The owner of a Wanaka canyoning business, Dave Vass is progressing ''as well as can be expected given the severity of his injuries'' following a climbing accident, his partner Ros Goulding says.
In an email relayed to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, Ms Goulding said Mr Vass was in Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit and his family was with him.
Ms Goulding saying Mr Vass had a ''broken and dislocated neck, and was currently fully paralysed, with some sensation in his right hand'', the Wanaka Sun reported yesterday.
He had undergone surgery and was likely to be intensive care for four to six weeks before being transferred to the spinal unit at Burwood.
A Christchurch Hospital spokeswoman said late yesterday Mr Vass was in a ''stable'' condition.
Mr Vass (52) was rescued after a 6m fall on his way out of the Donne River area of the Darran Mountains in the Fiordland National Park on Sunday.
The four-member group he was with set off an emergency beacon, and one member walked out to raise the alarm late on Sunday night.
Bad weather prevented a rescue helicopter responding immediately, and a Fiordland LandSAR team, including a nurse and members of the Milford Sound Emergency Response Team, went in on foot to provide medical assistance until the helicopter reached the scene on Monday morning.
Two other members of the group suffered hypothermia.
Mr Vass was flown to Milford Sound where he was stabilised before being flown on to Dunedin Hospital.
On his Deep Canyon website, Mr Vass is described as the company's ''head honcho'' with ''tons'' of experience in ice, rock and mountain climbing, caving, river trips, rope access work and search and rescue.
He was a pioneer of canyoning in New Zealand.
The company continues to operate with other staff.
Ms Goulding said the family was grateful to those who had assisted in the rescue in ''atrocious conditions''.
