KEY POINTS:
A young American student killed in a fall on Mt Aspiring this week wanted to help others appreciate the environment, his mother said today.
Austin Hanchey, 20, of Fairview, Tennessee, was roped together with two other 20-year-old American students when they plummeted 400m off an ice wall while descending Mt Aspiring's Bonar Glacier on Monday.
Mr Hanchey's companions, Jesse Kattmeyer and Michael Gavillot, were badly injured and are recovering tonight in Dunedin Hospital.
Police today credited Mr Kattmeyer for saving Mr Gavillot's life after he trekked through the night through heavily crevassed terrain nursing a broken collarbone and other injuries to raise the alarm.
Constable Mike Johnston, of Wanaka police, said the only reason Mr Gavillot was still alive was "entirely" down to Mr Kattmeyer's heroic efforts.
Mr Hanchey's mother, Faith, said today her son loved the outdoors and wanted to educate others about the importance of the environment.
Mr Hanchey, an environmental engineering student from Idaho State University, decided to study in New Zealand in part for its outdoor opportunities.
He and his two climbing companions had all been studying at Lincoln University, near Christchurch.
Mrs Hanchey said she had spent 12 days visiting her son and flew home last Thursday.
"He loved it. He absolutely loved it," she said of New Zealand.
"He was in a place that he enjoyed and he was doing what he enjoyed, and that thought kind of has to carry you through."
Mr Hanchey's uncle, Brian Hanchey, today described his nephew as a "real go-getter" who loved the outdoors.
"He loved the outdoors and mountaineering was one of his favourite pastimes," Mr Hanchey said on National Radio.
"He was very experienced in mountain climbing and had done a number of climbs, some of which seemed to be more difficult that the one he was on that weekend."
'Wrong route'
Despite noting the climbers chose the "wrong route" for this time of year, rescuers praised the heroism of the less-injured man, who made his way through heavily crevassed terrain in the dark to raise the alarm just before 11am yesterday.
They spent Sunday night on the Bonar Glacier, and decided to abandon their ascent on Monday because of poor weather. But they took a "sort of a wrong turn" while negotiating the Quarterdeck, a heavily crevassed area between Bonar Glacier and French Ridge, and encountered a very steep descent, Mr Nicholson said.
Alpine Cliff Rescue team leader Gary Dickson, a professional mountaineer who led the rescue, said yesterday that the men had fallen twice while roped together in usual glacier travel mode.
The first time they were able to stop the fall, but one climber lost his ice axe.
They chose another route, still roped together, and fell again, this time up to 500m.
"It was an awful long way, at least 500m, a long series of bouncing falls ... I looked at it and wondered how could anyone survive. It was a big drop," Mr Dickson said.
"The conditions were quite hard and fast and you need to have a good skill base. When you fall over, it is not into soft snow.
"To try to come through there at this time of year is difficult because at the end of the summer all the crevasses open up. It is like a maze."
Mr Dickson said it was remarkable the two men had survived.
The less-injured man had made a "huge effort", surviving the fall, dealing with his injured and dead mates and travelling the thickly crevassed terrain at night on his own.
"There is the accident, but there is also the heroism, getting out of the sticky situation. He's done awfully well to deal with that," Mr Dickson said.
Pilots Richard Hayes, of Southern Lakes Helicopters, and Brendon Hiatt, of Heliworks, flew Queenstown paramedics Colin McGee and Sue Tait, Mr Dickson and Alpine Cliff Rescue team members Davy Robinson, Mike Johnston and Cam Sigley into the area.
Conditions were ideal for the rescue operation, with no wind and blue skies, but finding the injured and dead climbers took longer than expected because the directions given were a little vague, Mr Hayes said.
Mr Dickson said the injured man was conscious but unable to communicate properly when found.
The climber was secured on a stretcher and flown by strop to French Ridge Hut, where the Dunedin Lion Foundation rescue helicopter was waiting with an intensive care team.
The Wanaka search teams took the dead climber to Wanaka.
Since 1970, 12 climbers have died on the 3025m Mt Aspiring, including two in a grim 10 days in January 2005.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES, additional reporting Newstalk ZB
