Disaster in the snow

OAMARU - Paul Hannah saw a wall of snow breaking away above him and jumped for it. But the avalanche that killed two of his mates snatched his legs from under him.

Four climbers, all aged 20 and under, were swept away in the Southern Alps at lunchtime on Wednesday.

A 22-member search party working with dogs yesterday found the bodies of Sean Reese, aged 17, of Wanaka, and John Haworth, 20, of Mt Strauchon, in the Mackenzie District of South Canterbury.

Benjamin Gaston, a 20-year-old mountain guide based at Franz Josef on the West Coast, came to rest twisted up and partly buried about 150m down the Ohau Valley and called to his companions.

Mr Hannah was the only one to answer.

"I had snow on my face and my arm and my feet were sticking out," the Dunedin 20-year-old said. "Benjamin managed to help me out.

"We tried to prod with our ice axes for the other two. We pretty much covered the area."

Mr Hannah, who had sprained both knees, and Mr Gaston then walked three hours to Brodrick Hut.

While Mr Gaston went on to get help, Mr Hannah spent the night alone reflecting on the tragedy.

"It was pretty quiet, pretty lonely," he said. "I probably got about a couple of hours' sleep. I just expected my mate John to walk through the hut and say, 'Oh, a bit of a rough night'."

Mr Gaston took another three hours to get to his car, where he had a cellphone.

But it was out of range, so he drove over a rough track for another hour before he could alert police to the accident.

Constable Dave Garlick, of Oamaru police, said the dead climbers were buried too deep to have survived.

"It appeared the boys were carried down by the avalanche and deposited in a crevasse some distance down the face of the hill," he said. "The snow then filled the crevasse behind them, burying them."

Mr Haworth was found first, about 1.5m under the snow. Mr Reese was found 3m away. Their bodies were flown to Timaru.

- NZPA