High-altitude rescue for climbers near top of Mt Cook

Two climbers have been rescued from high on Mt Cook - the third rescue since the summer climbing season started in late October. Photo / File

Two climbers have been rescued by helicopter close to the summit of Mt Cook.

The Rescue Coordination Centre said two helicopters were sent to rescue the climbers after they were caught in a rock fall and activated an emergency beacon at 5.30pm yesterday.

Department of Conservation (DoC) Aoraki/Mt Cook operations manager Brent Swanson said a rescuer lowered from one of the choppers rescued the pair at 3200 metres, about 500m below the 3724m summit.

"One had leg and head injuries," he said.

"The climbers did the right thing by having a beacon and having registered it, and when they set it off it gave their location."

The helicopter brought the climbers, who were both New Zealanders, back to the DoC base where the injured man was picked up by Westpac rescue helicopter and taken to Christchurch Hospital with "minor" injuries.

"The weather conditions were not perfect, there was a little bit of cloud, but the rescue went really well," Swanson said.

He said it was the third rescue on Mt Cook so far in this climbing season, which runs from late October to mid-January. Typically there were about 30 rescues each climbing season.