KEY POINTS:
Family and friends are grieving the death of an Otago University student in a climbing accident in Mt Aspiring National Park.
Leonard Phease, 19, died after falling about 100 metres from a steep, icy section of track just below Liverpool Hut in the park on Saturday.
Club president Sarah White said that Mr Phease, who had been a member for two years, had a huge circle of friends.
"He was such an amazing guy always had a smile on his face so cheerful...we are absolutely devastated," she told National Radio.
His father Barry Phease said his son was passionate about climbing and had always loved the outdoors.
"He walked the Kepler at the age of five in horizontal hail and that didn't put him off," he told The Press.
"We moved to Wellington three years ago and he wouldn't come because there were not enough mountains."
He said his son was carrying climbing boots with him at the time of the fall, and would have planned to use them slightly higher up the trail.
"He had a really good pair of climbing boots with him but they're obviously not very comfortable when walking on the valley floor," he said.
"He would have put them on when he got to the hut."
Mr Phease said his son was very careful when climbing.
"At the point where he died it's not considered to be the difficult part," he said.
"If he got to the difficult part he probably would have taken more care than he needed.
"He wasn't in climbing mode. He was still in walking mode."
Wanaka Search and Rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Aaron Nicholson said Mr Phease was with a group of four, all in their late teens and early 20s, who were intending to climb the east ridge of Mount Barff.
He tried to arrest his fall but could not.
"He slid down a steep and rocky snow gully for about 100m before coming to rest at the bush line."
He died instantly. from his injuries.
New Zealand Mountain Guides Association president Aaron Halstead said Mount Aspiring National Park had a high number of fatalities. It was considered a moderate stepping stone to other mountains attracting less-experienced climbers.
Its tramping routes could turn from benign in summer to treacherous in winter when ice became a factor.
- NZPA
