Craig Benge was the president of the Wanganui Tramping Club when he was killed in an alpine accident. PHOTO/ SUPPLIED
It must have been a terrifying night for four people on a Wanganui Tramping Club trip in 1977.
They were in Three Johns Hut in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, high up on Barron Saddle. The hut was loosely wired in place, and known to shake and rattle in the wind.
On the night of January 30 there was a storm severe enough to smash windows and rip iron off the roof of the nearby Hermitage.
Three Johns Hut blew off the saddle and the four were found dead, wearing their parkas, among its wreckage on the slope below.
The disaster is being remembered this weekend, with a reunion of men from the same secondary school, a wreath thrown into the Whanganui River, a church service and the dedication of two plaques. One plaque, at Wanganui Collegiate School, is to two former pupils. The other, to all four trampers, will be on a seat on the riverbank shared pathway.
The four who died were among nearly 20 on a Wanganui Tramping Club trip summer trip and had spent about 10 days in the park. Club president Craig Benge and Fenella Druce, a doctor from Wellington, were both 25. The other two were 19-year-olds Hillis (Bill) Bennet and Robert McLean.
Also on the trip were Neill and Barbara Simpson. Mrs Simpson said they all had a wonderful time together in the Dobson Valley.
Toward the end of their trip six, including the Simpsons, were to return to the Hermitage. Ms Druce's husband Mark Prebble, later a distinguished civil servant, was working there as a guide. They planned to walk over the "quite challenging" Barron Saddle, staying the night at Three Johns Hut on the way.
At the last minute Mr Simpson was offered a job in Springs Junction. He went off to see about it, first driving the gear of the remaining four around to Mr Prebble.
"We look back and thank the grace of God about that. Otherwise we might have been [in the hut] as well," Mrs Simpson said.
Mr Simpson thinks the fact the trampers were found wearing parkas might indicate they were thinkng of leaving the hut because it was shaking so much.
"I have always wondered whether if you were going to go out and open the door, would the wind get in under the hut and take it away," he said.
When the party of four didn't turn up at the Hermitage a ranger rang Mrs Simpson, who had returned to Turangi. He asked whether the group might have gone somewhere else.
Rangers went to search, discovered the hut had been blown off the saddle and found the wreckage and bodies on the slopes below.
It took a while for the news to get back to the rest of the party, who were making their way home to Whanganui.
"One by one we heard that all our wonderful good friends had died. It takes years and years to get over tragedies like that," Mrs Simpson said.
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The Four Friends Memorial Trust was formed to remember the deaths of the trampers, and Wanganui Tramping Club member Brian Doughty has always been its chair.
Initial funding came from a charity gala held at Wanganui Collegiate School. The two youngest killed were former students and half of the money raised went to the trust.
There have been other donations and bequests. Since 1978 the five trustees have given away a total of $160,000 for causes related to the outdoors. Administrative costs have always been met voluntarily.
The trust has sent young people to Outward Bound and on the Spirit of Adventure. Most recently it bought raincoats and GPS equipment for Whanganui City College outdoor activities, helped fund Whanganui High School pupils working toward Duke of Edinburgh awards and put money into a Whanganui walkway created by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.
Mr Doughty wasn't on the summer trip when the four were killed. But he will be involved in commemorations this weekend, along with the parents and friends of those who died. And as a club member of the time, he felt it.
"It certainly made a huge impact on the club. Our young, enthusiastic climbers and trampers just disappeared," he said.
"I often think about how much fear there would have been in that hut that night. It would have been horrific."