The Press SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1966. Mount Rolleston Tragedy

Press, Issue 31095, 25 June 1966, Page 14

The Press SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 1966. Mount Rolleston Tragedy

The death, which must now be presumed, of the four young climbers missing on Mount Rolleston since Sunday, is tragedy enough; that it should have led to the death also of Mr John Harrison, overwhelmed by an avalanche during the search, is peculiarly sad. For Mr Harrison was not only one of the finest of the mountaineers who have earned a high reputation for New Zealand in the mountain world; he was, in the best sense, a leader of mountain men, drawing others to the hills to share his enthusiasm, and, from his knowledge and qualities, teaching them the skills and the sense of discretion that are essential to the safe enjoyment of a fine sport.

This sad happening will be a reminder to the public of the dangers that are willingly incurred by those who undertake search and rescue in the mountains. Mr Harrison and the other members of the high-altitude rescue party would have been well aware of the risk of avalanches in the conditions prevailing in the last few days. But while there w r as reason to believe that any of the missing men survived and that lives could yet be saved the risk had to be taken.

Fortunately such tragedies are not common in the New Zealand mountains; but they are, quite rightly, a cause for concern to the authorities and the public. The mountain clubs have done splendid work in equipping climbers, technically and mentally, to follow their sport as safely as possible. The question will be asked: can more be done, by education or by regulation, to avoid such tragedies in the future? The inquiry into these sad and seemingly unnecessary deaths may help to answer that question. But this much can be said before the full facts are known: mountaineering cannot be stripped of all its inevitable hazards; and it would be a very much less worth-while sport if it could be. The mountains present one of the few remaining challenges to man’s courage and skill and endurance. They still fire a spirit of adventure in this age of soft living. The dangers cannot be removed, nor the spirit of adventure stifled, by statute or regulation; and John Harrison would have been the last to wish it otherwise.