Prime Minister Helen Clark left a remote mountain hut late
last night so she could spend time with the widow of her
close friend and mountain guide Gottlieb Braun-Elwert who
died on a backcountry trip yesterday.
Mr Braun-Elwert, 59, suffered a heart attack on the tramping
trip with Miss Clark, her husband Peter Davis and others,
including Cabinet Ministers Damien O'Connor and David Parker
in the Lake Tekapo region.
Miss Clark and her party yesterday spent two hours
unsuccessfully trying to resuscitate father-of-two Mr
Braun-Elwert.
Poor weather blocked initial attempts to reach the party
yesterday, butpolice and search and rescue volunteers reached
the hut at Mt Gerald Station in the Two Thumbs range near
Tekapo about 8pm yesterday. Miss Clark and Mr O'Connor left
the remote hut late last night by snowmobile and
four-wheel-drive.
Mr Braun-Elwert's widow Ann Braun-Elwert today said Miss
Clark had made the treacherous night-time trip in order to
spend time with her.
"She made a special effort to come out in the dark last
night. (It was) probably a bit scary coming down the mountain
in the snow, partially on a skidoo," she said on Radio New
Zealand.
"So she made a special effort to get back." The pair had
stayed together until quite late and Miss Clark remained in
Tekapo this morning.
Mrs Braun-Elwert said the body of her husband was still at
the hut along with the five other members of Miss Clark's
party.
Police expected to try and helicopter them out today.
Mrs Braun-Elwert said her husband had died doing what he
loved, but a heart attack was the last thing she would have
thought the extremely fit and active man would have died
from.
She said Miss Clark was such a regular client of her husband
they referred to her as their "pet client".
Rescue guide Dave Crowe today told Radio New Zealand Mr
Braun-Elwert had not been feeling well yesterday. Within 30
minutes of returning to the hut he collapsed.
Mr Crowe said the party had done all they could to try and
save him. He said his death was a great loss to the mountain
guiding community.
St John ambulance service yesterday said it received a call
from Mt Gerald at 3.53pm.
Mr Braun-Elwert, who owned the Mt Gerald hut, ran his own
business, Alpine Recreation, at Lake Tekapo.
He had guided Miss Clark and Professor Davis more than a
dozen times, on either cross-country skiing or climbing
expeditions in New Zealand, South America and other
countries.
In 2004, he took Miss Clark and Dr Davis on a four-day ski
touring trip.
Miss Clark had to abandon a summit bid on Aconcagua in the
Andes, with Mr Braun-Elwert in 2001, because of bad weather
and a fellow climber's illness.
They had crossed New Zealand's highest guided pass, the 2105m
Ball Pass on the Mount Cook Range, together the previous
year, and later climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest
peak.
