Scans from Richard Abraham
PLEASE QUOTE REF: re13p_022
The Gympie Times - April 13th. 2013
| Record cold snap halts Gympie couple |
| CRAIG WARHURST |
| WINDS of more than 100km turned snow into ice like needles bombarding the faces of Gympie couple Stan and Patricia Preece as they attempted to climb Welsh mountain Cadair Idris. |
| The pair’s attempt to climb the peak, as part of a reunion, was thwarted just a third of the way up the 900m summit. |
| A record cold snap in Britain meant at 300m the wind chill dropped to -25 degrees and the 11-strong group had to turn back for their own safety. |
| Fifty years ago Mr Preece was a boy soldier and climbing the Welsh mountain was part of his daily training, |
| He recently flew back to Wales to reunite with other former boy soldiers to climb the mountain again. |
| The 66-year-old and his wife Patricia took Nanango friends Ken and Lynne Hare on the journey to climb the mountain. |
| Ken was also a boy soldier. |
| They were expecting cold weather, down to -5 degrees, but what greeted them was just short of a frozen hell. |
| “It was the worst winter in living memory,” Mr Preece said. |
| “It is the coldest I have ever seen.” |
| The cold snap dumped metres of snow in Britain. |
| The daily newspapers were reporting it as the coldest Easter ever at -15 degrees. |
| They also reported that the extreme cold had caused the death of at least four people, as well as creating traffic chaos. |
| Thousands of sheep and newborn lambs were frozen to death in the snow. |
| Mr Preece said he was bitterly disappointed his group couldn’t make the climb to the top of Cadair Idris. |
| He had been training hard to prepare for the event. |
| “We were the only people to make an attempt to climb the mountain that day,” Mr Preece said. |
| “An experienced climber said we wouldn’t make it. We got to 1000ft (300m) . . . it was a very gallant attempt . . . we were very disappointed but we would have been in serious trouble if we continued.” |
| At 300m it was so cold the group’s cameras wouldn’t operate. |
| “The snow was like icy needles hitting you in the face,” Mr Preece said. |
| The only pictures the group could take was when they descended the mountain into the tree line where it was slightly warmer. |
| Mr Preece said the day after was warmer, and two more groups tried to climb the mountain. |
| They made it to 365m and then had to be rescued by Prince William in a helicopter. |
| Despite the disappointment of not being able to make the climb, Mr Preece said he enjoyed the reunion. |
| The cold snap meant 20 people booked in for the dinner couldn’t make it. |
| He said it was great to catch up with some old friends and that he expected many of them to visit him in Australia. |
| The Gympie couples stayed on for two weeks before returning home. |
| They went on numerous other treks and toured the winter wonderland, taking many photos of the massive amounts of snaw dumped on the country side. |
| The reunion was to commemorate the times and events when boy soldiers, age between 15 and 17, served in a bleak army camp at Tonfanau. |
| During the training, over a period of 18 months to two years before entering the adult army, the boys were regularly marched and ran up the mountains around the camp in all weather as part of the adventure. |
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