DISASTER ON A MOUNTAIN.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1908, 17 November 1913, Page 3

DISASTER ON A MOUNTAIN.

PARTY OF SCHOOLBOYS FROZEN TO DEATH.

Details havo beon ncpivM of a disaster which recently overtook a: party or Japanese schoolboys oft Mount Xoni&gatakc, 1 in', Japan. ' Tho mountain in question is 'not far short or. 10,000 feet in height—a tremendous climb for boys of fourteen. Thirty-four members of a school excursion club in the Nagano Prefecture, headed by tho principal of the sehooi and two or Ins assistants, set out at five o'clock one morning with the, intention of making tho ascent and descent of tlio mountain in one day. Apparently the principal and some of his pupils Ijad aeconiplisliod tho feat on previous occasions, but not with so largo a, party. _ A good climber requiresf rem seven to eight hours t-o reach the highest of Komagatake's peaks J it took these youth-, ful mountaineers fifteen. No sooner had they entered the liut erected at the summit as a "pilgrim's rest" than t a .terrible storm broke over the mountain. Heavy rain soon gave pla-ce to sleet, 4-nd tho temperature fell to freezing-points For a whilo tho hut afforded a rude shelter, but it was wrecked by a violent gust, and the inmates were exposed to tho fury of the storm. By daylight two of the boys were dead of cold ana exhaustion. They were brothers, a.nd had perished in each other's arms. Though tho storm raged as fiercely as ever, the party decided _ to descend. Each of the teachers carried a pupil too exhausted to attempt the journey, but half-way down the principal and the boy succumbed together. Finally, at two in the afternoon, one of tho teachers, with 23 boys, staggered, more dead 'than alive,.into a village on the opposite side of the mountain from that which they had ascended. Search parties number about 400 persons, and supplied with food and clothing, ascended tho 'mountain from both directions. They found the remaining teacher in a wayside hut, still alive, and iii various parts of the ascent thirteen frozen bodies, including that of the principal.