Half way through spring – global warming not enough to save them
Snow cave tragedy: couple die after New Zealand rescuers hampered by horrendous weather
Some sound advice from NZ experts. – It’s all down to climbers when weather turns
A quick decision to turn around and head down might save you.
Do the summit another day.
Since your report we hear that yet another climber has died, on Mt Cook (Aoraki) on Sunday. Swede Magnus Kastengren, 31, plunged 600m to his death off a ridge near the peak. Mt Egmont (Taranaki) is notorious for conditions deteriorating in just minutes. The two others in their party decided to descend and made it down safely, but temperatures with the wind factor dropped to 14 degrees below over-night. A fourth rescue party finally found the couple early hours Mon morning, but one was already dead and the other died a short time later. This mountain has claimed 82 lives since records began in 1891. There have been at least 7 deaths on NZ mountains in the past 3 months. Some time ago a Prime Minister made headlines-ordering a poorly-equiped group off Mt Egmont at the outset.