Mountain Fatality

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 21, 22 August 1930, Page 5

Mountain Fatality

DEATH OF LANCE V. GIBSON. .■ ’ V EFFORT NECESSARY TO MAKE! CURBING SAFE, rrr CORONER’S ADVICE. The inquest concerning the death of Lance V. Gibson was concluded at Stratford to.day before Mr. w. L. Kennedy, Coroner, who returned a verdict that death {Was fhe result of cold and exposure. Everything passible in the dircumstance.« f Mr Kennedy said, had been done by the two men (Messrs, Haldane and Taggart) who were with deceased when he died.

Andrew Haldane, caretaker of the East Mountain House, gave evidence that at about 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 3rd., he and Mr. Taggart left th© House to render assistance to one Hail, who had been injured. They took a stretcher and blankets with them. At the time of setting out they had no idea when they would be back. They did not expect to be out all night. On the way up the Mountain they met Gibson t who .volunteered to go iback with them. Gibson had/ been up the Mountain since early in the day, Gibson was an experienced climber, such a on® as witness would go to for help on a rescue party. {Soon a&er Gibson turned! badk )vitness saw that he was tired. They met a party bringing Hall to the Stratford House, hut this was th© wrong course, as he could not be carried across the Manganui Gorge. 'Witness said Hall should be taken to the North House, and offered to go ahead to get help. witness, Taggart, and Gibson left for the North House, Gibson expressing a desire to go with the other two. SHELTER IN THE SCRUB. It was just getting dark when witness left. After going about a mile towards the North House Gibson was exhausted and did not seem to know what he was doing. The only hope of saving him )vas to

make for the bush. On reaching some scrub the party took what shelter there was an(d spent the night there. The could not reach the bush, Gibson was better clad than the other two, except that he wore shorts. An effort was made to get Gibson bn his feet, but he was too weak. If he could have stood up he might have been saved. He slept for a while. pNOW STORM There 'was a storm of snow the whole night, the snow blowing over the party all the time. At about 6 a.m. on the Monday the party set cut for the North House. A storm of heavy rain came on ? and it would be about 6.15 a.m., when Gibson died. He was past saying anything at the time. Previously he had complained of pain in the bladder. After Gibson’s death witness and Taggart went down in the scrub and made a bee-line for the North House, they arrived about 11 a.m. As a result of exposure, witness and Taggart were frostbitten about the hands and feet. To the Coroner; Under the conditions there was no hope of get. ting Gibson to the North House. Samuel Taggart, Public Works foreman, engaged on the Stratford Mountain House road, corroborated the evidence given by witness Hal-

dune. NOBLE SELF-SACRIFICE. The verdict of the court was that Gibson met his death as a result of cold and exhaustion. It appeared that everything possible had been done by Messrs. Haldane and Taggart. It was characteristic of youth said iMr. Kennedy, jand especially British youth, to take risks, and it was to be hoped that the day was far distant when they would cease to }do so, but even so it was desirable that precautions should bo taken in climbing such a mountain a g Egmont, especially in winter. A combined effort should be made by the committees of the Egmont Park Board and the Alpine Clubs to make climbing safe on the Mountain. The sympathy of the court went out to the widow and family and other relatives in their sad bereavement( and Mr. Kennedy said ho desired to pay a tribute to deceased for his self-sacrifice in meeting his death while engaged helping an. other.