Two climbers rescued after a rockslide in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park

Two climbers caught in a rock slide atop Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park have been saved in a dramatic rescue operation.

The well-equipped couple, in their 50s, activated the distress alert function of their InReach device last night at 5.30pm after the 1800m rockslide on Mount D’Archiac in the Southern Alps.

The climber had a badly broken arm in two places, a concussion and a badly injured leg, while his partner escaped relatively unscathed, said Neville Blakemore of Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Center New Zealand (RCCNZ), who coordinated the rescue.

The woman managed to carry the injured climber up the steep slope, about 50 kilometers northeast of Aoraki-Mount Cook, to prevent him from falling and sustaining further injuries, the search mission coordinator Blakemore said.

He believes that being able to activate his device might well have saved the injured climber’s life.

After heartbreak struck last night, RCCNZ commissioned a Helicopter Line helicopter to fly from Mount Cook with a Department of Conservation alpine cliff rescue team on board.

However, they were unable to reach the scene of the rockslide due to the dense clouds.

Instead, they took the rescue team to Godley Hut to wait overnight, watch the weather, and stay in contact with RCCNZ.

Blakemore said RCCNZ had helicopters with night flying equipment on standby in Christchurch and Greymouth.

Low clouds prevented the Christchurch helicopter from flying, but at 3 a.m., during a cloud break in the mountains, the Greymouth rescue helicopter was able to fly to the scene and knock the rescue team off the alpine cliff.

At 7:30 a.m., the two climbers were flown to Greymouth Hospital.