Climbers survive avalanche
A hand poking out of the snow may have saved the life of a buried climber who was dug out by his friend after they survived a terrifying avalanche.
The two Taranaki climbers were swept about 500 metres down Mt Taranaki after triggering an avalanche as they tried to reach the summit.
They were rescued from an altitude of about 2100 metres yesterday, after ending up close to a sheer cliff face.
The men, a 40-year-old and a 37-year-old, slid to a halt just three metres apart and when one saw the hand of the other poking up through the snow, he quickly dug him out.
The man was close to suffocation when he was freed.
Taupo’s Youth Town rescue helicopter pilot, Todd Dunham, winched both men out and said one was able to describe their ordeal.
‘‘He just said that they were climbing and up above them the ice gave way, and that they probably triggered it.’’
The pair would have lost control from that point on, he said.
‘‘They were so close to being not here. It was very steep and they stopped not far from a sheer cliff face.
‘‘It was like an ice chute and that’s what probably kept them together. If the avalanche had kept on going, they would have been in serious trouble.’’
The shaken men called police about 11.15am and were able to pinpoint where they were with a GPS unit they were carrying.
They were found on the north side of the mountain, near Humphries Castle. When found, they told rescuers of watching the avalanche bearing down on them before being swept up by a wall of snow.
Last night, the men were in a stable condition in Taranaki Base Hospital, nursing mild cases of hypothermia and moderate leg, chest and arm injuries.
They put their survival down to their preparation.
The Taranaki Community Rescue helicopter had dropped two search and rescue members and a St John paramedic at the scene of the avalanche.
Taranaki Alpine Cliff Rescue crewmen Mike Johns and Pete Lethbridge were flown to the men and spent 40 minutes with them before they were winched to safety.
‘‘They were shaken but were in reasonably good spirits,’’ Mr Johns said.
‘‘We were just looking after them and reassuring them. They were pleased to see us.’’ .
Neither rescuer was aware one of the men had been buried but Mr Johns said the men described being quite high up the mountain when the head wall of the ava- lanche loomed about two metres over them. The men were not attached to each other and ending up just three metres apart was ‘‘pretty good luck for them’’, Mr Johns said.
‘‘The avalanche funnelled down a narrow valley – it was a very long avalanche and they were lucky to end up near each other.’’
Mr Johns said people familiar with the mountain’s climate had been surprised to hear about the avalanche.
‘‘There hasn’t been a lot of snow up there and there hasn’t been many people picking avalanche conditions.’’
The men had probably triggered the snowslide by being on the slope.
He did not think the avalanche had happened naturally.
Police search and rescue coordinator Sergeant Andrew Ross said it was important people were aware of the avalanche danger on the mountain.
‘‘You will always have avalanches on a long, steep slope like Taranaki, but generally they don’t affect people,’’ he said.
Mountain Safety Council alpine and avalanche programme manager Andrew Hobman stressed the point that avalanches could happen at any time.
‘‘In more than 90 per cent of avalanche incidents, the people or somebody in their party has caused it,’’ he said.
‘‘By and large they don’t just strike out of the blue.’’
He said avalanches typically required a slope of between 30 and 45 degrees, and wind slabs – large windblown snow drifts – could be particularly dangerous.