Visitors to New Zealand are continuing to die because they
underestimate mountains and backcountry, the national
volunteer search and rescue organisation LandSAR said today.
Japanese climbing guide Kiyoshi Ikenouchi died on Aoraki/Mt
Cook after exposure to severe weather two weeks ago, and
Australian climber Dr Mark Vinar is missing, presumed dead,
after falling hundreds of metres while descending the
mountain last week.
Both men and their climbing companions were trapped on the
mountain when the weather changed for the worse.
LandSAR chairman Phillip Melchior said these are the latest
in a succession of avoidable accidents.
"The last thing LandSAR wants to do is to scare people from
exploring our mountains and back-country, but visitors to New
Zealand persistently under-rate both the extreme pace at
which our weather can change in the hills, and the degree of
difficulty of our mountains."
He said too many overseas climbers think that because
Aoraki/Mt Cook was small by overseas standards, it would be
easy to climb, but the mountain was technically quite
difficult and expedition tactics needed to be adapted to New
Zealand conditions.
Nine people have died on Zurbriggens Ridge, where Dr Vinar is
presumed dead, and 70 people have died on Aoraki/Mt Cook
since 1907.
