Climber ‘incredibly reckless’
A New Zealand climber who met Terry Harch climbing Mt Cook in
2011 said the Australian soldier was ‘‘incredibly reckless’’ and ‘‘an accident waiting to happen’’.
Last week Harch was rescued from Mt Aspiring after three days trapped alone in a rescue thought to have cost more than $150,000.
He was also rescued from Mt Tasman in 2013.
He is known to have successfully climbed Mt Cook in 2011 and
2014. It appears Harch undertook his solo climb of Mt Cook in 2011 shortly after near-death experiences crossing the Southern Alps, which he recorded in a document entitled
The 12-page document, which has been circulating among climbing communities but has since been removed from the internet, details a cavalier attitude to climbing in the Southern Alps, disregard for the advice he is given by officials and contempt for weather forecasts.
‘‘I remembered that ‘good surfers can surf in any conditions’.
‘‘I wasn’t sure if this applied to mountaineers but it inspired me to avoid cabin fever and escape to the hills. Even if I couldn’t do much technical stuff I thought I would enjoy the mountains,’’ he wrote. Harch wrote that he had talked to Department of Conservation staff at Mt Cook Village before heading out on November 9 towards the West Coast via a challenging traverse of the Alps.
He was determined he would cross the Hooker River despite the swing bridge being under repair. ‘‘They were worried about me going alone and my lack of experience; the only way to quiet them down was to say casually: I am in the army; after which they relented.’’ He declined to hire a personal locator beacon as they were ‘‘far too expensive’’.
The document records that he became lost on the first day of the trip but pushed on despite being aware of forecast bad weather.
He changed plans along the way, became trapped on steep, icy slopes and finally realised he was ‘‘out of my depth’’.
After four days of terrifying experiences attempting to find his way to a track in blizzard conditions, Harch finally arrived at the Welcome Flat Hut, on the West Coast.
However, a New Zealand climber who did not want to be named, told this week that he and his climbing partner met Harch while the Australian was climbing Mt Cook on his own, in late 2011.
‘‘This guy seemed like he didn’t quite know what he was doing. I remember saying to my mate: we have to be careful here because he could end up having an accident.’’
They became even more concerned about Harch while descending Mt Cook in deteriorating weather conditions.
‘‘We didn’t think he had the skill-set to climb down.
‘‘We thought it was a guaranteed accident waiting to happen.’’ They told Harch he needed to join them on their rope and abseil with them because it was too dangerous for him on his own. Harch joined them for the remainder of the descent, including using their gear to cross a glacier. The climber described Harch as ‘‘incredibly reckless’’.
‘‘He didn’t understand the risks of the mountain. He wasn’t taking it seriously.’’
The climber was ‘‘p***ed off’’ but not surprised to read of Harch being rescued from Mt Aspiring last week. ‘‘That costs a lot of money and risks people’s lives ...
‘‘You don’t go up [Mt] Aspiring in the middle of winter unless you’re a top climber.’’