CATCHING AT FAINT HOPE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 5

CATCHING AT FAINT HOPE

SHEER HEROISM ON EGMONT GALLANT END OF ARTHUR AMBURY MEMORIAL CAIRN ABOVE HOSTEL. Faced suddenly on the ice of Egmont with the choice of keeping hi'S own life secure or risking it in a last hope to save another, Arthur H. Ambury, New Plymouth, on the King's “Birthday, 1918, stepped in the path of a falling man, took a firm purchase with his feet and jammed his alpenstock Last in the ice. The alpenstock snapped, his feet gave way. and the two men. were hurtled.to death over two precipices 600 feet high. The tragedy will be rcmetnb.ered for the sheer heroism shown by Arthur Ambury as long as the cairn stands in the clearing, above, the North Egmont mountain house. s , A party of three young men, Aftssrs. W. E. Gourlay, R. Macdonald and N. Fookes, left the old North Egmont house at 6.30 a.m. to ascend the mountain. They found the climbing very .heavy, having to cut steps in the ice for much' of the way. They reached the summit, however, at 12.15 p.m., and began the: descent at 12.45.

On the way down they began to glissade. Then Macdonald lost his foothold and slid dangerously, eventually, by the aid of his alpenstock. checking his descent in striking a big block of ice. Fookes made a plucky attempt to reach Macdonald and managed it. He found Macdonald dazed and helpless. Binding Macdonald to himself with a pair of puttees, he dragged him with difficulty back on to the track. Then he began to assist his. comrade in the further descent of the mountain. At about the 7000 ft. mark they saw another party below and signalled for help. The party included Messrs. C. Bottrill, T. Mackay, Arthur Ambury and the latter’s wife. Mr.-Ambury took'his wife to a place of safety and then set out to the men who were in difficulty, bringing with him a rope from below. Gourlay, meanwhile, unnerved by the first fall,. was some" distance above. Fookes left Macdonald and went to assist him, Bottrill. and Mackay assisting Macdonald further down the slope.

Ambury went on to join Fookes, who had reached Gourlay and was helping him down. The two had come some distance when there was a warning shout from Bottrill. Gourlay, who was directly above Ambury, was seen to have lost his footing and to be sliding down the ice with gathering momentum. It was now that Air. Ambury showed his heroism. Taking a remote chance of saving the falling man, he jammed his alpenstock fast in the ice, took a firm purchase with his feet and endeavoured to catch the body of Gourlay and check his descent. The sudden impact was so great that Mr. Ambury was unfooted, his alpenstock snapped, and the two men were carried on a 600 ft. death slide over two precipices to the west of Humphries Castle.

The other men returned speedily to the mountain house for further assistance, Fookes going on ahead. Tho others reached the house about 8 p.m., .and shortly afterwards Dr. Wade and a search party set out and found the bodies of the unfortunate climbers. In both cases death must have been instaneous, as the bodies were fearfully mutilated. It was not possible to bring them in in the darkness, and next day a party of 20 men in relays carried them to the house.

Later, the province showed its appreciation of Mr. Ambury’s supreme sacrifice by the erection of a cairn to his memory in the clearing above the North Egmont house. His heroic action was also recognised by the Royal Humane Society. ONE OF EGMONT’S SECRETS UNKNOWN FATE OF MINISTER. LAST TRACES OF HIS WANDERINGS One of Egmont’s secrets, shrouded in mystery to the present day, is the fate of William T. Murray, Presbyterian minister at Normanby, who left his party at the summit on January 30, 1923, to return, alone to North Egmont. He was never seen again. A party, of which he was a member, left the Dawson Falls house at 5.30 a.m. and reached the top without great difficulty. Mr, Murray, who was then 62 years of age, wished to descend by the opposite side and reach North Egmont. When the rest of his party declined to do this, Air. Murray set out alone in the face of strong dissuasion. Next morning it was learned that he had reached neither house, and search parties immediately set out. Signs were discovered which led the searchers to believe that, missing his way, Mr. Murray had wandered up and down the mountainous slopes to the westward of his objective, before reaching the swamp level between the Pouakai ranges and the mountain. The cold cinders of his two fires and a portion of the sole of one of his boots upon which was written his initials were found, and the searchers redoubled their efforts. His tracks were followed down a watercourse, across the track* at about a distance of five chains from 'Holly Flat hut near Bell's Falls and as far as the Stony River, just above the falls, where they wore utterly lost. Had Mr. Murray veered a little and struck the hut he would have found food and warmth. The general belief is that Mr. Murray perished near the upper reaches of the Stony River. A few months later some human remains were |ound a few miles down the river, but there was no definite proof that they were those of Mr. Alurrav.