TRAGEDY ON EGMONT

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1930, Page 11

TRAGEDY ON EGMONT

INJURED MAN BROUGHT TO SAFETY ONE RESCUER DIES OF EXPOSURE BIG DISASTER NARROWLY AVERTED . - - - . I ... ; The life of a yotnig man, Walter J. Hall, who was seriously injured on the slopes of Moiiiit'Egmont on Sunday,,was saved yesterday, but-at the expense of the life of one of the rescuers. A relief party of three, under Mr. A. Haldane, caretaker of the Stratford Mountain House, lost its way on the mountain, on Sunday night, and Mr. Lance Gibson, of Stratford, died from exposure early yesterday morning. Only by a narrow margin was a whole party of . eleven saved from a similar fate. When a rescue party from New Plymouth reached Hall and ten others shortly after midnight on Sunday they were starting to drop to sleep in the snow, worn out with exhaustion, and it seems that within the space of a few hours all would probably have been dead; . Relief'barties were engaged all day yesterday in-retrieving Lance Gibson’s body,, and after a gruelling day in bitter weather they brought it in to North Egmont. hostelry as dusk. was. falling. The body was found high up in the snow in tkeupper. reaches of the Maketawa Gorge. ■

ACCIDENT TO HALL

SOMERSAULT WHILE SLIDING RESCUE PARTY FATIGUED. With the intention of joining alpine club climbers from North Egmont a party of six Mt. Egmont Alpine Club members who were unable to leave by bus on the Saturday with their friends for the hostel at North Egmont left the Dawson Falls house for Humphries Castle about 9.30 a.m. on Sunday. The party comprised Messrs. C. Ambury, I. Jobson, M. Shaw, F. Kendall, P. Pettit and G. McGlashan. Owing to the/glassy nature of the ice on the slopes Xof Egmont which made step cutting for the greater part of the way an absolute necessity, they did not reach their objective until about 1.30 a.m. McGlashan and Jobson found the going very tiring, and when the party came to a stony ridge, one gully bn the Stratford side of the Warwick Castle • ridge, they decided to rest and wait there for the return of their companions. .The remainder of the party, after lunching with Taranaki, Stratford and Mt. Egmont. Alpine Club members on ..the ski track near the Hen and Chickens, left at 1.50 p.m. on the homeward trip. In the meantime Walter J. Hall and A. White, who had made the trip from Stratford House earlier in ’the day to join the main party of alpinists near Humphries Castle, began their return and came upon McGlashan and Jobson seated among the rocks on the ridge.' The Stratford men told the boys they intended to make their House and went on do n the slight slant of ice face and up a small ridge to the top of the slippery slope where the accident occurred. The Hawera boys had found great difficulty in negotiating that particular ice face on their way round, Ambury cutting deep steps for a considerable distance. ' White and Hall began to glissade down the the face and from their rocky ridge the boys saw. Hall suddenly somersault. It was then, at 2 p.m., that the accident occurred, the ice-axe piercing Hall’s chest between the lungs and the heart. ASSISTANCE NEAR AT HAND. The spot where the mishap occurred was approximately three-quarters of a mile east of .Humphries Castle, between the Hen and Chickens and Warwick Castle. . At the time of the accident they were .about half a mile from the main skiing party, and had a man proceeded in its direction— North Egmont—the ensuing series of misfortune’ might possibly have been avoided and the injured’man transported to North Egmont before dark. White retraced hie footsteps to the top of the ridge he and Hall had just traversed and signalled to the boys who were at the same time joined by the rest of their party from the direction of the Hen and Chickens ski track. Ambury and Kendall hurried on to the scene of the accident, the others following. It was decided that nothing could be done and Ambury and Kendall set out for the Stratford House, Shaw, Pettit, McGlashan and Jobson under the leadership of White remaining with the injured man.

In the Manganui Gorge 'the. 'hastening pair encountered a party of six comprising Mesers. Di Bullock, L. Gibson, Carryer, N. Johnson, Grubb and Hamilton, from the Stratford House, and when the notation was explained this party at once set out in the direction of Warwick Castle to lend assistance. Ambury and Kendall reached the house at 3.30 and their tale was th- first intimation received of the accident. Messrs. A. Haldane and W. Heggitt left immediately with stretcher, rugs, tea and whisky, and about 4.30 Messrs. W. Pettigrew and Ambury set out with hot water bottles and flasks of tea.

The Hawcra party with the injured man started to carry him in their arms in the direction of the Stratford House. Two men, preceded the others and cut the way over the treacherous sides of ice. That method of transport proved too difficult and a stretcher was constructed from ice axes and a sack. After half an hour's progress in this fashion the party of six sent on from the Manganui Gorge by Ambury ..iet them. They continued to move towards the Stratford House but became lost and it was then that Haldane and Heggitt reached them. The stretcher had been left a little on the North Eginont side of the Manganui Gorge and White and another went back for it. Hall was wrapped in blankets and roped to it and, upon the advice of Mr. Haldane, who recognised the impossibility of attempting to take the stretcher through the narrow defile of the gorge, the party turned about and faced the long and dangerous tramp in the darkness across glassy ice faces to North Egmont. '■

Messrs. Grubb, Bullock and Hamilton were despatched to the Stratford House in .order , that/North 'Egmont might be advisee! of tho position by telephone. The party was. also instructed, to turn back

Dr. Doris Gordon if she left the Stratford House to proceed to the injured man, for the conditions were very bad. Messrs.. Haldane, Heggitt and Gibson left the stretcher bearers about 7.15f0r North Egmont with the idea of enlisting further aid.. A quarter of an . hour later Ambury and Pettigrew caught the stretcher . party. They had met the.party sent to Stratford House to ring North Egmont well on its way. Kendall had set out with Dr., Doris. Gordon but the pair were turned back by the same party further down the track. The party of ten bearing the injured man on the tortuous way to North Egmont found conditions and the ice so treacherous that two and a-half hours were taken to retrace their footsteps to the scene of the accident in the vicinity of the stony ridge. It was gruelling work with step cutting every inch of the way and, entirely fagged, the party decided to wait there for the arrival. of the men from North Egmont. The injured man was made as comfortable as possible and the others sat round to wait from about 11.30. Tired as they were the inevitable happened and several were soon fast asleep on the snow.. Less. exhausted, White and several others kept awake and shouted at intervals in order to guide the party which it was honed was by that time nearing their resting place. . It would have been very easy for the New Plymouth men to have missed them in the thick, foggy darkness, j and had that happened a terrible tragedy I would have resulted. NORTH EGMONT RESCUERS FORTITUDE OF INJURED MAN. VOICES FROM FAR BELOW. To those at North Egmont the ring I received .at 0.56 on Sunday evening from Stratford.house bearing t.jws of the accident was the signal for activity which lent speed to legs already tired from an abnormally busy week-end, 116 alpine club members having bee.-i farewelled but an hour before. It cannot but strike one what a great pity it was that North Egmont was not notified earlier. Had the call been put through when Ambury and Kendall first reached the Stratford house with the details of the accident the same party which had to be called from New Ply mouth could have left for Warwick Castle within the minute. There would then have been no necessity for Messrs ■Jlaldane, Heggitt and Gibson to have 'separated from the stretcher-bearing party and the- sad happenings of the night would have been avoided. As it was Mr. R. W. Larsen immedJ ately telephoned Mr. L. Lovell and caught him as ho reached his home from the North Egmont hostel. Mr. Lovel. set about getting his party together, deciding to go himself in spite of the fact that ho had that day led 13 meu to the summit under the worst of winter conditions. Messrs. K. Tompkini and C. Deem, two more of the party, had also spent a strenuous day, having proceeded with the main Alpine Club party of 92 to the vicinity Of the Hen and Chickens and back io Humphries’ Gully. Air. Tompkins bore, the added responsibility of leadership on ,that trip. Mi> Lovell collected these men a.id left foNorth Egmont by motor, picking up Mr W, Groombridge and a News reporter on the way. It was not until about 9.30 that these men, under the charge of Air. R. W. La; ?.en, chief guide, and accompanied by Alessrs, Hal Larsen and A. Lambert, left North Egmont for th.*, scene of the accident. Hot-water, bottles and torches were taken in addition to the usual winter climbing gear. ARDUOUS STEP CUTTING. It was pitch dark with a heavy mist shrouding the mountain. Soft snow made the early part of the journey a heavy pull but, good time was made until the ski track near the Hen and Chickens was reached. Steps cut cariic. in the day for the use of the Alpine Club party had almost vanished, and from there to where the stretcher-bear-ing party waited it was one long round or arduous step cutting with utter darkness outside the beams of torchlight. The two parties located each other between the hours of 12 and 1 o’clock bv shouting, and from that stage the North Egmont men assumed control and took charge of tho stretcher and the step cutting. It is a curious fact that for half an hour -before the two parties actual! >’ came into contact with each other those not asleep who were waiting with the stretcher could hear the voices of the other party but could not tell what direction tho sounds were coming from. Tho reverberations carried very clearly and lent an eerie air to the dark sur-j roundings. ..

With eix on ths stretcher progress was much faster and the return was made along th© steps used in the outward journey until the ski ground already mentioned was reached and the steep, treacherous ice face, already the cause of trouble, encountered. To attempt to take the stretcher across the face would have been courting danger but nevertheless it would have been tried but for one fact. Hall, realising the danger of the procedure and refreshed by a long sleep, said he could walk across if assisted. Larsen and Tompkins set to and cut a double line of steps and, in places, dug out trenches to ensure greater safety. The injured man was safely negotiated over the face but the stretcher slid off on the glass-like surface into the darkness below. Ihe party split at that point, Mr. Groom bridge and two others proceeding to North Egmont to warn those below of the approach of the party; Messrs. R W. Larsen, Lambert and Lovell, together with the injured man and . the main party following behind, while Messrs. Tompkins, Hal Larsen and Deem turned, again to the treacherous ice slope to pilot three very exhausted men safely across. I INJURED MAN’S FORTITUDE. j The remainder of the trip was com- i pletcd without incident, Groombridge [ and party arriving at tho ; old house at > 4.55, R. Uarsen- and party at 5.25, and Tompkins and party at 5.55. Hall was attended at once by Dr. W. Gordon, who had arrived at North Egmont early in the evening, and was conveyed to Stratford by car a little later. His conditions was not as serious as at first thought, the" steel shaft missing both the lungs and the heart. Nevertheless he was badly injured, and perhaps the 'most striking feature of the whole'thing was the heroic fortitude and constant cheerfulness he displayed throughout his long walk. , learned that Messrs. Haldane, Heggitt and it was found that the point of the -ice pick ; liad pierced Mr. Hall’s chest, but ■without touching the' lung- or injuring the heart, : Lie Arrived at the North Egmont house" in’ surprisingly good condition, but yesterday a feverish re-action had set in and his condition will be serious for sonie days. Dr. Gordon is emphatic that the warmth from the first hot water bottle, maintained by the fresh supply from North Egmont, largely Contributed to the vitality of the patient after the length and rigour of the journey round and down the mountain. Upon arrival of the parties it was learnt that Messrs. Haldane, Heggitt and Gibson • had not put in an appearance, but the fears entertained for their safety were discounted somewhat by the fact that Mr. Haldane knew his mountasfi so well that even had he missed the track the party would be safe. Mr. Lovell had a talk with Mr. R. Larsen, and it was agreed that the only thing to be done was to leave it until the morning, by which time Mr. Haldane might have appeared. As was only to be expected Air. Lovell and his party were almost exhausted and it was left to Mr. R. Larsen to make any arrangements that might have been required, while the others returned to New Plymouth. Messrs. Haldane and Heggitt arrived at 10 a.m. yesterday only to report Tat they had left Gibson behind, dead. * Shortly after the North Egmont party had reached the 'other one and turned for homo again the opinion was expressed by several of the party that they could hear voices far below them. No answer could be gained ta shouts and the sound was put down to the deceptive reverberations. It is now believed that it might possibly have been the voices of the three men lost in the maze of gullies far below. » — — MIGHT OF SUFFERING RAIN,. SNOW AND BITTER WINDS. GIBSON DIES FROM EXPOSURE. Bad as were the conditions under , which the Dawson Falls party, Hall and ; his party and the. North-Egmont relief j party were working back through the I snow and ice to Humphries Castle and North Egmont House, three other men; were undergoing even worse suffering j throughout the long and bitter hours of ■ Sunday night. i : Having summed up the position at •the. point between Warwick Castle and ; the Manganui gorge, half a mile on ' the Stratford side of the scene of Hall’s ■accident —the point where he met Hall and the members of the Dawson Falls party —Mr. Haldane had decided it was more practicable ; to take Hal] back to North Egmont than down the precipitous route to the Stratford house, which would be practically an impossible route ' with a wounded man on a stretcher. According ' he. Gibson and Heggitt set out along the usual track to Humphries Castle and North Egmont hostelry to obtain help. As it happened it was a fatal move, for Gibson was clad only in shorts, short socks and boots on his ; lower limbs, and two pull-overs around i his chest, so that he was inadequately . equipped to withstand a rigorous win- j ter night on the open slopes of Egmont. 1 Even; so, all might have been well had ’ the party not lost its way, but the worst happened and they missed the track. The snow, rain and ice were bad, but H biting wind was the worst, arjd it lashed the unfortunate men with unremitting cruelty. The party struck down the mountain side somewhere between the Hen and Chickens and Warwick Castle and after wandering round in the darkness for some time they had to face the fact that they were lest. There was nothing for it but to spend the night there. Snow lay thick on every side and the ; wind cut more and more keenly as the weary hours progressed. The party bivouacked in the most sheltered spot possible in the scrub at the head of what was r >fterwards found to he the Maketawa gorge. As a matter of tact I thero was practically no shelter, and ' the men endured the agony of a night 1 in the snow at an altitude of 4500 feet. I With the first streak of dawn Air. ! Haldane was able to pick up his bear- ' ings and a start was made ror North J Egmont, but Gibson was so weak from exposure that he could hardly move. He gradually grew weaker and weaker and collapsed completely, The others were convinced he was dead and had no alternative but to leave him. They struggled down until Mr. Haldane picked up what he recognised as the old : survey line between North Egmont and ; Dawson Falls cut about five years ago. ' This was followed, and. more dead' chan j alive, the men staggered cut below the ; North Egmont hostelry at 10 o’clock I yesterday morning. Having reported the j loss of Gibson, they took a much need- . ed rest and left by motor during the early afternoon for Stratford.’