Teen climber Luca Zylstra-Law’s risky rescue in the Solomon Islands – ‘I felt like Rambo’

Nineteen-year-old Luca Zylstra-Law and his friend Keanu Isaksson, 25, both from Matakana, north of Auckland, set out on July 20 to climb Mt Popomanaseu – at 2335m, the Solomon Islands’ highest peak.

But the mountain had other plans for them.

The pair were both experienced trampers but looking back, Zylstra-Law concedes they might have bitten off more than they could chew.

He explained that Isaksson, who works overseas on oil rigs, was searching for a rare American fig tree, while he was interested in the island’s wildlife – hoping to spot an endangered rat thought to have become extinct.

Luca Zylstra-Law is pictured with one of the villagers near Mt Popomanaseu in the Solomon Islands.

They saw a few local possums, but not much else.

A village chief had told him no one had reached the summit in 10 years, so when Zylstra-Law reached the top, he felt euphoric.

“Standing on top of the mountain was breathtakingly beautiful – everything I’d dreamed of. I felt invincible.”

But the adventure of a lifetime quickly became a test of survival. As the pair began their descent into a steep valley, they stopped to make camp for two days to take in the view. But torrential rain came – relentless and rising – and suddenly they were trapped on increasingly unstable ground.

Zylstra-Law describes being stranded on a narrow ledge above a 30-metre drop, beneath a waterfall. Their shelter was a single hammock strung between two trees, with a tarpaulin over it to protect them from the weather.

Luca Zylstra-Law and his friend Keanu Isaksson became stranded on unstable ground. They shared a hammock tied between two trees in an effort to keep warm and dry.

For several days, the pair slept and woke to thunder and lightning as the heavy rain battered the mountain. Soaked and freezing, they huddled together for warmth and lost track of time.

Rocks tumbled around them. They texted their parents, but their satellite phone battery was running low, and they had no idea whether a rescue was even possible.

“We made sure to stay calm. We rearranged the camp and rationed the food to one portion to share. We ate dried fish, meat and mashed potato, sometimes mixed with cold water, and half a peanut slab before bed; that was our treat.

“It rained so hard that if you put a pot outside the tent, it would be full in no time. It was insane,” Zylstra-Law said.

Luca Mila Zylstra-Law describes being stranded above a 30-metre drop beneath a waterfall

In the darkness, he couldn’t shake the thought that he might never see his family again.

“We talked a lot about our families. I knew Mum and Dad would’ve been stressing out. As the weather deteriorated, I got scared and thought, ‘this could be it’… but Keanu assured me and said, ‘Even if one of us has to carry the other on their back – we will get out no matter what.’”

The trick was to keep busy. The hardest part, Zylstra-Law said, was keeping his mind off food.

“I love food. I couldn’t stop dreaming about burgers, pizza and beer.

“We talked, told stories and reflected on life.”

Mila Zylstra-Law, Martin Law, Luca Zylstra-Law and Tanya Zylstra. Luca Zylstra-Law said he thought about his family constantly when he was trapped for 8 days. Photo / Michael Craig

Back home in New Zealand, their families – next-door neighbours – received a callout from the stranded men via a satellite phone on July 27.

Tanya Zylstra told the Herald that she usually hears only part of what happens to her son while he is away. The rest, she says, comes when he returns home. But this time, she had a gut feeling something was wrong.

The message was brief, urgent and unmistakably desperate. They needed a helicopter evacuation. They could neither move forward nor turn back.

Tanya Zylstra said the last message from her son Luca was “complete horror”.

Days passed. The ravine was too narrow for a helicopter to land in, and the only one available in the area had no winch. Even if it had, there was nowhere clear in which to lower a rescue net.

It was Zylstra-Law’s last message on August 3 that alarmed his mother most.

“It was complete horror. I have never felt so much pain. It was indescribable. Luca said how much he loved us. I thought, ‘Oh shit, for him to be sending that, you could sense he was thinking, this is it,’” Zylstra said.

Luca Zylstra-Law and Keanu Issakson had to cut down trees with a machete so they were visible to the helicopter pilot.

All the pair could do was wait for a break in the weather, hoping rescuers could get through another way – with fresh water, food, and a radio.

To pass the time – and give the pilot a clear sighting of them and somewhere to drop food – they took turns felling trees with a 30cm machete.

“Around the top of the waterfall, we had to chop down these big, dense tropical hardwood trees so the pilots could see us.”

Keanu Isaksson received a package dropped from a helicopter when they were trapped in bad weather in the Solomon Islands for 8 days

Zylstra-Law said he was delirious when – after eight days stranded – he finally heard the rescue helicopter approaching from Honiara.

“We had waited so long, and we’d had our hopes up so many times. They picked us up at the top of the waterfall.

“I want to thank the locals who stayed in contact with us and tried to rescue us, but had to turn back because the ground was so unstable,” Zylstra-Law said.

Luca Zylstra-Law and his friend were finally rescued by helicopter pilot Paul Hubbard, known as “Big Balls Paul”.

Paul Hubbard was one of two Australian helicopter pilots working for Helicopter Support Honiara. Everyone called him “Big-Balls Paul” — a nickname that suggested he wasn’t exactly the cautious type. When the job called for a helicopter pilot who could handle risky assignments, Zylstra-Law said Hubbard was the perfect man for it.

“He was insane. He flew extremely close to the trees, inching in and dropping an eight-metre cargo net. I grabbed it and made sure I didn’t let go.

“You’re climbing into the net knowing there’s nothing but a huge 60-metre drop beneath you. When I looked down, it was terrifying.

“I felt like Rambo.”

Luca Zylstra-Law wants to thank the locals who risked their own safety trying to rescue him and Keanu Isaksson after the pair were stranded for eight days on Mt Popomanaseu.

Fresh from being plucked to safety, Zylstra-Law phoned his parents to say sorry and then checked his cryptocurrency balance and shares, which had helped fund his adventure. He is the youngest child of Tanya Zylstra and Martin Law and brother to Mila, 23.

Zylstra says her son could climb before he could talk. As a boy, he would scale the tall tōtara tree at their Mt Eden home – or disappear, only to turn up next door, happily eating home-baked biscuits in the neighbour’s kitchen.

Luca Zylstra-Law was a natural climber at a young age.

“He was an outgoing, bright and gregarious little monkey.”

Law says his son is an explorer with a business head, dabbling in cryptocurrency and shares – a passion he picked up at 14.

“Luca learnt early on that having money allowed him to do some extraordinary expeditions. The life skills he has gained through his adventures mean he is capable of anything. I want him to carry on doing what he loves. ”

Luca Zylstra-Law hopes his next adventure is Nepal

Last year, after completing NCEA, Zylstra-Law left school with the ambition to explore the world and save the planet.

He says his next adventure will be Nepal. He’ll be taking a deck of cards, a stash of peanut slabs – and a new perspective on what matters.

“What I’ve learnt is not to take things for granted. I was definitely guilty of that on other expeditions. Being trapped in the Solomons has made me realise how grateful I am.”

Carolyne Meng-Yee is an Auckland-based investigative journalist who won Best Documentary at the Voyager Media Awards in 2022 and was a finalist this year for Best Current Affairs. She worked for the Herald on Sunday from 2007 to 2011 and rejoined the Herald in 2016 after working as an award-winning current affairs producer at TVNZ’s 60 Minutes, 20/20 and Sunday.