BURIAL IN ALPS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22791, 15 January 1944, Page 3

BURIAL IN ALPS

Body Of Lost Climber On Malte Brun

Recovery Considered Too

Difficult

The body of Leading Aircraftman Wilfred Frank Wallis, which was discovered on Mt. Malte Brun last week, was buried on the mountain by the recovery party which found the task of removing the body to be impossible. The body was found by the party in an exposed position and was Identified as that of Leading Aircraftman Wallis by the articles it bore, the colour of the hair and the clothing and gear. It was assumed that the body of Sergeant W. P. Morton, who accompanied Wallis on the ill-fated climb, was buried under the snow and ice at the end of a rope that was visible. The party dug down six feet and then struck hard ice, but there were no signs of the second body which, it was assumed, was buried at a great depth. Weather conditions were bad at this time and the body of Leading Aircraftman Wallis was buried in the crevasse alongside, the party then returning to the Hermitage. It is the opinion of the members of the party that the two men must have fallen, when they were at a height of probably 9000 feet, down a narrow couloir; that their bodies had lodged in this couloir out of sight, and during the winter or spring had been brought; down by an avalanche to where they were discovered, at a height of about 7500 feet. The locality is about 12 miles from Ball Hut, the route lying over the glacier and most difficult terrain, and it was considered an impossible task to bring out Leading Aircraftman Wallis’s body. Such an undertaking, it was stated, would oe fraught with considerable danger to those carrying it out. The difficulties, it was further pointed out, would bq fully appreciated by experienced mountaineers with a knowledge of the locality.