Two climbers die on New Zealand mountain

These two must surely have known beforehand the capriciousness of the weather on Mt Egmont, which is well known to climbers and hikers in New Zealand, and in that sense, they should have been properly prepared. Take note: The weather in New Zealand is frequently changeable; Mts Ruapehu, Ngaruahoe and Tongariro, also in the North Island, are also subject to rapid change in conditions without warning, though Mt Egmont in Taranaki, where these two died, has a particularly nasty reputation. This applies to skiers, as well as to climbers and hikers. Whiteouts are not uncommon while skiing, and icy conditions can be treacherous.

Years ago, a solo Japanese climber was trapped high on Mt Ruapehu by blizzards (while I sat out the blizzards in my ski lodge, well below). He dug himself into a snowcave, and emerged 7 days later, when the blizzards subsided; he was none the worse for wear. But an army party, near the Crater Lake below the summit for training, was not so lucky, and from memory, 7 died; 2 descended to give the alarm, and a few others also survived.

Years before that, while still a schoolboy, I elected to go skiing one day, rather than accept my two close friends and classmates' invitation to join them climbing on Mt Ngaruahoe, a perfect volcanic cone like Mt Fuji. Late in the day, Colin Crosby fell 500 ft, and Mark saw him then get up, and stagger around. It was too late in the day for Mark to descend on the ice to him, so he roped himself into his belay, and bivouacked the night. He descended the next morning, could find no sign of Colin, and came out to raise the alarm. An extensive search was mounted. We found his body almost a week later. He was I think 15. 50 odd years later, I still think of him.

its in situations like these that i think UL gear can be literally be a life saver … in addition to skills and sound judgement of course

getting the lightest canister stove and pot … the lightest emergency gear like a blizzard bag or UL bag/bivy … may allow you to survive the night or two

there was an incident on mount hood a few years ago where 3 climbers perished, 2 in a snow cave after several days … it was suggested that if they had a stove (and PLB) it may have been survivable