MT. EGMONT FATALITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 April 1941, Page 7

MT. EGMONT FATALITY

(Contributed.) The tragic accident reported by a Press message from New Plymouth and appearing in Monday’s issue, which resulted in the death of a climber on the slopes of Mt Egmont, should make all who climb or intend so to do realise the danger always present in a winter trip and indeed often in midsummer. I have never climbed the Tararuas but have been to the summit of Egmont on a number of occasions. I have never had a real winter trip but on one occasion had a climb from Dawson Falls during which the conditions were much the same as those apparent on Saturday when the fatality took place. I recall vividly crossing a belt of ice-covered rocks whose condition and position seem to strongly synchronise with those from which the climber slipped. I remember well also the remark of the late Mr Samuel Turner, one of the greatest climbers of all times, when I made rather light of the crossing—incidentally one looked down two to three thousand feet of sheer ice, glistening like a sheet of glass. To me he said: “Be careful, for one false step and you would not stop till ‘Kingdom come’.” This will serve to prove to all climbers how vitally necessary it is always to exercise the utmost caution and to take no risks. I can well picture the scene and the measurements given seem to tally very closely. They were cutting steps in the ice but there is no. mention of ropes and apparently the party was not roped, an omission which seems to indicate lack of experience. But the lesson to be learnt from this —which adds one more to the yearly lengthening list of fatalities —is that climbers should take no mountain carelessly. The newcomer to Taranaki, looking at the mountain, is fain to wonder where lies the danger; possibly the same applies to your Mt Holdsworth and the Raurimu peaks. But I quote some safe advice given years ago by my old friend Turner, with whom I climbed thrice, when he said: “No matter what mountain it. is or what season of the year it may be, always treat its slopes and its abysses with the utmost respect. One never can tell where danger may be met.” With the utmost insistence and with a deep appreciation of his sterling merits as a mountain climber, I very heartily endorse the sound advice and have pleasure in passing it on to the young men and women of this picturesque district.