DEATHS FROM EXPOSURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 878, 23 January 1930, Page 1

DEATHS FROM EXPOSURE

Five Blizzard Victims HEROISM OF GUIDES Press Association TIMARU, Today. “ JUST as I reacbed the De La Beche Corner I saw a woman J lying on the ice and discovered that she was dead. She was lying face downward in a hollow in the ice, apparently having been sheltering from the wind. About 30 yards farther on I found another woman, her face cut on the cheek, but did not take particular notice of it. About 100 yards farther on there were two more women, one of them with her face under water. The other was lying on top or beside her companion. They were both dead.”

The speaker was Charles Hilgendorf, the guide who was the first to learn of the tragedy which took the lives of five persons on Mount Cook last Sunday. His statement was made at the inquest which was opened today at the Hermitage before Mr. E. MacDonald, of Fairlie, coroner, and a jury of four. Constable Macintosh, of Fairlie, conducted the case for the police; Mr. 1,. E. Finch, of Timaru, appeared for the Mount Cook Motor Company; and Mr. W. D. Campbell, of Timaru, represented the relatives of the late Guide Blomfleld. Evidence of identification of Blomfleld was given by Alexander Sinclair, solicitor, of Dunedin, and of the girls by Geoffrey Gould Woolley, assistant manager of the Hermitage. The manager of the Hermitage, Charles Digby Elms, said Blomfleld was employed as a professional guide, and was very experienced. On January 18 the women left the Hermitage for the Malte Brun hut, in charge of Blomfleld. All appeared fit enough to make the journey. Charles Hilgendorf, employed as a guide at the Hermitage for the past rwo seasons, said that on January 16 he left the Hermitage with a party for the Malte Brun hut. He was at the hut when Blomfleld arrived with the party on January 18. On the following day Blomfleld and the party left the hut at 10.30 a.m. to return to the Hermitage. Witness told Blomfleld that he would follow a;ter he had cleaned up the hut. It was raining slightly when Blomfleld aid the party left, but at that time witness did not think it Would be a rough day. They were clothed much as were oil women who visited the hut.

Witness tidied up and followed them about an hour and a-lialf afterward. 1; was raining very heavily, with lightring and thunder, and, as he continued his journey, the weather became worse, and a gale sprang up. When witness reached the glacier, conditions of the ice were very bad, and he had been forced to put on i rampons, but even so going was very cifflcult. The blizzard was the worst le had known. SPARKS FROM ICE-AXE

"After I left the Malte Brun Hut the blizzard increased in intensity, ' ivid flashes of lightning cleaving the heavens. Conditions were so bad chat, the metal head of my ice-axe ► parked and sang whenever the lightning struck it. I was conipelled to tie the axe to the end of two crampon ■ traps. I then dragged it behind me. He then mentioned the discovery «>f the four bodies of the women. Hilgendorf pulled them out of the water on to the hard ice and proceded to go down to the Ball Hut. Very soon afier he had left the bodies the weather improved, and he made sood time. The bodies were about six miles from the Ball Hut, which witness reached about 3.30 p.m., a little more than three hours and ahalf after he had left the Malte Brun hut. He had found the bodies about 3.30 p.m. He reported the tragedy to the guide in charge of the Ball Hut. At the time he discovered the bodies of the women he did not see that of Blomfleld, probably because he was c rawling on the Ice when the blizzard was raging. Witness crawled on his hands and knees to the corner, as the wind was so severe that he was unable to stand up. “I could do nothing else but crawl,” he added. BODIES AT WORST POINT

To Mr. Finch, witness said that the *iorm from the nor’-west came down the Rudolph Glacier, striking the Tasman Glacier at the De La Beche Corner. The bodies were at the worst for the weather, being exposed to the wind coming down Rudolph Glacier.

To Mr. Campbell: 1 have been following up mountaineering since I was very ycung. I have known Guide Blomfleld for two years, and found him a man of sound judgment, and always careful for the safety of his Parties. There was no reason why Blomfleld should not have left the Malte Brun Hut on Sunday morning. I have left the hut under similar conditions to those existing when Blomfleld left.

Michael Robert Bowie, a guide emPloved by the Mount Cook Motor Company, said that on Sunday he was at the Ball Hut in the afternoon. Hilgendorf arrived at about 3.30 p.m. He said that he had seen four women dead on the De La Beche Corner, but that he had not found Blomfleld. Witness obtained six men from the Ball Hut and spread out about two miles below the scene of the tragedy to search for the party. They took lanterns, stores and food. The bodies eventually were found, but their position was slightly different from that described by Hilgendorf. as the wind had probably shifted them. Three of the women were together, two being frozen under. “I think their deaths were caused by severe cold,” added witness. Blomfleld was about 150 yards away from the women. He was stretched °ut on the ice as though he had been crawling toward the Malte Brun Hut. He was in his shirt-sleeves and had thrown away his rucksack. He had

lost his hat and his ice-axe was some yards away. The search party tried to revive Blomfleld. He was wrapped in blankets and rubbed. The others looked hopeless as they were stiff, and two of them were lying in water. Blomfield’s hands were badly torn by the ice and all the skin was off the back of them. Hilgendorf, recalled, said that he did not think anyone could live under the same conditions, meaning, with the same equipment, and in the same party. “I do not know that I can say that if I had been out with the party my end would have been the same. I was equipped differently. In my opinion the blizzard was at its worst a quarter of an hour before I came to the bodies. INADEQUATE UNDERCLOTHING Dr. Charles Stanley Fraser, of Timaru, said he examined the bodies of the five victims. Miss Brown was wearing light drill trousers with silk wool combinations. She was well protected round the chest with three light woollen vests and a blouse. Miss Monteath had inadequate protection round the chest from cold. Miss Smith had riding trousers and a jersey, with inadequate underclothing. Miss Keane was clothed in a suede lumber jacket and khaki riding trousers. She had inadequate underclothing. Blomfield's chest was bare of clothing and he was wearing a pair of light, grey slacks and light underpants. Witness could And no evidence of injury to the bones or joints of any of the deceased and he believed that they had died of cold and exposure. There was no evidence of anything else whatever. To the foreman, witness said that, one was forced to the conclusion that the clothing had been inadequate in such a blizzard, but he understood that Blomfield’s shirt had been removed when resuscitation was attempted. The constable asked what was the length of time in which it was usual for a person to perish of exposure. Witness said that he was unable to give a definite answer owing to the rarity of these fatalities. After a retirement lasting a quarter of an hour the jury returned with the following verdict: "That deceased died on the Tasmau Glacier on Sunday. January 19, 1930, their deaths being due to exposure as a result of being caught in a blizzard.” The jury expressed its deepest sympathy with the relatives and friends of the deceased in the terrible tragedy and also expressed its admiration of the efforts of the guides and the relief party in their ordeal in recovering the bodies, also the Public Works Department and its employees, also the well-known Alpinist, Mr. Guy Mannering, for his assistance in recovering the bodies.

VICTIMS’ HOME-COMING

ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO HERMITAGE SLEDGES AND PACK HORSES Press Association TIMARU, Wednesday. Great privation and hardship were suffered by the party which left the Ball Hut yesterday morning to recover the bodies of the five victims of the blizzard on the Tasman Glacier. On Monday, unfavourable weather had compelled them to return to the Ball Hut after being within a mile of their objective. A violent storm made progress impossible. The soft Ice was covered with crevasses, and hail and sleet lashed down the Tasman Valley, the surface of which was particularly treacherous. Yesterday, however, an improvement in the weather was noted, and a successful expedition to De La Beche Corner was commenced. The party comprised 15 members, and was headed by Guide Vic Williams, Mr. G. E. Manning, an experienced alpinist, •and Constable H. Macintosh. The Ball Hut was left at one o’clock. On reaching the bodies at 3.30 p.m. the party split up, three men to a stretcher, and the journey to the Ball Hut was commenced in short laps. For two miles the bodies were sledged, after which they were carried to Pineapple Rock, a further distance of a mile. FURTHER ASSISTANCE Here another relief party, led by the manager of the Hermitage, Mr. C. Elms, and Guide A. Dewar, met the first party. Darkness was descending over the mountain region, and the day’s work was brought to a close when the Ball Hut was but two miles away. A rocky ridge sheltered the victims for the night, and the parties proceeded to the hut, where the night was spent. With the break of day today the searchers returned to where the bodies lay. This time packhorses were taken. A way was led over the Hochstetter ice and the Ball moraine, along the hut track to the terminus of the road at present under construction. The party was then met by a motor-

car. in which the victims were conveyed to the Hermitage. A member of Mr. Elms’s party on Tuesday described the difficulties met on the trip. The conditions at six o’clock, he said, made a complete transformation from those obtaining in the morning. There was not a cloud In the sky at this hour. A keen wind was still in evidence, but both parties made good progress in spite of the treacherous nature of the glacier. Further obstacles were met in the form of deep crevasses, which mostly were filled with water. The trying experience resulted in several members of the first party showing visible signs of exhaustion when Pineapple Rock was reached. The best mountaineering skill was necessary on the return journey to pilot the party through the moraine at the foot of the Tasman Glacier. Steep rock facings presented further impediments, especially in view of the fact that the party was carrying the stretchers. At one stage the track was so steep that it was found advisable to remove two of the bodies from the stretchers, and these were carried up the highest ridges. BURIAL OF GUIDE PRIVATE FUNERAL AT DUNEDIN Press Association DUNEDIN, Today. The burial of Guide E. Blomfleld, victim of the glacier tragedy, took place this morning at the Southern Cemetery. Sir John Sinclair, Mr. Walter Raymond, of Timaru, and Mr. Alexander Sinclair were among the mourning relatives. It was not a public funeral.