Missing trampers found in snow cave

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 2

Missing trampers found in snow cave

Nelson reporter The three trampers missing in the Mount Arthur region were recovered by helicopter early yesterday morning from a snow cave they had built just below the ridge of the mountain. The police and the pilot of the helicopter, Mr Bill Reid, agreed that the three would not have survived another night in the sub-zero temperatures. The Rev. Eric Mattock, aged 37, a Presbyterian minister, of Richmond, and Messrs Cliff Dockery, aged 40, of Nelson, and Harry Naylor, aged 60, of Richmond, left on Monday to tramp into the Ellis Basin and were due out at the Flora Hut on Wednesday afternoon. A police search for them began on Thursday afternoon. The men used dinner plates to dig out the shallow shelter to survive two bitterly cold nights in a blizzard after losing their way in the “white-out” conditions, the Press Association reported. They did not sleep, fearing they could drift off suffering from hypothermia and they were unable to get a primus going because of the intense cold. “We had good sleeping bags and plenty of warm clothing ... we kept talking to keep ourselves awake,” said Mr Mattock. Mr Reid said the men owed their lives to “doing the right things.” “They did not make for the bush, where they would not have been spotted from the air, but found shelter in an area where they could be seen. They also displayed some colour,” he said. Mr Reid and an experienced helicopter shooter, Mr Alistair McLean, left to search the area at dawn yesterday. At 9 a.m., Mr McLean spotted one of the men waving from an area just below Mount Arthur. He and the orange groundsheet in the snow were plainly visible. Fortunately there was a good landing spot nearby and the three men were helped into the helicopter. “They were pretty bad when we found them,” said Mr Reid. He flew the three first to Graham Valley to receive medical attention from a doctor living in the area, and then direct to Nelson Hospital. The hospital medical superintendent, Dr Douglas Short, reported that all were suffering from hypothermia and mild frostbite, but their condition was satisfactory.