Old friend comes to rescue

MICHAEL BRADLEY

NEARLY A PHOTO-FINISH: Alistair Innes recovering in Auckland Hospital after he fell 10m into a ravine off the Routeburn Track near Glenorchy.

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An Auckland tramper who narrowly escaped death when he plunged 10m into a ravine near Glenorchy last month was rescued by a friend he had not seen for 20 years.

Alistair Innes, 35, was suffering hypothermia, a broken fibia, tibia, ankle and heel in his left leg, broken radius in his right arm, dislocated left shoulder and multiple grazes to his face when his friend from 20 years earlier came across him.

Speaking to The Southland Times from Auckland Hospital yesterday, Mr Innes said he had finished tramping the Routeburn Track near Glenorchy on February 15 but returned three days later to take a photo of a waterfall.

He walked 5km to the bridge from the carpark and stepped over a gate, away from the viewing platform at the end of a bridge to get a better view.

He was setting up to take a photo when "the rock for some reason became slippery".

"I remember watching my foot slip out in front of me," Mr Innes said.

He plunged down the vertical rock face and into the stream below where he lay for 20 minutes before an Englishman passing by spotted him.

As the Englishman ran for help he came across Glen Cornelius, who turned out to be an old friend of Mr Innes and who was also tramping the Routeburn.

Mr Cornelius then ran ahead with his five companions to the bridge above Bridal Veil Stream where Mr Innes lay and then carried on with a friend to raise the alarm at Routeburn Flat Hut, 5km away.

While waiting to be rescued, Mr Innes said he had to make "a conscious decision to stay alive" because if he lost consciousness he would have drowned.

"I couldn't have made it through the cold and pain and stay conscious for four hours if I didn't make myself," he said.

He credited a conservation worker who was part of the rescue team for keeping him conscious by talking to him from the bridge and getting him to move whatever body parts he could to keep warm.

Mr Cornelius returned to the bridge to give assistance but did not immediately realise who he was helping.

It was two weeks later when he had been communicating with Mr Innes by email and "finally clicked" that they had been friends, Mr Cornelius said.

"I got up one morning and it all came together."

They had been friends as teenagers but he had not recognised Mr Innes because of his missing teeth and a bruised face, Mr Cornelius said.

Once lifted from the track, Mr Innes was flown to Dunedin Hospital and then a few days later to Auckland Hospital, where he is expected to remain until later this week.

Wakatipu Department of Conservation spokeswoman Beth Masser said she was unsure whether the gate Mr Innes climbed over had a sign warning people to beware of the danger.

However, the department would be investigating the accident.

The department did not want to have a "knee-jerking" response to the accident and put warning signs up everywhere, so she advised people to "assess each situation as they come – you just have to have people with their heads screwed on".

- © Fairfax NZ News