MOUNT EGMONT TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1930, Page 11

MOUNT EGMONT TRAGEDY

NIGHT ON STORM-SWEPT ICE EXHAUSTED MAN DIES IN GORGE. EXPERIENCE OF HALDANE’S PARTY. A graphic story of hardships in the storm* on Mount Egmont was told yesterday to a Daily News reporter by Mr. A. Haldane, the 60-year-old caretaker of the Stratford mountain house who assisted in the rescue of the injured Mr. W. J. Hall. Mr. Haldane carried the stretcher from his headquarters through the bush, over the snowfields and the ice above. Because of the weight of the stretcher, Mr. Haldane was denied the use of an ice-axe in negotiating the perilous Manganui Gorge, but. he fought his way to the injured. Knowing the uselessness of. trying to return by the same j-oute, Mr. Haldane volunteered to make for the North Egmont hostel for more Assistance. On the way he .suffered as few' have suffered and had the further .anxiety of seeing a comrade collapse. Mr. Haldane was accompanied by Mr. gam Taggart, contractor to the Public Works Department in road-building operations in the vicinity of the Stratford resort. Mr. Taggart, a man of 26 who had not -been on ice before,' was not particularly warmly clad and had :no nails in his boots. To him Mr. Haldane paid highest tribute. . “.I left with the stretcher and blankets from the Stratford house at about three o’clock on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by Mr. Taggart,”. said Mr. Haldane. “We did not expect to 'be away all night, but rather thought, we. would have Mi’. Hall down within a few hours. GIBSON SEEMED FAGGED. ‘'About half-way between the house and the ’Stratford Plateau we met Mr. Lance Gibson returning from a ski-ing expedition and he at once volunteered to go with us. I noticed then that Mr. Gibson appeared tired and rather fagged, but knowing him for a keen-moun-taineer and an experienced ice-climber, I was glad of hie offer. Before we reached the Manganui Gorge I could see that Lance should not have attempted the ascent again. He was unable to help with the burden of the stretcher (which by the way, is far tbo heavy and cumbersome an arrangement for mountain conditions), and was very 'hard put to keep his feet while crossing the gorge. “We met the original rescue party all right and put Mr. Hall safely into the warmth of the stretcher and wrapped him in blankets. My difficulties at the gorge had been extreme and I knew how impossible it would be to return with Mr. Hall that way. I therefore strong; ly advised the party to make what progress they could towards North Egmont, the while Mr. Taggart and I went on ahead to send up relief parties. “We were just setting off when Mr. Gibson asked to accompany us. He said he was not very fit and mentioned having felt unwell for some days. We should have renehed North Egmont before ten o’clock, but after about a mile and a-half Lance said he could go no further, and indeed he did look exhausted. He was not well—l could see that. We were then at the head of the fourth gorge from the - Ngatoro Gorge and realising how necessary it would be io find shelter we left the exposed traek and made our way into the gorge. TREACHEROUS, DARK AND COLD “Snow and iee were thick about us. It-was dark and treacherous and very eold. Even our hats were frozen to our foreheads, but we found some sort of shelter. Mr. Gibson was perhaps the most warmly clad of the three of us, especially about the body, where thick underclothing, a shirt, sweater and pullover kept him fairly comfortable though he wore only shorts. Through the night we huddled close to him, rubbed .him periodically and occasionally put him on his feet to stimulate circulation. Later he slept with his head on my breast.. He slept warmly and peacefully, but Mr. Taggart and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping awake. We stamped about and did everything we could to keep ourselves warm. We were afraid to lie down or remain seated for long tnd I thought, though’! said nothing to Sam about it, that I would not last till morning.

“At three o’clock Mr. Gibson was asleep but Mr. Taggart and I were nearly dead. We continued trying to keep him warm and about four o’clock he seemed a lot better. At last daylight appeared but we could not make a start until about six o’clock because of the rain and stormy conditions. “On either side of Lance, supporting him as best we could, we struggled down the gorge. I was making for the scrub line where I proposed to cut directly through the bush for the house. In this way we would escape the biting cold and get some measure of shelter frorii ( the sleet. For about twenty minutes we stumbled along and I was very hungry because I Jiacl : h.ad no dinner except a cup of tea. “Then Mr. Gibson exclaimed,. ‘l’ll never get home; I’m done.’ His arms slackened about our necks ami he pitched to the ground. He died at once. Ever since wo started from our camp he had ! been shying he was getting weaker and weaker,

■“We scraped a bit of a hole in the shelter, of. a biggish -sort of bush‘-and left Mr. Gibson. We could hardly stagger along for weariness and cold. We reached the bush and went straight for the house. Wo came out just two chains below the hostel. It took us five hours to negotiate that forest but we were glad to be there. At any rate we were sheltered and able to keep warm.”

Mr. Haldane and Mr. Taggart are little the worse for their terrible experience, but Mr. Taggart is confined- to bed with a frost-bitten foot which may become serious. Mr. Haldane has a frostbitten right hand and his feet are slightly frost-bitten. Mr. Taggart was clad only in a cotton shirt and jacket with flannel trousers.

The South Taranaki party which made such good time from Dawson Falls to North Egmont in order to offer assistance on Monday did not, sa.ys Mr. Rod Syme, a member of the party, sec Messrs Rowe and Addis, who were searching for Mr. Gibson. Had the searchers been seen the Dawson Falls party would have joined them and not continued to North Egmont house.