KEY POINTS:
An American woman killed by a rock fall in Mt Cook National Park had been climbing in the area to celebrate her 30th birthday.
Nina Lynne Creedman, 29, had lived in Wellington for the past two years, working as an urban planner for the city council.
She turned 30 on Friday and took the day off to go climbing celebrate the occasion.
But while descending with three other members of the New Zealand Alpine Club from a successful ascent of Mt Sealy, near Mt Cook, on Saturday she was hit by a rock fall.
Her companions tried to revive her while another group of climbers nearby went back to the summit to use a cellphone to call for help.
By the time rescuers arrived, she was dead.
Fellow city council worker, planning and urban design director Ernst Zollner, described Ms Creedman as a woman of "vision".
"I guess that also gets you up mountains," he told the Dominion Post.
"She chose to be in New Zealand from a sense of adventure. Climbing mountains was all part of that."
- NZPA
