Mt Cook death triggers warning
Alpine expert reminds climbers of year-round risks as well-prepared Australian woman joins park’s casualty list
The death of a young Australian woman in Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park has sparked a warning about the risks of climbing in the area.
The 29-year-old died after falling 300m from a peak near Mt Cook.
Canterbury police were alerted yesterday morning when a personal locator beacon was activated on the Eugenie Glacier shortly after 8am.
The woman had been climbing The Footstool, a 2764m mountain southwest of Aoraki.
“When the rescue teams responded they found a 29-year-old Australian woman had fallen approximately 300m from near the top of the peak on to the glacier,” said Inspector Dave Gaskin of Canterbury Police. “She was airlifted to the Aoraki/Mt Cook search and rescue base where she received medical treatment. Unfortunately she passed away a short time later.
“It’s basically one of these tragic accidents we have all the time in the park,” Mr Gaskin said. “Unfortunately, the room for error, the margin for error, is very small.”
All members of the woman’s climbing party, including the victim, were experienced and well-equipped.
“Weather conditions prior to the accident are understood to have been good. The other members of the climbing party have been airlifted back to Mt Cook Village and are helping police piece together what led to the accident occurring.”
Police were contacting the woman’s next of kin and hoped to announce her name today.
Canterbury police urged anyone going into the backcountry to carry a personal locator beacon.
According to Alpine Guides, previous alpine climbing experience was required to climb The Footstool.
The Australian woman was the second person to die in the park in less than a month.
Stephen Dowall went missing on November 26 after he went climbing with his friend, Wanaka man Rob Hawes.
At least 240 people have died climbing Mt Cook, and dozens of bodies have never been recovered.
Avalanche NZ mountain specialist and former Aoraki/Mt Cook search and rescue team leader Andrew Hobman said on average, four people died in the national park each year.
He said The Footstool was a sub-mountain of Mt Sefton, about 10km from the Mt Cook summit, and subject to the same potentially dangerous conditions, “where a simple trip or a fall can have dire consequences”.
Mr Hobman said despite the dangers, the area’s “beauty and wonder” attracted climbers.
On an average midsummer’s day, there could be thousands of people walking the park’s tracks. Hundreds would be in the high alpine areas, he said, but fewer actually aiming to “summit” the peaks.
It was important that climbers had patience, and prepared for the chance they’d have to sit out storms for a day or more, Mr Hobman said.
Sydney doctor Mike Bishop, 53, and German father Raphael Viellehner, 58, and son Johann, 27, died on the mountain last summer.
Barely two weeks earlier, Stu Haslett, 28, was climbing with a fellow member of the Aoraki Alpine Rescue Team when his ice pick came loose and caused him to fall to his death.
The Australian woman’s death has been referred to the coroner. —