Tramper tells of 'harrowing' ordeal

Pavlina Pizova. Photo Facebook
Pavlina Pizova. Photo Facebook
The Czech tramper who survived a month in a remote hut on the Routeburn Track has spoken publicly about her ordeal.

Pavlina Pizova waited for help after her tramping partner, Ondrej Petr, died in a fall on about July 27.

His body was today recoverd by Search and Rescue.

Ms Pizova spoke about her ordeal at a media conference in Queenstown this afternoon.

Looking nervous and pale, she spoke softly in a heavy accent.

She said the ordeal was "harrowing".

She said her tramping partner falling and dying was a "tragic accident".

"After his death it took three nights in the open before I reached the safety of the hut. I was walking through waist deep snow and because of that the track lines were covered.

"My feet were frozen."

Because of her health and the weather, she thought it was best to "stay in a safe place".

"I made a few attempts to leave the hut but because of the weather and my physical conditions, it discouraged me from doing so."

She took the opportunity to send safety messages to "anyone travelling in the New Zealand mountains".

"We made a few mistakes with not leaving out intentions with somebody and not carrying a PLB [Personal Locator Beacon] and underestimating the conditions of the track."

Pavlina Pizova (L) and Czech Republic honorary consul Vladka Kennett at the press conference...
Pavlina Pizova (L) and Czech Republic honorary consul Vladka Kennett at the press conference today. Photo: Craig Baxter

She thanked her rescuers.

She broke down in tears towards the end of her statement, which she read from a sheet of paper.

It was too harrowing to go into too many details about the ordeal, she said.

"The conditions were extreme." 

She was accompanied by Vladka Kennett, Consul for the Czech Republic.

Mrs Kennett said Ms Pizova's ordeal was unbelievable.

"I don't understand it myself. I think she is a very strong woman. She just tried everything to survive. Tried to warm her feet up, keep moving her feet and hands, put everything she could find on her feet and body."

"It's too difficult to describe emotions like that. She went up to the public hut and made a fire there. She made a few attempts as she said to walk out of the hut but because of the situation she was in, her physical conditions and the snow, she always went back.

"She only made it a few hundred metres and went back.

"As you can imagine if you're stuck somewhere for a month you would be very relieved, quite happy [to be rescued]."

The woman and her partner's families were sticking together, she said.

The trampers were partners in New Zealand on a working holiday, she said.

She said Ms Pizova was very resourceful.

"I give her enormous credit. She used whatever she could find."

It was "very important" for Ms Pizova to get her partner's body back, and for the families.

A police spokesman accompanied the pair at the conference.

He expressed disappointment at "unhelpful comments" that were circulating about the ordeal.

Mrs Kennett said the comments were not affecting Ms Pizova.

"She is such a brave person, she is above it all. She just ignores it all."

Pavlina Pizova with Ondrej Petr. Photo supplied/NZ Police
Pavlina Pizova with Ondrej Petr. Photo supplied/NZ Police

Earlier story

Police and searchers have recovered the body of a Czech man who fell and died on the Routeburn Track, near Queenstown, in July. His companion has been found alive after she holed up in a hut for nearly a month.

Police have named the man as Ondrej Petr (27).

Czech media earlier identified the woman as as Pavlina Pizova, who is in her early 30s. 

The tramper said she heard her dying companion's final breath before she found a hut and remained there while awaiting rescue.

Ms Pizova was rescued from a Department of Conservation warden’s hut on the shores of Lake Mackenzie on Wednesday afternoon after spending more than 20 days holed up there.

Her travelling companion died on July 28 after falling down a steep slope two days after they entered the track. Police confirmed his body had been recovered this morning.

The pair set out on July 26, and according to Queenstown-based Czech Republic honorary consul Vladka Kennett, they had no tent or locator beacon and told no-one of their plans, Fairfax reports.

After one freezing night outside and disoriented owing to the conditions, the pair became disoriented and strayed from the trail before the man fell, police said.

Ms Pizova climbed down to him but he died soon after.  She heard him gasping for breath in his last moments. 

"She tried everything she could but she was totally exhausted," Mrs Kennett said. "It was impossible [to free him]."

Unable to move her partner, Ms Pizova spent two sleepless nights outside, her possessions stuffed into her sleeping bag for warmth, Mrs Kennett said. 

The hut where Ms Pizova was found. Photo NZ Police
The hut where Ms Pizova was found. Photo NZ Police
At a media conference in Queenstown yesterday afternoon, Otago Lakes Central area commander Inspector Olaf Jensen said Ms Pizova forced entry into the warden’s quarters at the Lake Mackenzie Hut after spending three days in the open in "severe" weather. She was suffering minor frostbite and possibly hypothermia.
 

Ms Pizova remained in the hut, where there was food, firewood and gas for cooking, until police and LandSAR staff discovered her during a helicopter search on Wednesday. The hut also had a radio, but she had been unable to operate it.

Insp Jensen said she had made the right decision to "stay put".

The area was impassable because of snow, which had covered track markers, and no other trampers had passed by the hut while she was there.

Given the severe weather conditions and her physical condition as a result of her ordeal, Ms Pizova was not able to make it out. "Some of the injuries she had meant she just could not walk." 

She made ‘H’ signs in the snow  for help and had signalled to the searching helicopter when it flew down to the hut.

Ms Pizova was examined at Lakes District Hospital, but did not require medical treatment.

Insp Jensen said the pair had some tramping experience and were "reasonably well-equipped", but left little information about their intentions before setting out. He described them as "travelling companions", and they had arrived in New Zealand together.

The man’s death was not being treated as suspicious. "We’re still piecing together what actually happened, but at this stage the early indications are that he fell," Insp Jensen said.

A scene examination would be carried out now that the mnan's body has been recovered. His next of kin had been informed.

A recovery team makes its way through the snow. Photo NZ Police
A recovery team makes its way through the snow. Photo NZ Police

It was Mrs Kennett who raised the alarm on Wednesday after the pair had been on the track for 29 days. She was contacted on Facebook by an acquaintance who was in contact with the missing man’s worried mother, Mrs Kennett told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.

"The mother of the victim said she had no contact for a month. They were meant to be in Queenstown before heading down to Dunedin for farm work."
 
The pair were in New Zealand on a working holiday for a year after arriving in March. The man had hoped  for work as a ski and snowboard instructor. The pair intended tramping on the Routeburn while in the Queenstown area.
 

After the alarm was raised, the pair’s car was found in the track’s car park on the Glenorchy side, and the rescue effort launched.

An operation to recover the man’s body yesterday was unsuccessful because of inclement weather and difficult terrain, police said last night.

This morning, police and LandSAR staff departed Queenstown by helicopter at 8.30am in a bid to recover the body.

Police senior media spokeswoman Rachel Purdom said the weather in the area was poor this morning but a "small window" of opportunity allowed the effort to succeed.

The interior of the warden's hut. Photo NZ Police
The interior of the warden's hut. Photo NZ Police

DoC review

Department of Conservation Wakatipu operations manager Geoff Owen said Ms Pizova had done the right thing to force entry to the warden’s hut and "hunker down". However, the alarm could have been raised much sooner if the pair were carrying a personal locator beacon and there might have been a different outcome, he said.

Mr Owen said Doc would carry out an "operational review'' of the incident. Although it provided detailed information about the track and conditions that trampers faced in winter, "we want to ensure we are doing all we reasonably can to ensure public safety."

Doc has several active alerts on the Routeburn Track on its website advising trampers of safety risks, the need for alpine skills and that several bridges on the track had been removed to prevent damage from avalanches.

Mr Owen said facilities and services on the Routeburn Track had been reduced in May prior to winter. Therefore, trampers needed a higher level of competence and self-sufficiency than during the summer season.

Ms Pizova had shown "courage, resilience and common sense'' in staying at the warden's hut at Lake Mackenzie, he said.

Doc rangers would secure the hut once police had completed their scene examination.

'Waist high' snow

Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club president Richard Forbes said he was among a group of trampers from the club who entered the track from the Glenorchy side last weekend.

The group went as far as  Lake Harris, about 10km from the Lake Mackenzie Hut, and conditions were difficult. "It was quite heavy going up there," he said. "You’d sink down into the snow up to your waist."

He believed conditions would have been even worse for the Czech trampers.

"We were intending on going to Mackenzie Hut but we rang up Doc and they recommended we didn’t go there because of avalanche risk," Mr Forbes said.

It was difficult terrain and not for the unprepared in winter. "You would need some knowledge of alpine skills, knowing how to use crampons and ice axes if need be."

- additional reporting NZ Herald

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