FROZEN BODIES RECOVERED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 877, 22 January 1930, Page 1

FROZEN BODIES RECOVERED

Victims of Mt. Cook Tragedy

NOBLE ACTIONS BY GUIDES Hilgendorf’s Heroic Journey Press Association TIMARU, Today. THE frozen bodies of the five victims of the Tasman Glacier tragedy were recovered yesterday afternoon and carried to the Ball Hut, where the rescue party camped for the night. It is expected the Hermitage will be reached this afternoon, where the inquest will he held.

■When Acting-Guide K. Blomfield was found on Sunday he was practically naked, nearly all his clothes having been given to some of his companions. Apparently he was on his way back to the hut to obtain blankets for the rest when he was overcome, for his body was found only 150 yards from the others. A glowing tribute to the work of Acting-Guide C. Hilgendorf. who brought in the news, is paid by Mr. Roy Twyneham. of Christchurch, who returned from Mount Cook last evening. Mr. Twyneham has had extensive climbing experience and was at the Hermitage when the news of the tragedy was received. HILGENDORF EXHAUSTED ■•When I saw Hilgendorf at the Hermitage on his return he was all in." said Mr. Twyneham. “After the awful day he had put in he was in the last stages of exhaustion. It was a wonderful performance. He had to crawl for five miles on his hands and knees. It was only his superb fitness and strength that enabled him to get through at all. 1 climbed with him a few days before, and I know what he was like.” That there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the tragedy is the opinion of Mr. Twyneham. He said everything possible was done by everybody concerned, and the tragedy was due to the severity of the weather. Hilgendorf, who had stayed behind at Malte Brun Hut to clean

up, left for Ball Hut as soon as his -work was finished. His first intimation of the tragedy was when he stumbled over a ruc-sac, which was carried by Blomfield. CRAWLED FIVE MILES Then he found the bodies of the four women, and he pushed on to Ball Hut with the news. The journey was most gruelling, and included five miles of crawling over ice. On his arrival he was just able to gasp: “The girls are dead: out on the glacier: blizzard terrible.” From Ball Hut to the Hermitage the news was taken by Dr. J. C. Bradshaw, and immediately a party of guides, student guides and packers was sent out, under Chief Guide Victor Williams, to recover the bodies. In spite of the terrible journey he had just made, Hilgendorf accompanied the party from Ball Hut to the place where the bodies lay. At that time he knew no more than that Blomfield was missing, as he had not seen him, but when his body was discovered it was only 150 yards away from where the women lay. “Blomfield was a most skilful guide,” said Mr. Twyneham. “and no one at the Hermitage, guides included, knew the glacier better than he did. The weather was moderately good when they set out, but a blizzard cau come on with wonderful suddenness. They must have been dead within an hour and a-halt' of leaving the hut, as they were only four miles away when found.”