Two climbers who were buried by an avalanche and then caught in a blizzard atop one of New Zealand’s most famous mountain ranges survived their ordeal by digging themselves out of the snow, building a cave and living off muesli bars.
The two men in their 20s were on a three-day ice climbing adventure in The Remarkables – a 2,300-metre high range above Queenstown – when they triggered an avalanche and were carried about 20 metres downhill.
The pair dug themselves out only to discover that the weather was closing in and they would not be able to traverse out of the ranges safely without the risk of triggering another avalanche.
The men called the police for help at midday on Tuesday, who then requested assistance from the Wakatipu alpine cliff rescue.
“It’s very steep and rugged terrain and it is mountainous and snowy … when storms come out it can be a pretty inhospitable place,” said team coordinator Russ Tilsley.
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The first two helicopter rescue attempts were thwarted by a blizzard.
“It was getting late in the day and we decided it was too late to put a team in on foot … we knew we had a beautiful calm morning the next morning, so we spoke to the guys and they were in good spirits, and they decided to build a snow cave,” Tilsley said.
The men found a boulder the size of a garage that had built up with snow drift and dug in next to it. That would have made their overnight stay a comfortable 0C; outside, the temperature would have felt like -12C in the wind.
“They had had a tent the previous nights but that had been buried in the wind and snow and would have been pretty wet – they would have been a lot more comfortable in the snow,” Tilsley said.
The rescue team checked the men had enough food for the night. “And the guy goes, well, you know I think we’ve got maybe 10-15 muesli bars,” Tilsey said.
The men had almost run out of fuel for their stove – needed to melt water – which was “a big concern” as trying to melt snow in the mouth for hydration can use up more energy than it provides.
But the men survived the night and were rescued the next day.
“They were a little bit shaken, a bit damp more than anything else, and they were pretty humble.”
It was incredibly fortunate the men had been on the edge of the avalanche when it was triggered, Tilsley said.
“They were lucky they were there and not 50 or 100 metres into the flow, because they probably would have been dead.”
The men had made the right call to retreat and wait for help, he said. “A lot of people – young Kiwi males especially – are pretty stoic at times, so it is a bit of a thing for them to swallow, knowing they couldn’t get themselves out of it. But they did the right thing.”