Avalanche risk ‘considerable’
Experienced climbers killed on Mt Hicks
MARK PRICE
TWO mountain guides were swept to their deaths by an avalanche in an area of AorakiMt Cook National Park under a ‘‘dangerous avalanche conditions’’ warning.
Auckland woman Jo Morgan survived the incident, spending an hour digging herself out of snow and activating her personal locator beacon.
The two guides — Martin Hess and Wolfgang Maier, both in their 50s, originally from Germany but New Zealand residents — were experienced. Mr Hess lived in the Ida Valley, while Mr Maier had lived in Tekapo but now resided in Perth.
The incident occurred on Mt Hicks, which had earlier been the subject of a ‘‘considerable risk, dangerous avalanche conditions . . . conservative decisionmaking essential’’ warning.
Mountain Safety Council communications manager Nick Kingston said there were five advisory levels — low, moderate, considerable, high and extreme.
A high or extreme advisory would have indicated climbers should not venture out at all, while ‘‘considerable risk’’ suggested experienced climbers could proceed with caution.
At 2am yesterday, after two days of waiting in the Empress hut for the weather to clear, the trio left to climb the south side of Mt Hicks.
They reached the summit, but on the way down the southwest ridge, at 5.30am, all three — who were roped together — were hit by an avalanche estimated by the Mountain Safety Council to con tain about 100 tonnes of loose, wet snow spread across a wide face.
Mrs Morgan, an adventurer, writer and philanthropist and wife of economist Gareth Morgan, told RNZ she was ‘‘gobsmacked’’ after climbing out of the avalanche before realising her friends were not so lucky.
‘‘Once I got my upper body out, I looked at the view and I just was gobsmacked,’’ she said.
‘‘I thought, ‘Isn’t this amazing?’ And I know that’s totally inappropriate but it was just such a beautiful place and the sun was just rising and at that stage, I knew there was no response when I’d been shouting out for the boys.’’
She told Newshub the two guides were ‘‘dear friends’’.
‘‘We weren’t being foolish or anything and we just hit a slope that . . . it was laden with the type of snow that avalanches.
‘‘They were buried and I was buried, too, but I had my face out so I could continue to breathe.’’
New Zealand Mountain Guide Association (NZMGA) president Jane Morris said both climbers were experienced in the Southern Alps.
‘‘Martin has called New Zea land home for the last 20 years and Wolfgang would come and work from now until around February guiding New Zealand summers,’’ she said.
Mr Maier was an internationally qualified mountain guide and Mr Hess had a qualification through the NZGMA.
‘‘[Martin] was assisting Wolfgang with that ascent because Hicks is a relatively challenging peak.
‘‘Guides do their best at making the safest possible decisions but you’re dealing with a really dynamic environment, so Mother Nature is going to say the final say,’’ she said.
Two helicopters, eight alpine cliff rescue people and an avalanche dog were involved in the rescue.
Police area commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said in Timaru yesterday CPR was tried but without success. The bodies had been taken to Christchurch for autopsies and nextofkin overseas were being located.
The group was well equipped and experienced and ‘‘knew what they could do to minimise risk, and they’ve done so, but on this occasion the mountain has beaten them’’.
Mrs Morgan was on the mountain as part of an effort to climb all 3000m peaks in New Zealand, he said.
It is understood she had climbed 22 peaks and Mt Hicks was the second to last. — Additional reporting NZME
CLIMATE change has become a factor in climbers’ decisions about when to venture into the Southern Alps.
While climbing in spring risks avalanches, climate change is — more frequently than in the past — presenting another obstacle for climbers who wait for summer.
Owner of Wanaka guiding company Adventure Consultants Guy Cotter said yesterday this is the time of the year when climbing begins to ‘‘ramp up’’.
‘‘This whole November, early December period is a very popular time for climbing the big mountains here.’’
And one of the reasons, he said, is access.
‘‘With the snow left over from winter we have very good access around the glaciers and up the mountains.’’
But, he said, ‘‘glacial recession’’ meant some areas are not accessible from about New Year, because of crevasses opening up in glaciers ‘‘a lot more quickly than what they used to’’.
‘‘The crevasses open up because the snow melts that’s covering them . . . and filling them up.
‘‘That all ablates over the summer and we’re down to the raw skeleton of the glacier with all of its crevasses.
‘‘So it really does make a very big difference in what you can access.’’
Mr Cotter said Mt Hicks was one of those mountains where there was now an issue with access in summer and it was ‘‘very rarely climbed’’ for that reason.
He said the loss of snow was happening earlier than it did 30 years ago when he started climbing.
‘‘We could access most places all through the summer.
‘‘Now it’s a lot more difficult to get to some of the mountains and get off.
‘‘For example, climbs like AorakiMount Cook, we can’t even go past New Year most of the time.’’
Mr Cotter said regular snow falls protected the surface of the glacier by reflecting the sun.
‘‘But if we’ve got long, fine periods and lots of rain then that does deteriorate the snow very quickly, and we are not able to climb AorakiMt Cook until the following October or November.
‘‘It’s definitely part of climate change and the glaciers are definitely disappearing.
‘‘Anyone who’s denying global warming is not a mountaineer because we can see it first hand.’’
Mr Cotter said he knew the Mt Hicks area well and had climbed the mountain several times, but was not aware yesterday morning of where the avalanche occurred.
‘‘The south face of Mt Hicks is well known for technical climbing, so it’s got some good solid routes on it that are at the high end of the technical spectrum.
‘‘It’s definitely one of our steeper mountains.’’