WITHOUT A GUIDE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19737, 5 January 1927, Page 7

WITHOUT A GUIDE

SKIING PARTIES TRAPPED BY A MOVING MOUNTAINSIDE AVALANCHE IN THE TYROL r 7 Tel«£i-aph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright. Received January 4, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 3. On Englishman, an Englishwoman and a German were extricated alive from the Zures avalanche. Two bodies have not been recovered. The avalanche descended from Valluga mountain and was roughly half a mile long and twenty to twenty-five feet wide. Two parties of English and German skiers were about one-third of a mile apart when watchers in the valley saw the wall of snow descending upon them. The avalanche was caused Iby a warm south wind. The skiers were nearing the summit of Valluga (6000 feet), when the first avalanche swept them off their feet. The second, 800 yards long and 50 yards wide, immediately engulfed both groups, some to a depjh. of 30 feet. The noise of falling rocks, stones, snow and ice terrified the inhabitants for miles around. One of the rescuers, who were all forced to wear skis, says he first saw the ski of an English woman protruding from the snow, and he pulled her out, suffering from concussion. Nearby the arm of a German was also visible, and he was rescued. Thereafter it was guesswork to locate the engulfed people. Only One Eye-Witness. Details of the disaster reported from Vienna have created a sensation ithroughout Europe. A bank clerk, the only eye-witness, states that ten tiny I figures could be seen climbing Trittkoff when the mountain side seemed to ' move, and a huge mass of snow fell like a waterfall, with the noise of thunder, on a front of half a mile. The spectator involuntarily closed his eyes, and. when he opened them the ten had vanished, and the configuration of the mountainside had completely changed. If the English party had been given a couple of minutes it could have sheltered behind a large rock. As it was a human hand protruding from the snow was the only clue to the scene of the disaster. Later the tip of a ski led to the rescuers saving Mary Woodward. She was badly bruised about the body, and was suffering from shock. She is likely to recover. The party made the mistake of going without a guide.