WHEN 'MAN LOST

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 5

WHEN 'MAN LOST

CHALLENGE OF MOUNTAIN 12 PERISH ON THE SLOPES TRAGIC TALES OF EGMO NT 'FORTY YEARS AGO TO-DAY So far as- the records go. 12 lives have been lost on the slopes of Mount E<?ttaont. Lately, with the increased num•ber of climbers, the average loss of life fever a given time has naturally been ■greater. Since the first ascent by Dr. Dieffenbach Ii November, 1839, the jmountain has been a challenge to all jthat is hardy and strong in men. Usually jtho men have conquered, but now and iigain the throw of the dice of chance Went to the white mountain. The tales fef the times when the mountain conquered. are so.me of them strange, some <>f them starkly, terrible and all of them fragic. ’ i ’ ’ . BODY FOUND IN THE SNOW * ; FIRST RECORDED FATALITY. TRAGEDY OF 40 YEARS AGO. Almost 40 years ago a climbing party on Mount found the body, of A man preserved in snow. -It was the > tody of Mr. W. H. Southwood, who had , felimbed the mountain alone ten months before' and had died from exhaustion fer a fall , from the summit. The death fe? Mr. Southwood was the first . fatal accident recorded on the mountain. "! A visitor • from Wellington, Mr. fjouthwood borrowed a horse from a settler at Stratford and set out, presumably upon a shooting excursion, up Pembroke Road. “He did not return that Evening or the following day. Next day a search party set out. finding the horse, ammunition and a pocket book. (Further on, 500 ft. higher, were found discarded portions of clothing, clearly ißhowing that Mr.- South wood had decided to attempt a summit trip and. intended carrying as little as possible. 'Another party set out on the Sunday to search the mountain for the missing man. A gun, leggings and spurs , Were found higher than where the horse Was discovered the previous day. No certain trace of the missing man feould be discerned any higher, although the gorge on either side was examined ‘ Carefully up to the snow-line. Above that point the Arctic severity of the weather prevented much being done. On the identical Thursday in which Mr- Southwood made his ill-fated ascent . another party, under Mr. Thomas Hastie, Hawera, climbed to within 50 yards <>f‘-the top when hard ice stopped progress. Members of the party thought they twice heard a voice, and also the noise of a falling stone. They could fcee no one. It is believed the voice they heard belonged to Mr. Southwood. The party that found the body ten months later reached the summit about JI a.m., after traversing an unfrequented track. Mr. West Hooker, who was slightly in advance, came across the remains of the ill-starred climber, the s>ody lying sideways across two sharp boulders below a 30ft. precipice. The , condition of the body indicated that the covering snow had just melted. A party of 13 men brought the body from the ‘summit the following week under frightfully cold conditions. A forked tree was ”sed as a sledge, with the body tied to it in a canvas shroud. Dr. Leatham. who examined the body. Was of the opinion that the man had laid down exhausted, gone to sleep and was frozen to death.