First climb ends in copter rescue

Chris Ellwood got his introduction to climbing on Monday night during his first trip north of Auckland.

The experience left the Hamilton man perched on a ledge at Cape Reinga, more than 50m above rocks and the sea, for about four hours.

His rescue involved police, Department of Conservation staff, a rescue helicopter, a fishing boat and Far North Coastguard Radio.

Mr Ellwood, aged 25, and fellow Hamiltonian Justin Allen, 22, had walked to a point below Cape Reinga lighthouse late in the afternoon.

When they began to return, they found they were trapped by the rising tide.

The pair decided their only way out was to climb a rocky cliff, which Houhora constable Chris Yarnton said was around 100m high.

"We decided to go up. Justin's an experienced climber. He made it all the way. I made it half-way," Mr Ellwood said at Cable Bay in the Far North yesterday.

About 50m up the cliff, Mr Ellwood slipped and fell onto a small ledge where he was to stay, half kneeling, half crouching, while Mr Allen reached his car at the lighthouse carpark and drove 10km until he could raise the alarm on his mobile phone.

Mr Ellwood said he was half kneeling on his feet for a couple of hours before managing to move around and "half sit down".

"I wasn't going anywhere, up or down," he said.

"I sang a few songs and kept my eyes open. The view was excellent but I wouldn't recommend it from there."

He saw a fishing boat come into sight and, later, the Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST) rescue helicopter appeared.

A paramedic was lowered to Mr Ellwood and the pair were winched up to safety.

The novice climber was then deposited, with just a scratch or two, at a carpark.

"Those guys were brilliant. The helicopter was really steady even though it was windy up there," Mr Ellwood said of his rescuers.

"It was all done in five minutes. They knew what they were doing."

He said if he had slipped from the ledge, he would have fallen 50m or more onto rocks with waves crashing over them.

If he fell, he decided, he would try to land in the deepest water he could see.

Constable Yarnton said when he and DoC ranger Ed Smith arrived, they could not see Mr Ellwood on the cliff so they called on the fishing boat Coral V, working in the area, to sail in and pinpoint the climber's position.

Constable Yarnton said the NEST helicopter was there within an hour and the "textbook" rescue took no more than five minutes.

"I've never seen a guy so extremely grateful. It was really a pleasure to rescue him."

Mr Ellwood, a former bar duty manager who was recently made redundant, is looking for another job.

He praised the efforts of those involved in his rescue. "They were really great."

However, he is not keen to return to the Far North to further his cliff- climbing experience.