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A skier is lucky to have survived a 400m fall from Mount Aspiring, and just as lucky to have been rescued by New Zealand’s best.
A skier has been described as “a very lucky boy” after surviving a 400-meter fall from Mount Aspiring in the Southern Alps.
Wanaka SAR spokesman Phil Melchior said the man not only survived the fall, but was lucky enough to have been rescued by two of the best.
“He is extremely fortunate to be alive,” Melchior said. “Almost equally remarkable is the speed with which he was rescued.”
The man, from New Zealand, was skiing with another man Thursday on the west face of the mountain when he fell.
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The pair, both described as experienced skiers, were beginning their descent on the west face of the mountain when the accident occurred.
MARJORIE COOK / Stuff
Aspiring Helicopters and Wanaka SAR worked together to achieve an incredibly fast rescue. (File photo)
He fell 400 meters onto a glacier below, and his ski buddy skied over and turned on a locator beacon.
Melchior said the fact that they carried the beacon greatly helped them to help him so quickly.
The Rescue Coordination Center notified Aspiring Helicopters, which works closely with the Wanaka SAR team, and within just 45 minutes, rescuers Lionel Clay and Gary Dickson were with the injured man on the mountain.
“If you consider that it takes a good 20 minutes to fly from downtown Wanaka to the base of Mt Aspiring, it was an extraordinarily quick response, one for the books,” Melchior said.
“Forty-five minutes for a volunteer organization is absolutely extraordinary.”
Mark Hotton / Stuff
Wanaka Alpine Cliff Rescuer Gary Dickson, QSO, was one of two rescuers. (File photo)
Time was of the essence in this case, as the clouds were closing in and darkness was approaching, and the man was lucky that everything fell into place the way it did.
“If he had to stay on the mountain overnight, the result could have been quite different.”
Dickson, who received a Queens Order of Service (QSO) in New Years honors this year, and Clay were arguably the two most experienced alpine rescuers in the country, said Melchior, with decades of volunteer experience in rescuing from mountains between them.
The fact that the two skiers were experienced and prepared was another factor in the speedy rescue, he said.
It is not clear exactly what happened, but Melchior understood that the injured man sustained lower leg injuries and was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital with a possible internal injury.
“Obviously something went wrong,” he said.
“There is a very small margin for error in those environments, you just need to make a very small mistake.”
DEBBIE JAMIESON / THINGS
Thousands of skiers and snowboarders learned to distance themselves socially at Coronet Peak Ski Resort in September. (Video first published on September 2)
Skiing Mount Aspiring was not something that many people did, and it only happened a couple of times a year.
“To ski Mount Aspiring, of course, you have to climb it first, which in itself is a considerable undertaking.”
