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Update on Aussies missing on Mt Cook 15-Dec-2008 At 8:55:20 PM Epic Steve

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Hey all, I have just returned from the Mt Cook region and yes, shared a couple of days in Plateau Hut with Miles and Mark, who arrived by chopper the day we had summited Aoraki/Cook. They were quiet and private but at the same time very excited to be together in the hills. You could sense they had an extremely close bond...actually thought they might have been twins... We saw them both at 11pm on the Wednesday night (having returned from a 13 round trip of Dixon's South Ridge/West Face route and descended the easier East Ridge), at around the 3000m level, so around the flat spot on Zurbriggen's Ridge, but still shy (by about 150 - 200m) of the junction with the Linda Shelf (and then an easier descent route...). At this point their headlamps seemed stationary but moving about in a sweeping action, a usual sign of a forced bivy for the night. Cloud, wind and snow then moved in and it is the next morning that Miles and Mark seem to have reversed their ascent back down the East Face snow slopes, rather than the actual ridge line (and rocks). This was their first ascent of Cook so descending this way would have been risky, even for more experienced climbers with better knowledge of Cook, due to new snow deposits and a very high freezing level on both nights. Snow conditions were OK for ascending on the western faces but would have been less than perfect on easterly faces (East Face of Cook...). No guided parties attempted the usual Linda Glacier route that day (Wednesday) as all had opted to wait for the better conditions and a stationary high, due on the Friday/Saturday/Sunday of the weekend. Having climbed Cook 3 times by both routes (Linda and Zurbriggen's), my partner and I had advised the guys to consider an ascent of the Linda first, before attempting the harder and longer Zurbriggen's Ridge, so that they would have better knowledge of the descent route. Also the weather window on Wednesday was only about 24 - 36 hours, so adequate for the Linda, whilst this weekend just gone was a weather window of 48 - 60 hours, so more suited for longer routes.

This tragic accident (and the death of a younger Japanese climber and quite severe cold injuries to his partner, who survived, earlier in the week), is a reminder that the mountains set the terms in which we climb...weather, conditions, duration, difficulty, hazards...it is up to us to process this information, match it with our experience levels and fitness (and our partners!!!), throw in a bit of good luck and mojo, whilst trying not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and most of all, be prepared to back down or walk away (sometimes this means run away scared...!) when we get that six sense or funny feeling in our guts, that today is not the day to tick this route, no matter what the conditions.

R.I.P Mark...I couldn't think of a nicer resting place...and Miles, I hope that you and both of your families come to terms with this loss in your own time. Both Matt and I send our sincerest thoughts and wishes...and please don't feel ill will to Aoraki...the only thing she has done wrong is tempt us onto her flanks with her beauty...

Steve