Night rescue in thick snow

TRACEY ROBINSON/Dominion Post

CLOSE SHAVE: Bruce Holden is all smiles after surgery in Rotorua Hospital - he broke his leg in three places on Mt Tongariro and had to be rescued by helicopter.

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Huddled in pain in a dugout snow cave on a freezing mountain, his leg badly broken and darkness falling, Bruce Holden wondered if he would be found alive by rescuers.

Doctors say the 44-year-old Aucklander may have lost his right leg if a helicopter pilot using night-vision goggles had not attempted a dramatic alpine rescue from Mt Tongariro in pitch-blackness and heavy snow.

Mr Holden broke his leg in three places about 2pm on Saturday near the top of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing when his crampons gripped into ice as he fell under the weight of his pack.

"It dug in and made a funny noise - well, my leg did," he said from his Rotorua Hospital bed yesterday.

"It wasn't a compound fracture, it didn't stick out.

"I thought, `Heck that hurts a lot,' and you just start to feel so helpless." Members of his climbing team raised the alarm just before 6pm after walking to Ketetahi Hut to get cellphone coverage.

They told emergency services that Mr Holden and his companion, Richard Chambers, had dug snow caves and were hunkering down to await a rescue bid about two kilometres up from Oturere Hut toward the Emerald Lakes.

Senior Constable Mark Bond of Taupo search and rescue said the climbers gave rescuers a GPS reference for the pair, warning of whiteout conditions, and the Lion Foundation rescue helicopter was sent to look for them.

Using night-vision goggles, pilot Dan Harcourt, Mr Bond and a paramedic flew in darkness through snow, beneath cloud cover, reaching Oturere Hut about 8pm. They continued up the mountain, following track markers, till they spotted a torch light signalling from the snow and landed 40 metres from the sheltering pair.

"They were holed up in their snow cave. [Mr Holden] was obviously in pain but we literally dragged him out to the helicopter and he was quite happy," Mr Bond said. "He had only been given some paracetamol by his companion so it was quite surprising."

The pair were experienced climbers and well-prepared for the conditions, he said. They had dug two snow caves with ice shovels and strapped Mr Holden's leg, using an ice axe as a splint.

The helicopter dropped Mr Chambers at the hut and flew Mr Holden to Rotorua Hospital, where he had surgery yesterday.

Mr Holden praised his rescuers, admitting he was "very, very lucky" to have been found and treated by doctors. He understood the temperature had reached minus 15 degrees celsius on the mountain during the night.

Undaunted by his close shave, he hopes to return next winter, though he is in no hurry to spend another night in a snow cave. "Crikey, they'd be cold."

Mr Bond said it was his first night alpine rescue. "It's not a job you would ever do without night-vision goggles. Flying at night in an alpine environment is obviously quite dangerous, so you can't do it if you can't see."

- © Fairfax NZ News