Kiwi boarder dies on dream Whistler trip
Simon Reilly dropped his mate Kieran McDonogh at Rotorua Airport two weeks ago and wished him well on his trip of a lifetime to Canada.
But on Monday night Reilly saw a post on Facebook that said McDonogh had been killed while snowboarding in Vancouver.
McDonogh, 42, posted a smiling photo of himself on Facebook just hours before he was found unresponsive in an out-of-bounds area at the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort on Friday. Ski patrollers performed CPR on him before two doctors arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Reilly told the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday he was stunned and it hadn’t quite sunk in yet McDonogh wouldn’t be coming home.
He said his mate had been counting down the days to the trip.
“He was really excited about going on this trip, it was his life dream to go and snowboard on the Whistler. He was really amped and had some friends over there who he was going to catch up with.”
McDonogh moved to Rotorua from Auckland in November after falling in love with the area.
Reilly said his friend, who loved the outdoors, could never quite get over how locals could drive five minutes and be in the forest, then drive another 10 minutes and be at a lake.
He lived alone but had plans to bring his elderly parents from Auckland to Rotorua for two to three weeks at a time to allow them to get out of the “rat race” and enjoy Rotorua as well, Reilly said.
“He worked in online marketing so it was ideal because he could work from anywhere.”
McDonogh and Reilly, who met through mutual friends in Auckland, would go out for a beer or a meal at least once a week and catch up.
“When he came here we showed him around and showed him the lakes. A week before he left [for Canada] the mountain bike club had a working bee and he took part in that for about three or four hours and loved it.
“He would go out mountain biking about five to six nights a week and do a three-hour stint. He loved going out for missions, had his GoPro and took pictures and posted them most
He would have brought a lot to the city but I guess now we will never know. Steve McNab
days on Facebook. He fell in love with this area.”
Reilly described his friend as a “mentoring” type of person who was always positive with a “happy-golucky” nature. It wasn’t in his nature to live on the edge or be unsafe, so he was confused about how he died.
“He could bike higher grades like four and five but would stick to the threes. He would just buzz out with all the adventures.”
Reilly said McDonogh’s brother and sister lived in Auckland and his sister had flown to Canada to bring his body home.
Steve McNab said he met McDonogh when his family decided to rent out their Rotorua home at the end of last year.
“He was a dream tenant really. He was the same age as me, we had similar interests and I remember showing him around the property and we ended up chatting for a few hours.”
McNab, who owns Raftabout whitewater rafting company in Rotorua, said they hit it off with McDonogh and he and his family went around to visit him in the week before he left for Canada to wish him well.
“He was really looking forward to the trip. I guess he went out doing something he loved to do.
“We took him whitewater rafting because we wanted to show him the rivers. We tried to welcome him as much as possible. It’s a shock really that such a young guy is gone.”
McNab said McDonogh had made friends in the neighbourhood, mountain biked with locals and had already signed up to volunteer at Crankworx.
“He was an asset for the community with his marketing knowledge and the sort of person he was. He would have brought a lot to the city but I guess now we will never know. It’s a real tragedy.” 176m-deep shaft.
Emergency teams were alerted to the group’s plight just after 12.15pm.
The alarm was raised by a group in the area, police said.
The Nelson Fire Command Unit has been set up as an operation base and St John has a helicopter on standby should it be required.
The search and rescue operation is being co-ordinated by Tasman Police District.
Harwoods Hole is the country’s deepest vertical shaft, dropping to an underground river that flows into the Gorge Creek and the Takaka River.
Inexperienced or poorly prepared groups getting into trouble have sparked rescue operations in the past, the Department of Conservation said.
It is not considered a suitable place for learners and DoC describes it as “very dangerous”.
Those tackling the hole abseil down the shaft then exit through the cave below.
The trip takes at least nine hours for small groups of experienced, wellequipped cavers who are familiar with the rigging.
In 2008 three people were rescued from the notorious sinkhole after spending hours trapped in the shaft.
Tom Harvey was rescued after seven hours standing on a tiny rock ledge clinging by his fingertips to two small crevices while his fraying rope held him above a 50m chasm.
“It was the single most terrifying moment of my life,” he said.