. In ray opinion the blizzard was at its worst a quarter pf an hour before I came to the bodies. Dr Charles Stanlej’ Fraser (Timaru) paid that he had examined the bodies of the five victims. The clothes on all the deceased were wet, but did not display any great amount of damage. Mi.-s Brown was wearing light drill trousers Bhe was well protected around the chesr with three light woollen vests and a blouse. The body was that of a well-nourished woman. about 30

years of age. She had a slight *br asion below the right eye. pud across the lower part of the nose.

There was also a small abrasion on the chin. The face was congested. There were no marks or scars on the body. She had the superficial skin off the back of the fingers and the thumb of the left hand. He was not prepared to say whether these abrasions of the hands occurred before or after death. He could find no evidence that she had crawled. Miss Monteath’s clothing was not torn about. There was inadequate protection around the chest from the cold. There was an old scar on the left side of the forehead. The body was that of a wellnourished girl in the twenties. She had a small abrasion on the nose and the upper lip. The skin was pallid. Miss Smith had riding trousers and a jersey. Her skin was pallid. There were no abrasions. Miss Keane was clothed in a suede lumber jacket and khaki riding trousers, which had a lent in the left knee. 'fhe body was that of a wellnourished girl. Guide Blomfield’s chest •was bare of clothing, and he was wearing a pair of light grey socks and aertex underpants. There were small cuts round the knees of the trousers. The body was that of a well-developed and wellnourished young man. He 1 had slight abrasions on the kuees, also abrasions on the backs of the fingers and thumbs of both hands. The skin was pallid in parts and the face was mottled. Witness could find no evidence of injury to bones or joints on any of the deceased. His opinion of the cause of death was that they died of cold and exposure. after being caught in a blizzard. To the foreman, witness said that one was forced to the conclusion that the clothing was inadequate for such a blizzard, but he understood that Blomfield’s shirt was removed when resuscitation was attempted. Constable M'Kenzie asked what was the length of time in which it was usual for

a person to perish of exposure. Witness said that he was unable to give a definite answer to that question, owing to the rarity of fatalities. The general medical literature was necessarily unable to give much information. A man might die overnight in a moderate frost.

After a retirement lasting a quarter of an hour the jury returned with the following verdict: “That the five persons died on the Tasman Glacier on Sunday, January 19, their deaths being due to exposure, as the result of being caught in a blizzard.” The jury expressed its deepest sympathy ■with the relations and friends of the deceased in the terrible tragedy, and also expressed its admiration of the efforts of the guides and the relief party in their ordeal in recovering the bodies, also of the Public Works Department and its employees. At the conclusion of the proceedings the horoner briefly thanked Mr G. E. Mannering for his assistance in recovering the Bodies and in transporting the police froiu Eairlie to the Hermitage.