“SAFETY FIRST.”

Shannon News, 5 July 1927, Page 2

“SAFETY FIRST.”

ADVICE TO TRAMPERS. .The great necessity for mountaineering knowledge and a strict adherence to correct methods were emphasised by Mr • F. W. Vosseler, the well-known tramping authority, at the annual meeting of the Tararua Tramping Club on Monday evening. .Trampers, said Mr Vosseler, might at times be venturesome, and one could not become familiar with Nature in its more rugged and wilder aspects without .taking some risks. These risks, however, should be reduced to the point where anything in the nautre of mishap could honestly be attributed to inadvertence rather than to carelessness, foolhardiness, or to being unduly, venturesome. “I do not think,” continued Mr Vosseler, “that we can condemn too strongly the practice of trampers travelling too lightly in places where circumstances ddinand we should carry sufficient equipment. We in no way ’ should sacrifice efficiency fox? .-the sake of speed. It is a thing we should have to watch and condemn where we know it occurs. Perhaps some people will regard us as feather-bed trampers, but we can stand that. We have got to play safe and we have got to be an example to others. ’ ’ Mr Vosseler thought that if the practices as laid down by the authorities were closely followed there would be very few accidents. Then, when they did happen, they could not be put down to carelessness or slackness in methods, but rather to something beyond human control. “I am .afraid, ”; he added, “that some of the accidents that do happen go into the class of—, well, taking a risk that it is not proper to take. ” Continiuing, Mr Vosseler referred to the number of mountaineering fatalities of late,-and to the incident on the Tararuas when Messrs Diedrieh and Seanlon were lost for some time. It was very- pleasing to note, he said, that the action of some of the club’s members and helpers made it possible for the boys to get back alive. Those men in their search had gone very close to the missing youths, and it was rather bad luck that they did not pick them «P-

Lessons were to be learned from the trying experiences which befel Messrs Diedrich and Scanlon. The two youths, in spite or their predicament, showed great wisdom in not getting alarmed or over-excited. Then, too, they wisely went into the snow grass and buried themselves in it. He was sure that in the grass Scanlon and Diedrich discovered a warmth that few of them thought was possible. Since the recent happening on the Tararuas he had been told that in the south “in the tussock land” when shepherds got into the back country found it difficult to get back, they frequently gathered the tussocks and made themselves remarkably warm. That to some extent, he thought, explained what happened on the Tararuas in the case -of Seanlon and Diedrich. It was not generally known that usually in tussock land enough dry material could be found to make quite a 'good fire. One member said that it had been suggested to him that a list be drawn up; setting out some general points to be followed by young trampers.Mr Vosseler: “It would have to be ‘some’.list to do much good.”