Terrified climber lifted to safety
French woman too scared to move after sliding 15m from icy ridge and becoming trapped near cliff edge
AFrench woman is lucky to be alive after she narrowly avoided sliding over a cliff in icy conditions on the Central Plateau. The woman, a 26-year-old French national in the country on a work visa, was hiking alone when she slid 15 metres off a ridge near the summit of Mt Tongariro about midday yesterday.
“I owe my life to the people who rescued me. I don’t know who they are but I really want to thank them,” she said.
The woman did not want to be identified as she did not want to worry her parents, who are back in France.
As she slid down the cliff, the woman said she remembered screaming but her mind was “blank”.
“When I finally stopped, my crampons were broken and I landed in a position where I couldn’t stand or sit,” she said.
She was stuck in that position for over an hour and thought the rescuers had forgotten about her, she said.
“When I heard the sound of my helicopters I was just so relieved, but I was also worried for the rescuers because the conditions today was really icy.”
The woman had not planned to hike alone, but said others who were supposed to go along did not turn up.
“I decided to go ahead because this was a track that I had done before, and I thought I knew it,” she said.
“But conditions there can change drastically, it can be really fine one moment and turn really, really icy the next moment.”
Finding herself in a precarious position and unable to move up or down the mountain, she called a friend who called 111.
Two tourists walking 500 metres behind heard her terrified screams and also called emergency services.
The Greenlea Rescue Helicopter was called and she was flown back to flatter ground.
Base manager and pilot Nat Every said a part of the slope where the woman was was shaded by the sun and she had stepped a little too far into the area where conditions were icy.
While she hadn’t suffered any in- juries, she was “absolutely terrified” when the rescue helicopter arrived at the scene. “She was too scared to move. “If she had slipped again, there was a good chance she wouldn’t have survived. Below her was a big rocky area.”
While the woman had crampons — metal spikes — attached to her boots, they had ripped off when she was sliding down, he said.
Taupo police Senior Constable Barry Shepherd said the woman, an employee at Mount Ruapehu, was an inexperienced hiker.
Her crampons were attached to flexible-soled boots which were insufficient for the icy conditions and she also didn’t take an ice axe.
“She was going to die today. If you don’t prepare for the conditions, it’s going to get ugly.”
He urged hikers to plan trips, know the weather conditions and take sufficient supplies.
In another rescue on the Central Plateau, a 19-year-old New Zealander tumbled about 30 metres down Mt Ngauruhoe yesterday evening.
The man then walked down from the mountain.
The Greenlea Rescue Helicopter was called at 6pm after the man suffered spinal injuries in his fall.
Mr Every said the man was walking along a track with a friend when he fell.
“It was icy when he he fell and he went for a big skate.
“It’s pretty steep, you gather speed very quickly.
“But he managed to walk off the mountain. Pretty impressive.”
His friend had walked three hours to Mangatepopo car park to call for help.
When the rescuers found the injured man, he was cold and suffering borderline hypothermia, Mr Every said.
He was taken to Waikato Hospital.