MOTORING IN SNOW

Hokitika Guardian, 7 August 1930, Page 5

MOTORING IN SNOW

EXPERIENCES AT NATIONAL PARK.

WELLINGTON, August 5.

A party of Wellington motorists who left the city last week for the Tongariro National Park had all the snow cold and wintry experience they require for a year or two, said one of them to a reporter to-day, but it was something to look back on." Before leaving, they sought information from the Automobile Club as to roads. They were told they were all right, but found them all wrong. The going was good until shortly aftef'leavmg Taihape, and there they ran into snow, which held for pratically the whole of the remainder of the journey, in parts up to 3it deep. The worst lengths, however, had been cleared of much of the snow by prison labour bu tdriving was a . dangerous business owing to the risk of skidding, particularly on bends. Snow-covered trees and icicle-draped rocks along the roadway were a beautiful sight when there was time to appreciate them.

Conditions were worst in the vicinity of Erua, where the main prison camp is situated. The road would have been impossible but for good work done in the bitter cold by the men from the camp. The cold, even in a closed ear, was most intense, but they got through at last, including a couple of hours’ driving in the dark (anything but a comfortable experience), and then, within fifty yards of the Chateau, they ran bang into a heavy drift anci were stuck hard and fast. A gang of men from tile Chateau dug them out ,in quick time, and they garaged the car as soon as they could.

The plains about the Chateau were heavily covered with snow, and J, -> mountains, particularly Tongariro, were a picture. By great good luck, the weather changed to days of cloudless skies, and winter sports were in full swing. Most magnificent were the sunsets, which changed the snow-cov-ered mountains to brilliant red, almost crimson. While at tho Chateau, they heard of a party of motorists who were properly caught by the blizzard earlier in tlie week, and narrowly missed being frozen to death. A party of three women and an elderly man ran into a deep drift near Wahnarino. j'lie man set out to find assistance, and in a few pi in utes found himself lip to liis neck in a still heavier drift. He managed to struggle back to the ear, and there the four stayed until found by the superintendent of the prison camp some hours later. They were taken to the prison camp and given hot baths and food. They were so cramped and cold when ■found, it was stated, that probably another half hour’s exposure would bare meant a tragedy.

During the heaviest of the cold weather, the water pipes at the Chateau froze, and the supply failed but the staff tackled the job, and tho inconvenience was overcome..