Gales hamper rescue
TRAPPED by severe weather on a New Zealand mountain for nearly a week, an Australian soldier is set to be returned to safety.
The 29-year-old man was found alive and “with slight frostbite” on Mount Aspiring, in the South Island, on Thursday night after days of rescue efforts were frustrated by gales, sub-zero temperatures and snow.
It was “extraordinary” he was standing and waving when a helicopter spotted him in the evening, Mike Roberts from the NZ Rescue Coordination Centre said.
Four rescuers equipped with clothes, tents and muchneeded food spent the night with the man.
The group were yesterday waiting for a gap in the weather so they could be picked up by chopper from Quarterdeck Pass.
“The climber has been sheltering for the past two nights at the pass and he has clearly made some good decisions to be able to survive the bad weather, heavy snow and high winds,” search and rescue officer Geoff Lunt said. He told Radio NZ the man would have likely used skills learned in the army to survive.
“We think he dug himself a snow dug-out shelter and that’s helped in his survivabili- ty over these last few days.”
The climber was described as being “in good spirits” on Thursday night. He entered the national park last Friday and is thought to have left his heavier gear behind to make a quick ascent — not unusual practice — before being caught out by the weather.
The alarm was raised on Monday and rescue crews watched his beacon moving around the mountain for days as concerns grew. During the nearly seven days he was out alone, the man endured winds of up to 60km/h, freezing conditions and at times heavy snow.
“The pilots did an amazing job to fly in and out, despite the low cloud (on Thursday),” Mr Roberts said.
More than 30 people are thought to have died around the popular national park in the past decade.