FALL OVER PRECIPICE

Hokitika Guardian, 27 February 1932, Page 6

FALL OVER PRECIPICE

.MOUNTAINEER INJURED. HAZARDOUS RESCUE EFFECTED. DUNEDIN, February 23. How a man named Syd. Studholme, of Wellington, who had fallen over a precipice in the mountains west* of Lake Wanaka, wa,s rescued and brought back to safety under the most difficult and hazardous conditions was related by Air N. G. M'Lean, a medical student at Otago University, who was a member of the rescue party.

Advice of the accident was received in Dunedin on Sunday, February 14, by Mr Eric Miller, of the Otago branch of the New Zealand Alpine Club, and he immediately set 'about organising a party to proceed to the spot and rescue the injured man. A party was quickly formed, consisting of Messrs Miller, M'Lean, J. Aitken, Scott Gilkinson, Roland Ellis, and Maurice Ellis, the last-named of whom joined the others at Alexandra. Arrived at the Niger Hut, 26 miles past Lake Wanaka, at 8 o’clock on the Sunday night, the party were joined by Mr J. Aspinall, of Mount Aspiring station. At the station they met Messrs Howard Boddy and Eric Wilson, who belonged to the party with whom Studholme was climbing, when lie met with the accident, and who had returned to the station to secure assistance.

I It was then learned that the original 1 party, consisting of Messrs Boddy, Wilson, J. Sha n ks, G. Pryor, and Studholme, had left Mount Aspiring station on the previous Sunday mor.n----j ing, February 7, and' had made their way up the east branch of the Matukituki ive-r. They continued . climbing for several days, and all went well until the evening of the 11th., when the members of the party who had i been climbing a ridge of what is ! known as the Glacier Dome had just .reached the last of the ice and had ’ discarded their crampons, the climb--1 ing nails fitted to the boots, and the rope to which each man was attached for safety. Up to this time Studholme i had been i.n the middle of the party, but- suddenly he rushed to the front I and and fell over a bluff about 35 feet in height, landing on snow and ice. |As the hour was growing late, and darkness was coming on, the most the other climbers could do was to carry the injured man to a more suitable I spot, where a camp was made at I about the 5000-feet level. The next day the men made their comrade more comfortable, and rendered what assistance they-' could. On tire thirteenth Boddy and Wil-l-son left for Mount Aspiring Station in | order to secure assistance, and after they had been joined there by the rescue party a start was made last 1 Monday for the place where the acciI dent occurred, the party being joined l by Air Aspinall and Messrs G. Simpson j and J. Thomson, of Dunedin. The men made their way that day through birch forests along the bank of the Matukituki and over bluffs, their dirj ection necessitating three crossings of ■ tlie river. About 6 o’clock that even- | ing they reached what 'is known its the top flat, where they camped, and sent up a smoke signal as a signal to the | other party that rescue was at hand. | The next morning they climbed an- ' other 3000 feet, and when they met tin: men who were with Studholme the rnin was falling and it was bitterly cold. Air M 1 Dean examined ; Studholme,

j and found that although he was bad- ! ly bruised no bones were broken, but ho had contracted pneumonia as the result of exposure.

I Secure in his sleeping bag, Studholme was placed on a .stretcher, and then began a hazardous journey over very rough country. As a result of heavy rain, the river was rapidly ris--1 ing, and the patient had to be ear- | l ied across the river three times on the shoulders of lour members of the : party. The last fording was made ■ practically in the darkness. An idea of the extremely difficult and precarious nature of the task of transporting the injured man over such rough country niav he gained from the fact that

at one stage a sloping tree was used ;as a bridge over the river, and the | stretcher was held by two men who ' slid down the tree trunk to the opposite >«ide of the river. | About 1.0 o’clock on Thursday night i the party regained Mount Aspiring Station, and it was found that, owing Jto bracing and splinting having been | carried out, Studholme- had travelled ! well over the 18-mile journey, and had j not been subjected to much jolting. 1 while he had been kept- warm in the ! sleeping hag. The next morning he ■ had improved considerably, but there ' were still signs of lung trouble, and |he was taken that day to l.lie Cromj well Hospital, where lie is still a pat- | ient.

H rained a groat deal during the middle of the week, and Air M'Leaii declared that had they not managed to get away from the hack country when they did they would slill have been there, as it would have been impossible to cross the river while it was in Hood. It was the first time that anyone had gone to the head nl the east branch of the Alatukituki River, and Uqssns Ellis and Aitken, who have each made two ascents of Mount Aspiring, slate that there could liardlv l>a worse place in New Zealand for sm.li a venture to be undertaken.