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Climber killed in Mt Aspiring National Park 9-May-2007 At 8:59:44 AM martyb

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UPDATE - NZ HERALD front page - the photo of Aspiring looks cool!

Hurt climber's death-defying dash for help
Email this storyPrint this story 5:00AM Wednesday May 09, 2007
By Marjorie Cook

The three students were in the Bonar Glacier area of Mt Aspiring. Photo / Derek Watts
An injured climber threaded his way in darkness through crevasses to get help after surviving a 500m fall which killed a companion and badly injured another.

Rescuers last night praised the courage of the young climber after the tragedy near the Bonar Glacier on Mt Aspiring, one of New Zealand's most dangerous mountains.

The fall was about 6pm on Monday.

Despite noting the climbers chose the "wrong route" for this time of year, rescuers praised the heroism of the less-injured man, who made his way through heavily crevassed terrain in the dark to raise the alarm just before 11am yesterday.

The three 20-year-old university students, all from the United States, came to New Zealand to study and were on a weekend climbing expedition, Sergeant Aaron Nicholson said yesterday.

They will not be named until next of kin have been contacted.

The survivors were taken to Dunedin Hospital last night, one with possible head injuries and suspected concussion, the other with multiple fractures to his leg and pelvis.

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AdvertisementThe climbers went into the Mt Aspiring National Park on Friday, intending to return to Wanaka yesterday.

They spent Sunday night on the Bonar Glacier, and decided to abandon their ascent on Monday because of poor weather. But they took a "sort of a wrong turn" while negotiating the Quarterdeck, a heavily crevassed area between Bonar Glacier and French Ridge, and encountered a very steep descent, Mr Nicholson said.

Alpine Cliff Rescue team leader Gary Dickson, a professional mountaineer who led the rescue, said yesterday that the men had fallen twice while roped together in usual glacier travel mode.

The first time they were able to stop the fall, but one climber lost his ice axe.

They chose another route, still roped together, and fell again, this time up to 500m.

"It was an awful long way, at least 500m, a long series of bouncing falls ... I looked at it and wondered how could anyone survive. It was a big drop," Mr Dickson said.

"The conditions were quite hard and fast and you need to have a good skill base. When you fall over, it is not into soft snow.

"To try to come through there at this time of year is difficult because at the end of the summer all the crevasses open up. It is like a maze."

Mr Dickson said it was remarkable the two men had survived.

The less-injured man had made a "huge effort", surviving the fall, dealing with his injured and dead mates and travelling the thickly crevassed terrain at night on his own.

"There is the accident, but there is also the heroism, getting out of the sticky situation. He's done awfully well to deal with that," Mr Dickson said.

Pilots Richard Hayes, of Southern Lakes Helicopters, and Brendon Hiatt, of Heliworks, flew Queenstown paramedics Colin McGee and Sue Tait, Mr Dickson and Alpine Cliff Rescue team members Davy Robinson, Mike Johnston and Cam Sigley into the area.

Conditions were ideal for the rescue operation, with no wind and blue skies, but finding the injured and dead climbers took longer than expected because the directions given were a little vague, Mr Hayes said.

Mr Dickson said the injured man was conscious but unable to communicate properly when found.

The climber was secured on a stretcher and flown by strop to French Ridge Hut, where the Dunedin Lion Foundation rescue helicopter was waiting with an intensive care team.

The Wanaka search teams took the dead climber to Wanaka.

Since 1970, 12 climbers have died on the 3025m Mt Aspiring, including two in a grim 10 days in January 2005.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10438657