{"id":542514,"date":"2026-07-24T20:38:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/542514\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:38:51","slug":"incredibly-lucky-climbers-recall-dramatic-mt-taranaki-rescue-after-300m-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/542514\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Incredibly lucky’: Climbers recall dramatic Mt Taranaki rescue after 300m fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aucklander Ash Shi feels grateful to be alive upon being discharged from hospital after multiple surgeries.<\/p>\n

One of three climbers rescued from Mount Taranaki earlier this month<\/a>, Shi suffered fractures to his neck, face, skull and ribs after sliding down “steel-like” ice while trying to save another climber who had fallen.<\/p>\n

An experienced climber, Shi described the conditions as the most dangerous he had ever encountered.<\/p>\n

Shi and three friends had planned to summit from the south side of the 2518-metre mountain.<\/p>\n

They made the attempt on a weekend during which the weather was expected to be clear and still after observing conditions on the mountain for several weeks.<\/p>\n

One of the men in the group felt uncomfortable with the conditions during the ascent and so abandoned the attempt.<\/p>\n

\"Syme<\/p>\n

Climbers had to hack through ice on the door of Syme Hut on Mount Taranaki to get in.<\/p>\n

Supplied \/ Ash Shi<\/p>\n

The remaining members of the party climbed to Syme Hut, which sits at an elevation of 1940 metres.<\/p>\n

They stayed in the hut overnight and decided to descend the next day as conditions were too poor to continue climbing.<\/p>\n

Another team of three staying at the hut also planned to descend the next day.<\/p>\n

“We got up to see the sunrise. It was beautiful,” Shi said. “I also got up at the middle of the night to take photos of the starry sky.”<\/p>\n

Coming down, however, was difficult due to the extremely hard ice and steep gradient.<\/p>\n

“It meant I had to extend my ankles almost to their limit just to get my crampons into the ice,” Shi said.<\/p>\n

“That pushed my centre of gravity forward, making it dangerous.”<\/p>\n

\"Ash<\/p>\n

Climbers descend Mount Taranaki in difficult conditions earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Supplied \/ Ash Shi<\/p>\n

Despite the treacherous conditions, Shi and his team made it down the steeper part of the slope. The other team of climbers was below them.<\/p>\n

Shi noticed another man descending the mountain a short distance behind him.<\/p>\n

“I heard a scream and then [something like] the sound of an avalanche, and saw that he was sliding down,” he said.<\/p>\n

Shi said he had no time to think.<\/p>\n

“I immediately moved to my right, trying to stop him,” he recalled.<\/p>\n

“I dug my ice axe into the ice, hoping I could arrest his fall. However, I completely underestimated the force.<\/p>\n

“The ice was so slippery that there was no friction. The other man hit me with enough force to knock me off my feet, and we were both sliding down.”<\/p>\n

His mind went blank after the collision, and the next thing he remembered was desperately trying to drive his ice axe into the ice.<\/p>\n

“It just didn’t bite,” Shi said. “Then I remember hitting rocks and tumbling several times.”<\/p>\n

“The next thing I remember was waking up with the three climbers of the other group around helping us, taking off their jackets and putting them over us.<\/p>\n

“We were lying on the ice at the bottom of the slope.”<\/p>\n

\"Micah<\/p>\n

Micah Sharp attends injured climbers on the slopes of Mount Taranaki.<\/p>\n

Supplied<\/p>\n

The trio walking in front of Shi’s group included experienced hikers Simon Sharp and his 18-year-old son, Micah.<\/p>\n

Micah slipped on rocks when scrambling over to where the two men landed and ended up fracturing a collarbone, although he only realised this later.<\/p>\n

First on the scene, Micah said the two men were “pretty much on top of each other”.<\/p>\n

He tried to get the climbers into a comfortable position while not moving them too much given their injuries.<\/p>\n

\"Simon<\/p>\n

Simon Sharp, Micah and a friend at Syme Hut.<\/p>\n

Supplied \/ Simon Sharp<\/p>\n

“My dad said to chuck some warm gear on them, so I took out all of my gear out of my bag and just tried to cover them with as many warm clothes as we had,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sharp said he knew the situation was bad when he saw Micah’s face, but he tried to keep calm.<\/p>\n

He said they tried to keep the injured men warm and their necks straight.<\/p>\n

They also constantly spoke to the injured climbers to ensure they were conscious while awaiting rescue.<\/p>\n

“The ice was extremely hard at that time,” Sharp said.”[It] was probably the hardest ice I’ve climbed for a very long time.<\/p>\n

“I know for a fact that where they fell was a dangerous little gully, and the ice was incredibly creepy hard because there was no sun on that area at all.”<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the rescue team attend to Ash Shi and another injured man on the slopes of Mount Taranaki on 12 July.<\/p>\n

Supplied<\/p>\n

The rescue helicopter had been summoned but was having difficulty reaching them due to fog.<\/p>\n

It was finally able to reach the injured climbers when the weather cleared more than two hours after the accident had happened.<\/p>\n

Shi and the other climber were taken to hospital with serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Shi felt grateful he was alive thanks to the men who provided first aid on the mountain and the prompt actions of the rescue team.<\/p>\n

“Life is too important, yet too fragile,” he said. “Things can happen anytime.<\/p>\n

“I feel incredibly lucky. [I’m sure this experience] will have a profound impact on how I live my life, although I don’t yet know exactly how. I think it’ll make me appreciate life even more.”<\/p>\n

\"Bondee<\/p>\n

Bondee Jia climbs Mount Taranaki the day prior to the accident.<\/p>\n

Supplied \/ Ash Shi<\/p>\n

Bondee Jia was descending Mount Taranaki with Shi before the accident.<\/p>\n

He was airlifted off the mountain from a higher position on the slope behind Shi and the other climber who fell.<\/p>\n

“[I saw them] hit a rock, get launched into the air, slam back down, get launched again and slam back down again,” Jia said.<\/p>\n

Jia said he couldn’t see the injured climbers clearly in the fog after they tumbled approximately 300 to 400 metres down the slope.<\/p>\n

He called emergency services after learning from the other teammate who was closer to the fallen climbers that the situation wasn’t good.<\/p>\n

Jia realised it was too dangerous to attempt to descend any further and so stayed where he was until help eventually arrived.<\/p>\n

\"Ash<\/p>\n

Ash Shi admires stars in the night sky at Syme Hut on Mount Taranaki before the accident.<\/p>\n

Supplied \/ Ash Shi<\/p>\n

Sharp said it was “incredibly lucky” no one died and was happy to learn that both men were recovering.<\/p>\n

Shi’s wife, Melody Kee, was also thankful that her husband was alive.<\/p>\n

“I’m so grateful to all of those who helped during the process,” she said, thanking the nurses, doctors, surgeons, police, rescue team and the three men from the other group.<\/p>\n

Kee had also been in touch with the other injured man’s family and was relieved to learn that he was also in a stable condition.<\/p>\n

Shi urged climbing enthusiasts to assess risks constantly and turn back if conditions became difficult.<\/p>\n

Jia offered some advice of his own from the experience.<\/p>\n

“It’s important to ensure your own safety before trying to save others in the mountains,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mountain Safety Council chief executive Mike Daisley said 166 people had been rescued on Mount Taranaki summit climbs between July 2010 to March 2026.<\/p>\n

“When comparing rescues of trampers with other tracks across the motu, Taranaki Maunga is the second highest after Tongariro Alpine Crossing,” he said.<\/p>\n

Daisley urged people to have the appropriate skills and experience before they attempted a climb.<\/p>\n

He warned climbers to use appropriate equipment, know their limits and be prepared to change their plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aucklander Ash Shi feels grateful to be alive upon being discharged from hospital after multiple surgeries. One of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-542514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542514","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=542514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}