TOLL OF THE ALPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 8

TOLL OF THE ALPS

TWO CLIMBERS DEAD RETURN OF SEARCH PARTY BOTH BODIES BROUGHT IN [ Per Press Asscciation. 1 CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 14. After an arduous journey the searchers for the two school teachers, lost on the main divide between Canterbury and Westland, returned at 4.45 o'clock this afternoon. They were too late to effect a 4 rescue and returned with the bodies of:— Harold Smith, Chancellor Street, Shirley, single, aged 27 teacher at Opawa School. Bernard Robbins, 31 Bunyan Street, Waltham, married, with three young children, aged 27, a teacher at the Waltham School. The bodies were brought to Bealey by Mr E. W. Cochrane. Loney is safe and he will be brought down to Bealey to-morrow. Robbins’ body was found in the Taipoiti Stream at 7.30 a.m. at a height of 400 feet. The other body was found in a range at the back of the stream about 400 yards away. Robbins was badly cut about and it looked as though he had had a bad fall. Apparently he fell into the stream and was drowned. Smith probably died in his sleep. Robbins body had to be brought down 2000 feet and wa. carried across a snowfield- It was then carried over the Taipoiti River, which had to be forded twelve times. Smith’s body was brought down a shingle slide to the river and brought across. Both bodies were placed on pack horses and conveyed to Bealey, arriving at 4.45 p.m. An inquest will be held at Bealey to-morrow. When Loney staggered into the camp of Sweney and Wilson in Harman Pass on Tuesday night Wilson lost no time in setting out for assistance. He reached the Carrington Hut at midnight and, after having a meal, com me need a perilous descent in the dark to Bealey. In his attempt to cross a deep ford in the Waimakariri he almost met with disaster. He was unable to find his way in the darkness and was caught in the swift current. Fortunately, he was washed to the bank, but on the side from which he hac set out. He crawled up the bank and then, deciding that it would be futile and foolhardy to repeat the attempt, went back to the hut to wait for daylight. He left Carrington hut for the second time at six ©-’clock yesterday morning, and reached Bealey at 9 20. He had not spared himself on the run down to Bealey and arrived at the Glacier Hotel in an exhausted condition, having covered a distance, that normally takes five hours, in three hours and thirty minutes. Attempts to persuade him to remain at Bealey failed and, mounted on a hack, he was the first to set out again to the rescue.