It’s been sixty years since Taranaki and New Zealand’s worst alpine accident. It became known as the Nurses’ Accident and six decades on, July 26, 1953 still marks Mt Egmont/Taranaki at its deadliest. Eighteen members of the New Plymouth Nurses’ Tramping Club had their hearts set on climbing to Mt Egmont/Taranaki’s summit. The mountaineering club’s top guide, 25-year-old schoolteacher Keith Russell, had agreed to lead them. He was joined by eight other Taranaki Alpine Club members, including Dick Williams, a 20-year-old New Plymouth clerk. All up, the party was 31 strong. 6 Died, 4 of them nurses. May they rest in peace.
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