LOST IN BLIZZARD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 123, 16 January 1932, Page 5

LOST IN BLIZZARD

(Press Assn.

experienced, well equipped but beaten by weather SAVED BY EXTRA BLANKET

— By Telegraph — Copyright).

CHRISTCHURCH, Eriday. "We walked into a howling \ blizzard on Sunday afternoon. Near the summit of the Harman Pass there was sleet and snow driven by raging winds, and we could not see," said Mr. Loney, the only survivor of the ill-fated trio of Canterbury school teachers, in an interview this afternoon. Mr. Loney arrived at Bealey at 5.10 this afternoon with a blanket wrapped round him. He looked cold and worn, but was in fair condition. "I ani the least experienced of the three, but I have come ont alive because I carried an extra blanket and wrapped it around myself." he said. "After we had lost each other, on Sunday night, when the blizzard was still raging, I tried to find my way to the top of the Pass, but was driven baelc. Smith and Robbins must have tried to find their way over too. Finding that I had completely lost my way, I eurled up in a blanket on the lee of a rock and spent the rest of tlu» night there. I was on the face of the mountain all day Monday. Several times I thought I was gone, owing to the intense cold. I lost all sense of timo and was very weak from lack of food. Darkness Came Again "Darkness came again with the storm* showing signs of abating. I sjH'iit the night in the same fashion as Sunday. Dawn on Tuesday broke fine and warm. The sun saved my life. I walked back down the way we had come and found Smith dead beside a rock, where apparently he had been frozen to death. He had apparently fallen while trying to get up the steep face and had lost his pack. I could not find Robbins anywhere. I left Smith and went back to the Morpeth hut. It took me a day to get there, and I met Mr. Wilson by chance. I wTas relieved to see him. He put me inside a hut and gave me food whieli revived me. "Mr. Wilson then set out on a night trip to the Carrington hut to give them the news and to bring- assistance from Bealey. He passed the Morpeth hut, and on Thursday, about II o'clock two men, who had travelled in racing kit from the Carrington hut, arrived and brought me over the Pass to the Carrington hut, where we arrived about 6 p.m. "It was my first experience on a mountain trip of this sort. Smith and Robbins were experienced men, and we had made all preparations for the journey. The weather was fine when we left Hokitika on Sunday, January 3. Route Changed "We had not gone very far when it coTnmenced to rain. Then we pushed up the mountain towards the Harman Pass. Fog made it very difficult see any distance, and although it Was in the afternoon, It was quite dark. "We kept well togetlier and decided that, instead of going over the route along the Taipo-iti River, we would tackle the Pass. "When we wTalked into the blizzard, I asked them to Ieave me, but Smith said we would fight it out together. We kept pegging away and gradually we became lost. I lost contaet with the others. I made an effort to get over on my own, but soon gave that up. Apparently Smith and Robbins lost touch with eacli other.

"It was all devilish hard luck and might easily have happened to anyone. The trip was hot tackled rashly. Smith and Robbins knew the country well.j We had maps and we knew where we were going. It was not like tackling an unknown country. Had we gone down the river bed, I think we should all have got there. "I was 36 hours on the mountain side before the sun came, and I do not know how I lasted to see it. Both the other fellows were stronger than I am, and I think they died of cold. I am glad I carried my blanket. "Had I not met Wilson, the chances aro I should not be telling this story, for I was all in. I could not have carried on much longer."