FIGHTING A BLIZZARD

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

FIGHTING A BLIZZARD

WAYS OF. THE ESKIMO

(By.

C.M.H.)

-.The. • r/e-mt-./’. tragic . occiu’rc-iice on Mount .•Egmpiitj.yin-.ywhich one -valuable life was "i'c<st and. apparen.tlyj several . others, were/saved-.only, by a [Very.narr.ow margin/.food for. a, good'deal of tliouMit.- -The story-: of the reseu-e is cpic,\a.!id one 'that will -be remembered . heeaiibo' of- thei .magnificent' heroism- displayed .by the’ men. who at. short ca! l rrslied- to th-e.assi.Aani'h o? those in pen/ of .losing their lives. The lite tr.at was e.PCfI lii.-Y Cl - V/.i S : tliUi- Qi CQU l-UgVQKo il HL gaill’it bkhi knew iL;it Was. urgently..fieedyd' by -a.’fellow being ~\/i distress ' a.od .without. '’Counting H”’ cost hasteii-'d with’hii; comrades to ma-k-e :■ rescue. ■ But t’ux q;xi.;t : :o!i..!io the nvifMs ? ,.of ; all. must be, “need -.this sacrifice Tia\ A'.bee’>i. ueeessai’y ?” Supplement’ary to /.this .queijtion is another.,.“Cannot - some? ■thing, be done, either in the way of/.rules alid:regulations prohibiting parties from boiiig. on 'tli? .mountain' uitder dangerous conditions .unless properly . equipped and' uiider the", leadership of Tin experi? .e’.ict'd ' alpinist, or in - : the way of dis-’ 'semination of infoi-irration as to how tp act.-when one iis hi’ difficulties, on tiio piountain ?.” ■ '■ < 'I'!;-? ma tt.-'-r </f regiihi ti.iig •traliic on the niountai’i will no - : doubt •be dtdlt •with by the •controlling body iti the near Assuming, Ro wever',- that the necessity of spending a night in tirn snow of I’igmont's .slopes will occur from time to time, no matter ’how carefti 1 people arc, it is interesting to consider. how the natives of Arctic regions deal with such a crisis wlmn it arises. It does not follow, of course, that blizzard conditions' on Egmont are altogether similar and could not be eoni l'atod ni the same manner, but it- may J>e that alpinists in Taramiki - can learn at any rate something from' the methods' employed by their fellow bjingS uf .the far north. ■ In regions of the world where people have to exist under conditions of snow and ice, wo’Merful processes have been evolved for the preservation of life. 1:» the Arctic Circle, explorers have found that the Eskimo people, who have been inured to, cold and hardship for cen-’ turies, have, very' effective methods of sustaining life and meeting emergencies. When on. trave! and the cMd goes down to 40 or'GO. degrees below zero, to the.: accompaniment of an Arctic blizzard up to 90 miles per hour, or one of . the party, meets with an accident, even the Eskimo knows that life cannot be sustained without shelter. With his hunting knife, he speedily chops out slabs, or . halffrozen Anorf .front,,which he will in. the course .of an hour' or less build for linoself an ice ■ hoiise culled an igloo. With a niece of clear ice or the intestine of a seal he fixes a -window to give light. He then constructs a low runway or entrance to his abode, into which he gathers himself and the other’members of his party.. The natural heat of tiw bodies of the party soon warms the atmosphere. All clothing is then stripjyed off and dried, and until the blizzard has blown itself out and better conditions prevail life is sustained under fairly comfortable conditions. These Arctic nomads all carry small stone bowls and a supply of se»4 or whale fat. With a piece of moss for wick a fire is ignited and fed with oil. Soon the little stone lamp gives a warmth to the atmosphere, and even food may be cooked over the flame, and clo-thing dri&l. It should be possible for all alpinists and mountain guides to learn the manner in which these houses of snow may be constructed. If such knowledge had been known before the injured man and his party were reached on Mount Egmont on Sunday last it might have been possible that such a sheltei could have been erected. One of the most renowned of modern Arctic • explorers, yillijalmur S-tef-ansson, in h's interesting book entitled “My Life With the Eskimos,” gives information of a very instructive character respecting t-ne niatter of being caught in severe weather. He - states: “There is no danger to life from a blizzard as long as you keep your head. The fact that so many white men freeze to death 'in the north is chiefly due to another of their superstitions about

cold, to the effect that when caught ir. a storm without shelter you tnust keep moving' continually, because if you stop and sit down, and especially if you go

to sleep, you are sure to freeze to death. The Eskimo rule, which is exactly the opposite of this, is tho sensible one. Just as soon as you make up your mind that you are lost, stop, ami don’t move until you know where you are going. A white man following his principle will walk about until he is thoroughly ■exhausted, aud usually until his clothes are wet with perspiration. The time finally comes ’ when ' he has to stop through weariness and sleepiness. His powers of resistance have been brought so low that freezing to death is the common, and, in fact, the nearly universal, outcome. - ' The 4>est thing, when

you. are lost in a, winter storm is to put up a snow house, but that- is sonic- •' times impossible, either because a man ' does not know how, or else because the i snow is too soft and cannot be cut into i blocks. The thing to do then is to find ; a small stone or a piece of sod. or auy--1 tl’.ino - else that can be brushed free of snow. Sit on this with your back to- ; ward the wind; rest your head on your : knees, and <go to sleep if you can. Sleepj ing will help you to pass the time away, and there is no danger in it, for so soon I as you begin to get cold the chill will ! wake von up—always . provided yotir ! clothes* are dry and that you are not exha.usted before you sit down.” Further on Steiausson says of one of his Eskimo hunters; ■ “Xatkusiak was caught in a blizzard and was absent for i two days. A man fully dressed at this k season of the year wears two coats — f a thick outer one -and an inner one made of thin faw.i skin. Natkusiak on this occasion was wearing only his fawn skin, and we were therefore considerably worried about him; but on the thirff morning he caine home all safe and smiling, saying that he had had the longest and best sleep of the winter. He had I been 'some miles from camp in a little i snow hut or. igloo, the floor of which •was not over live feet in diameter and the roof pf which was less than, four feet high.”