Frozen Barney

Frozen Barney

 During his days of misspent youth, Henry used to drive a Commer Cob; some called her a van, while he liked the sound of ‘stationwagon’. She had bucket seats, and although small, she could go like the wind and it was amazing how many people – or pigs - she could carry. It was rumoured that she had a certain stink, through the cartage of his two dogs or perhaps it was the pigs he had shot. The service garage always tried their best by washing her with some sort of disinfectant, but on a hot day, it only made it worse… but Henry didn’t seem to mind.

 Earlier however, she was pretty clean and during his second year of training to become Forest Ranger, passengers were happy to pile into her go somewhere or other. His second year of training was a year of study and practical work to do with indigenous forestry at the Ranger School… He was oner of twenty-nine keen young lads, fit for an outdoors lifestyle with similar goals.

 During his time off, Henry enjoyed hunting by myself, parking at the top of the Rahu Saddle and climbing up to the south on Mt. Haast. The tops, above the bushline, were clean snow tussock country and if there were no deer or chamois about, the climb was worth it for the scenery, solitude and silence. Doing such activities your own, these days is frowned upon, but as government hunters, it was seen as being quite normal.

 One winter’s Sunday, Henry had planned to go for a quick hunt, and the news spread around the camp, so four others asked for a lift so they could go hunting too. Barney is the guy of focus, he and two others wanted to be dropped off at Lake Stream, and Henry backtracked to Duffy’s Creek with Jack… a their fellows had earlier spent a couple of weeks cutting a track up Duffy’s Creek to where there was a tarn; a good spot a deer.

 It had been snowing but the sky as clear and as was normal did back then, they wore shorts and Swandries… actually, even for them, they weren’t adequately prepared properly for the middle of winter; it could get cold in the mountains and they made the mistake of not taking food or drink with them. But to be fair, trousers were a hindrance when working in the bush, so was practical rather than anything else. Henry and Jack arranged to meet Barney and co at three o’clock, at the Lake Stream bridge.

 Luckily Henry and Jack didn’t have much snow to plough through and Jack shot a young stag near the lake, so they carried a hind quarter each with the idea of giving them to the cook back at base. The cook and his wife were the best cooks of any of the camps Henry had stayed in during his career; the free venison was a favour they thought was just. Anyway, they were back on time at the bridge, but the others were late!  Henry had to keep running the engine from time to time to keep themselves warm as the late afternoon cooled quickly.

 This is Barney’s story: The three had plodded along the track through boot-deep snow to the lake, which was completely frozen, so they skated on it in their hobnailed boots using their rifles as ski poles which was fun, but it sucked up some time. They had seen no animal sign, not even a footprint in the snow, so they eyed the rocky crags some thousand feet above them and decided to climb up in the hope of spotting a chamois. It looked to be good habitat for them.  The climb took longer than expected, but being fit young bucks, they planned to jog back through the bush to the road once they were back on the easier topography beside the stream.

 They hadn’t made much ground along the better topography when, Barney’s bootlace came undone, so he told the others he would catch up with them. He hadn’t considered that it gets dark in the bush an hour earlier than in the open… and quickly. Even in the dusk, Barney lost the track, because the old slasher blazes on the tree trunks had mossed over and didn’t show up in the gloom. However, he knew that following the stream would take him to the bridge but it wasn’t a direct route, it twisted and turned, which was less suitable topography. He knew it was going to take him much longer to meet up, so he decided to let off a couple of shots to let the team at the vehicle know where he was, and one of them let off one in answer.

 Barney was stumbling in the dark over roots and rocks that were half-buried in snow.  He didn’t see the bank that dipped down to the stream, so fell awkwardly into the freezing water, luckily, he wasn’t hurt, but the cold water triggered the onset of hypothermia and he knew he shouldn’t stop moving. He was hungry, wet and cold, classic danger signs! He was also aware that he wasn’t thinking straight, but he plodded on. He thought he had fallen asleep standing up after he’d fired his second volley, and because he couldn’t remember if the team answered, he let off another two, his third volley. At this stage he hadn’t thought about there being only ten rounds in his magazine! Meanwhile Henry reckoned that Barney’s last shots sounded to be getting closer so he flashed his lights in the hope it might guide him. Barney recalled seeing them and tired, hoped the road was close. But he knew he was hallucinating and couldn’t be sure it was lights that he saw.

 At the reply to his last two shots, the realisation came that it came from a different direction and at the same time as the flashing lights dawned on him. Barney had actually walked under the bridge without him, or the others knowing! He retraced his steps and when he climbed up the bank to the road, he was a sorry sight! He lay down in the back of the Commer Cob and they headed back to camp with the heater roaring at maximum. Barney wasn’t thawing out well so Jack took off Barney’s Sandri which was still soaked, and wrapped him in his own.

 Unusually the camp kitchen light was on and they found the cook’s twelve-year-old daughter making herself a cup of cocoa… she did a great job making everyone a cup with plenty of sugar and rifled through the fridge for leftovers from the meals they’d missed. She was a saviour! Afterwards, they deferred to the hot showers, which allowed them all to thaw out properly. Barney didn’t wake until ten the next morning… his room was next to Henry’s, so he checked on him from time to time through the night.

 There could have been a tragedy that day, nevertheless sixty-two years later, they are all still kicking!