ALPINE TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 16 January 1932, Page 5

ALPINE TRAGEDY

THE CORONER’S VERDICT

PRAISE FOR THE RESCUERS

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association J

CHRISTCHURCH, January 15

The inquest into the alpine tragedy wa s held at Healey to-night. Mr 'Michael Fitzgerald, J.P., acted as Coroner. There being a jury of four. Keith Loney repeated his story at the inquest. The following verdict was returned: “We find that Harold Smith and Charles Bernard Robbins died at Har moots Pass on or about January 11, while endeavouring to cross over this Pass to the Carrington Hut, the cause of death being exposure, following on exhaustion, in a storm.” A ruler was addt d commending the work of the search parties, and particularly that of J. P. Wilson, H. M. iSwoney, F. W. Cochrane and Constable Robb. ■ j ■Sympathy was extended to the relatives of the unfortunate trampors. LOXEY’S (HUM STORY. CHRISTCHURCH, January 15. Keith Loney, the survivor of the tramping party, in an interview at the Bealey, said that the party walked into a howling blizzard on Sunday last, and they could not see that night. They tried to reach the top of the Harmon Pass, but they were driven '.back, and then, 'they became separated, Finding that ] he had lost his way he (Loney) curled up under a rock, and he .spent the night there. On Monday, Loney stated, he was on the face of a mountain all day, and several times he thought that he was gone, owing to the intense cold and to his lack of food. He spent the night of Monday under a rock. Tuesday broke fine, and the warm sun, he says, saved his” life. He regained the track, and, retracing hi.'s steps, he found Smith. Smith wa s beside a rock, where he had apparently frozen to death. Smith had seemingly fallen while trying to scale a steep face, and had lost his pack. Not being able to find Robbins, Loney said, he decided to go back to the Park-Morpeth 'Hut. It took him ill day on Tuesday to get there, and on •the way he met Wilson. It was by chance that he met Wilson, who cared for him, and then set out. to the Bealey for assistance. Though it wa s his first experience of mountaineering, Loney said, their plans had been well made, and they carried ylenty of food and clothing. When they walked into the blizzard, | he had asked 'the others to go on, and lea'-e him, but Smith said: "No! We will fight it out together.” “We kept pegging away,” Loney went .on.- to ..say., “but .gradually.,, we . became lost. 1 lost contact with the others, and I made an effort 'to get over on my own ; but I soon gave that up. Apparently Smith and Robbins also lost touch with each other. It was all devilish hard luck, and it might have happened to anyone.” Loney attributes his salvation >to the fact that he carried an extra blanket, and to his lucky meeting with Wilson, as he was all in, and could not have carried on much longer. tfM—BTHTflimfll—M——a