Peter Mulgrew honoured

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 501, 31 August 1993, Page 11 (Supplement)

Peter Mulgrew honoured

Turoa Ski Resort's VIP room was officially opened by Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary in honour of the late Peter Mulgrew, on Friday 20 August this year. Peter Mulgrew died tragically in the Air New Zealand Mount Erebus disaster in 1978 where he was commentating in place of his great friend and climbing partner, Sir Edmund Hillary. Peter Mulgrew trained in the Navy and first met Sir Edmund when he joined Hillary's New Zealand expedition to the Antarctic in 1956/58 as the party's radio operator. That was the beginning of a life-lQng friendship. Mulgrew was a man of energy, enthusiasm and superb physical fitness, participating in many ascents of the Himalayas with Hillary. It was during the ascent of the 27,790 foot-high Mount Makalu without oxygen in 1961 that Mulgrew collapsed 400m from the summit. He lost both his legs to ffost-bite. That did not slow the extraordinarily energetic Mulgrew down. In the late seventies, as a senior manager of the New Zealand company, Alex Harvey Industries, Mulgrew supervised and managed the establishment of the Turoa ski fields from 1987. Though he never lived to see it, it was due to his vision and foresight that Turoa Ski Resort is now the second largest ski resort in New Zealand and one of the

leading resorts in the Southern Hemisphere. The close relationship between the Mulgrews and the Hillarys continued even after Mulgrew's death in the Erebus disaster and in a wonderful twist of fate, Hillary married Peter Mulgrew's widow, the now Lady Hillary. "We are very pleased to be able to welcome both Sir Edmund and Lady Hillary back to Turoa, to honour such a great friend in the opening of Turoa Ski Resort's Peter Mulgrew Room," said general manager Angus Grimwade.