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\n(File photo) Mt Taranaki.
\nPhoto: RNZ\/Sally Round\n<\/p>\n
Taranaki Rescue Helicopters say a group of five climbers rescued from Mt Taranaki were caught off guard by rapidly changing conditions on the mountain.<\/p>\n
One person was in a critical condition and two had been seriously injured after five climbers were helicoptered off the mountain on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Helicopter pilot Chris Hall said the five climbers reached the summit of the mountain close to midday.<\/p>\n
“On their way back down again, they got a little bit lost and the weather closed in and it started getting quite cold. So, they made the right call, they stayed put and rang the police to tell them they were in a bit of a sticky situation,” Hall said.<\/p>\n
Hall said cloudy and windy conditions made it initially impossible to chopper in to where the climbers were – just about 100 metres from the summit on the south eastern side of the mountain’s crater.<\/p>\n
He said an alpine rescue team was dispatched to climb to the team, but at around 2pm they were informed that several members of the group were suffering the effects of hypothermia.<\/p>\n
“The situation became a bit more critical. So, we ended up with two extra helicopters coming down from Taup\u014d and Palmerston North to assist, and we also brought in the Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation.<\/p>\n
“So, due to the number of people that were up the mountain, we could get as many rescuers up there and help in the event that we weren’t able to winch them out,” Hall said.<\/p>\n
As the helicopters and teams converged on the area, the weather began to calm and clear.<\/p>\n
Members of the team from Ruapehu Alpine Rescue were able to be dropped near the summit, and one of the climbers, who was “pretty crook”, was loaded into the helicopter that delivered the team.<\/p>\n
Hall said the rest of the party was winched from the mountain in two more trips, including his own aircraft.<\/p>\n
“They were lucky. They were very, very lucky.<\/p>\n
“The weather here started off very nice. It was a beautiful sunny morning, a little bit of cloud floating around. [But] that cold weather just arrived with very strong winds, low cloud that would’ve enveloped the entire mountain, and I think that just sapped whatever energy they had whilst they were up the top there.<\/p>\n
“That rapidly moving cold front – that came whizzing up the country – that just caught them off guard,” Hall said.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for St John’s ambulance said two people were transported to Taranaki Hospital by helicopter and another was driven to the hospital by ambulance<\/p>\n
Two members of the group received moderate injuries.<\/p>\n
Search and Rescue Incident Controller acting sergeant David Bentley said the swift response of the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand, LandSAR, Alpine Cliff Rescue and Civil Defence as well as the helicopter companies involved prevented the outcome from being much worse.<\/p>\n
He said the group was lucky to be alive.<\/p>\n
“The weather improved for a period long enough for us to get helicopters into the area and rescue the climbers.<\/p>\n
“We were in and out very quickly and had it not been for that break in the weather, there was a very good chance we would have been dealing with fatalities,” Bentley said.<\/p>\n