Ōtaki artist Ronda Turk has donated a series of paintings as a fundraising thank you to the rescue organisation that saved her daughter's life.
"As a mother, how can you say thank you, and help them to assist other people. They are fabulous and it is selfless, what they do. This is the least I can do," she said.
Three weeks ago Jamie Hickey, 35, got into difficulty in the Tararua Ranges. As winds rose and temperatures plummeted, she was saved by a Search and Rescue (LandSAR) response.
Ōtaki artist Ronda Turk has pledge a series of paintings with proceeds of sale going to LandSAR.
Hickey, a keen tramper with experience, had set out from Jumbo Hut on the Wairarapa side of the Tararua Ranges at 8.30am, and had expected to reach Powell Hutt around midday.
"I have done much, much harder walks, and expected it to be a piece of cake," she said.
But just hours later she was alone, hardly able to walk, and forced to seek shelter from wind so strong it repeatedly blew her off her feet.
Hickey had checked the forecast night before, and again in the morning, although now realised in error that she hadn't refreshed the page, so it was still showing the previous day's forecast.
It would have shown her that the predicted forecast had changed from 17km/h winds with gusts of 24km/h, to 70km/h winds with gusts of 100km/h.
She had said hello to a couple of trampers going the other way and was two-thirds of the way to Powell Hut when the wind picked up.
One of Ronda Turk's paintings on display at Artel Gallery in Ōtaki.
"They said it was slow going, but that I would be fine. But about 45 minutes from the hut I went down a dip and was knocked off my feet," she said.
Hickey was stuck in a spot where the wind was intensified. She tried to turn around, but was repeatedly knocked to the ground.
"I couldn't take a step," she said.
She then set her sights for the top of Mount Holdsworth, believing if she could crawl the 200m to the top, it would be a tail wind to Powell Hut from there. But the wind was so strong it kept sending her into a roll.
"I tried everything," she said.
She crawled to a ridgeline to break the wind and nestled in amongst clumps of snow and forest, and at 11.05am rang her husband from her cellphone to tell him of her predicament, and he then alerted LandSAR.
Hickey was well-prepared and had a Personal Locator Beacon as a safety measure, too, but as her cellphone was 75 per cent charged and she had reception, there was no need to activate the PBL.
A painting by Ōtaki artist Ronda Turk, on display at Artel Gallery. The proceeds of sale will be donated to LandSAR.
She kept the cellphone close to her body, as the battery lasted longer if the phone was kept warm. She was able to speak directly to a LandSAR sergeant at 2pm, who told her they would be walking in to get her, and they were on their way.
"I was happy to hear that, but my heart sank realising they were at least three and a half hours away," she said.
Hickey was wearing a down jacket, with a rain jacket over top. She climbed into a sleeping bag made of down, and then into another sack made of PVC, and waited.
"I wasn't too freaked out. I was at peace with it for a while. I thought about my family, the thought of my son kept me going. I did wonder though at what stage do you record a message for them," she said.
Lying there in temperatures below freezing, she sang gospel songs to lift her spirits.
Hickey was eventually found by her rescuers at dusk. Linking arms and guided by headlamps in the dark, they were able to make their way to the nearest hut, still battling the wind and threat of being blown over.
What should have taken 45 minutes took almost two hours.
At the hut she was treated by a paramedic for hypothermia, given dry clothing, and shared in a hot meal.
There they all stayed for the night, making their way back the next day.
The experience wouldn't keep Hickey from her passion for the outdoors. The only thing she would do differently is triple-check weather forecasts, and perhaps pack woollen garments rather than down, which didn't offer warmth when wet.
Hickey was grateful to her rescuers. A significant amount of craft beer had been dropped off as a gesture of appreciation, too.
Ronda Turk had so far sold four of the seven donated paintings at a total of $1500.
Coincidentally, they were all part of a series of paintings of the bush she had done a few years ago, with Turk sharing her daughter's love of tramping and the outdoors.
