Two climbers were rescued yesterday after spending three nights on a precarious Fiordland mountainside in what police are calling a “remarkable” survival story.<\/p>\n
The climbers had been stranded on a steep mountainside near Sabre Peak in Fiordland National Park, when they were found on the third rescue attempt by the Southern Lakes Helicopter.<\/p>\n
They had run out of food and been sheltering in a two-person bivvy and sleeping bags, police said in a release.<\/p>\n
“Their survival is remarkable,” Southland Search and Rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Dougall Henderson said.<\/p>\n
“They had been stranded on the steep mountainside for three nights, sheltering in a two-person bivvy and sleeping bags, which became saturated during prolonged exposure to severe weather.<\/p>\n
“They had run out of food, and believed they would not have survived another night on the mountain.”<\/p>\n
Police said a personal locator beacon was activated in the Sabre Peak area about 4.30pm on Wednesday and a Southern Lakes Helicopter was dispatched.<\/p>\n
However, the helicopter was unable to carry out the rescue due to heavy rain and low cloud.<\/p>\n
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand passed on information to police so they could launch a search and rescue operation.<\/p>\n
On Thursday morning the brother of one of the climbers informed police he had received an emergency SOS satellite text message from the climbers.<\/p>\n
The messages confirmed they were uninjured, although unable to move due to the severe weather.<\/p>\n
Another rescue attempt that day was unsuccessful, again due to the conditions.<\/p>\n
Sgt Henderson said police maintained contact with the climbers via satellite and kept them updated as to the rescue\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n
The helicopter was able to rescue the stranded climbers yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
“About 7am [yesterday], the Southern Lakes Helicopter crew successfully located the climbers and carried out a 100-foot-long [30m] line extraction from the mountainside,” he said.<\/p>\n
Both climbers were checked by a doctor on board the helicopter and transferred to Te Anau for further assessment.<\/p>\n
Sgt Henderson said the outcome highlighted both good decision-making by the climbers and the challenges faced by rescue services in alpine environments.<\/p>\n
“The climbers made the right decision to activate their beacon early and remain in place once the weather deteriorated,” he said.<\/p>\n
“They were well equipped and they communicated clearly using satellite messaging, and that allowed rescuers to make informed decisions while waiting for a safe weather window.<\/p>\n
“This was also an outstanding effort by the helicopter crew, operating in an extreme and unforgiving alpine environment. Their ability to safely locate and extract the climbers using a long line technique prevented what could have been a far more serious outcome.”<\/p>\n
He added it was a timely reminder of the unpredictability of Fiordland weather and the limitations of rescue operations in mountainous terrain.<\/p>\n
“Even when help is on the way, adverse weather can delay rescue efforts,” Sgt Henderson said.<\/p>\n
“People heading into alpine or remote areas need to plan conservatively, monitor forecasts closely, and carry appropriate emergency equipment \u2014 including a PLB or satellite communication device, or both.”<\/p>\n
Police encourage anyone venturing into remote or alpine environments to leave their intentions with a trusted person, check weather conditions in advance, and be prepared to delay or abandon plans if conditions deteriorate. \u2014 Allied Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two climbers were rescued yesterday after spending three nights on a precarious Fiordland mountainside in what police are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-375460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}