Safety expert critical of tourists

Australian mountaineers rescued from Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park on Saturday were typically ill-prepared tourists, according to alpine safety experts.

Land search and rescue spokesman Phil Melchior, of Wanaka, said inexperienced alpine tourists were an ongoing problem and accounted for 30 percent of back country fatalities.

"People come to New Zealand and don't understand just how fast the weather can change," he said.

The six Australian tourists were caught out in heavy snow, a week after venturing into the mountains.

They had no guide, avalanche beacons or probes, snow shoes or skis and only one shovel between them.

"There are extremely lucky to be alive in the circumstances, the chances of the rescue party finding six corpses were at least as high as finding six live people." Mountain Safety Council avalanche programme manager Steve Schreiber said the tourists were foolish and needlessly endangered the lives of their rescuers.

"The weather we've had is just diabolical," he said. "They were asking for trouble." Mountaineers needed to take more responsibility for their own safety instead of expecting to be bailed out, he said.

The group was rescued on Saturday after being trapped in a blizzard for 36 hours.

The group huddled together in a small tent telling each other stories to keep up their spirits as rescuers tried to find them.

The climbers activated an emergency beacon on Thursday night as the snow closed in around them and avalanches threatened to sweep them away.

Expedition leader Terry Cole, 37, described how they had been stuck on a ridge on the Mueller Glacier as avalanches thundered past 50m to either side.

Despite being partly protected by an overhang, their two tents were repeatedly filled with snow and they barely slept during the ordeal.

"It was pretty scary," Mr Cole said.

"A big slab of snow fell down beside me." His partner, school counsellor Jennie Landon , also 37, said: "I heard a lot of avalanches around us.

"I thought, `I'm too young to die'." They arrived home in Sydney yesterday.

Mr Schreiber said the "dirty little storm" which started in Southland and Otago on Thursday had also increased avalanche risk, with several moderate sized avalanches recorded in the Queenstown Lakes District.

Harris Mountain Heli-Ski snow safety officer Chris Cochrane said avalanche risk had increased in the past week.

Because of this, flights to very steep runs were cancelled.

"We had to tell a number of a high end clients looking for the steep and deep that it's not going to happen," he said.

There had been some close shaves with skiers triggering avalanches nearby, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News