Five of the 62 souls who have vanished from Aoraki Mt Cook over the years. Photo / NZME
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park boasts New Zealand’s highest and most treacherous mountain, along with the mysteries of 62 individuals who vanished without a trace.
It’s a mountaineering marvel adventurers and tourists have flocked to for more than a century. Many simply want to take in its breathtaking beauty while others are there to conquer its peak.
Aoraki Mt Cook towers above its neighbours, at 3724m. The snow and rock-covered behemoth can be seen from the West Coast as far north as Greymouth.
Known for its technically challenging faces, the mountain has earned its title of New Zealand’s deadliest peak. The death toll in the Southern Alps National Park now stands at 241.
Of those, 62 people have never been found. Three of those went missing just weeks ago, on December 2, 2024.
American climbers Kurt Blair, 56, Carlos Romero, 50, and an unnamed Canadian national never made their flight out of Mt Cook. Experienced climbers, they’re believed to have perished after a fall. Their bodies have not been found.
All 62 of them left behind legacies, families and countless unanswered questions.
For search and rescue teams scouring Aoraki Mt Cook’s rugged terrain, the ultimate reward is to find the person alive. To find a body can be a relief but to come back empty-handed is, as Department of Conservation (DoC) officer Ray Bellringer puts it, “extremely frustrating”.
Having worked on Aoraki Mt Cook rescues for four decades, Bellringer knows this frustration all too well.
He has an intimate understanding of the area’s mountains.
“Anything from 1984 onwards I was involved in,” he said.
Being involved in countless rescues over the years, Bellringer has kept detailed files of each and every person who vanished from Aoraki Mt Cook.
Of the 62 people who went missing since 1907, five continue to occupy Bellringer’s mind.
The rescue expert has shared those files with the Herald.
The following is based on those files, as well as local reporting at the time.
Stephen Dowall, 52, was an avid climber. His summits include Aoraki Mt Cook, Mount Tasman, Haast, Haidinger, La Perouse, Dixon and Torres to name just a few. Originally from South Canterbury, he worked for the United Nations in Myanmar.
He and his wife were in New Zealand for their annual holiday in November 2015 when he went missing.
In the early hours of November 26, Stephen and a friend left the Aoraki Mt Cook village bound for the Empress Hut, situated at the head of the Hooker Glacier.
“His climbing partner got ahead of him by some way … so they split up,” said Bellringer.
When Stephen didn’t show up to Empress Hut that evening, his climbing partner called emergency services.
Bellringer said initial searches were hampered by bad weather, with crews only able to make it part way up the valley.
“I can remember that search very clearly,” he said.
The terrain and weather made a foot search unsafe, so aerial searches were deployed. Bellringer said searching crevasses is notoriously difficult, including by air.
“You can hover over the top, sometimes you may see something, and I guess if we’d have had a set of footsteps going into a near crevasse, that would have helped,” he said.
Search teams were able to investigate the glacier by helicopter on the 29th. There was no trace of Stephen. Tragically, had there even been footsteps, they would have been wiped away by the time search and rescue got there.
A final aerial search was conducted the next day. There was still no sign of Stephen and his personal locator beacon was never activated. It’s believed he perished on the Empress Shelf.
A tree is planted in Aoraki National Park in memory of Dowall.
In September 2009, Malaysian hiker Kok Liang Wong is thought to have wandered off from Aoraki Mt Cook Village.
The 32-year-old was also on holiday when he went missing. He visited Fox Glacier and Lake Tekapo before arriving in the village YHA hostel on September 29.
The next morning, he asked staff in the village about possible walking tracks for that afternoon, in particular the Red Tarns track and Hooker Valley. That was the last time Wong was seen.
He didn’t show up for his 10am bus the next day.
Left in his room were his bags, neatly placed, clothing hung up, ready to be dressed in. His bed looked like it hadn’t been slept in.
According to the Timaru Herald, police, Land Search and Rescue, a civilian dog handler, and 18 Department of Conservation (DoC) staff began looking for him.
To this day it’s not known where he went, whether he ventured up Red Tarns, Hooker Valley or elsewhere. Police concluded it was probable that Wong got lost in the Red Tarns track area, which is about a two-hour return walk from the village.
Despite extensive land and air searches by multiple teams over several days, no trace was found.
On November 13, 2010, a final search was conducted. His body was never located.
A coroner ruled he had died by “misadventure” four years later.
In September 2000, Douglas Bryant, 27, arrived in the Aoraki Mt Cook village.
A public servant from Wellington, Bryant was reasonably well-equipped and considered a moderately experienced solo climber.
He originally intended to go to Empress Hut and climb some of the routes on Mt Hicks. However, he changed his mind.
On the 17th, Bryant set out to solo climb the east face of Mt Sefton. High above the Mueller Glacier, it is one of the most prominent peaks when viewed from the village. It’s also the fourth-highest peak in New Zealand.
Bryant set out about 2am. During that time, conditions in the area deteriorated. The route he was supposed to take was unsuitable due to high snow load and avalanche risk.
Bryant was due out Sunday evening, but never showed.
With appalling weather, emergency services grew concerned for his safety. At first light on Monday morning, an aerial search was deployed.
The searches that followed were hampered by worsening conditions. Severe wind prevented the aerial team from reaching above 2100m. If Bryant had made it to the top, he would have been at an altitude of 3158m.
On the 22nd, five days after he went missing, the search was abandoned. Multiple ground crews and helicopters were deployed to search the area with no luck. DoC Mount Cook manager Bob Dickson said there had been multiple avalanches during that time, the Press reported.
Despite an extensive ground and air search operation, the only sign of Bryant was footprints leading down from Kea Point onto the Mueller Glacier.
It is presumed he perished on the east face of Mt Sefton.
A plaque was later installed in honour of Bryant.
It reads: “To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die”.
Stuart Finlayson was an American tourist on vacation in New Zealand when he went missing.
The 23-year-old was last seen on the morning of March 12, heading up a rocky ridge from Ball Pass to Peak 2222m. According to Timaru Herald coverage at the time, Finlayson was passionate about mountaineering. He was well used to outdoor hazards, having once survived 10 days stranded with a group in 4.5m of snow in Alaska.
What sets Finlayson’s case apart from others is on the day he disappeared, it was believed he had left the area without signing out.
Despite this, a search was made two days later. The fact no trace was found of him or his belongings reinforced the assumption he had already left. DoC staff checked with Air New Zealand to see if he was booked to leave, however, the Privacy Act was cited and no information provided.
It wasn’t until early April, when his fiancée alerted emergency services concerned he had not returned home, police continued their inquiries. It was later revealed he had a pre-paid flight to Melbourne on March 14 which he never boarded.
Had staff known this earlier, they would have known something had gone wrong at Aoraki Mt Cook and continued their search.
Finlayson’s parents vowed to continue the search until they found their son.
“We realise a lot of people will think it is hopeless, but Stuart had all the equipment with him he needed, he was experienced, he was a bright person,” his parents said.
“Of course, accidents happen but we keep thinking there is a chance he could survive.”
Seven teams worked tirelessly through the 50 square kilometre area, climbing into crevasses and scrub areas while others searched from the skies. No trace was found.
It’s believed Finlayson perished somewhere in Ball Pass.
The fate of Japanese tourist Masami Somaki remains a mystery after she disappeared on a day walk on February 12, 1994. She was on holiday with her mother at the time. Ray Bellringer was heavily involved in her case, helping communicate with the mother, who didn’t speak English, throughout the search.
“She was just heading to Mueller for a day trip with her mother. She left her mother at Sealy Tarns and never, ever was seen again,” said Bellringer.
The 34-year-old’s mother waited for Somaki for two hours. She never returned.
Bellringer reckons the search for Somaki was one of the most emotionally draining jobs he’d had.
Somaki’s case is one of many cases described as like looking for a needle in a haystack. In this case, the needle being 1.5 metres long, in a haystack 25 sq km big.
All possible forms of searching were used. A heat-seeking device was suspended from a helicopter, while intensive searching took place on the ground with a 50-man crew, police dogs and two specially trained bloodhounds.
A year later, on February 28, the Somaki family requested one final search. Five teams of five people concentrated their search on the Mt Mueller area.
“The family had come all the way from Japan in the hope of finding some evidence of her disappearance. But they now accept that she is lost without a trace,” said DoC Field centre manager at the time, Chris Eden.
Police concluded Somaki walked off and fell down a hole or into a crevasse. Bellringer’s view is that she had a fall and they weren’t able to locate her.
The Somaki family donated a defibrillator to the park to thank them for all their efforts.
Bellringer, like so many others, adores Aoraki Mt Cook. Understandably so, with its snow-capped peaks and crystal-clear lakes below.
“It’s a very special mountain, but it’s underestimated,” he said.
Compared to mountains globally, it’s not particularly high.
“Because it’s not overly tall compared globally, some international climbers tend to underestimate it ... what they don’t take into account is the complexity of the climb,” Bellringer said.
“The scale is pretty horrendous because we’re so low here, but also unlike Everest, you’re not assisted by sherpas, there are no fixed ropes, you’ve got steeper terrain, ice ridges, rock faces, crevasses,” he said.
“You’ve got all kinds of different techniques you need to be able to use.”
Bellringer said the team often jokes that climbers should “train on Everest” before coming to Aoraki Mt Cook.
Former police officer, now DoC Health, Safety and Aviation Risk manager, Brent Swanson was also involved in rescues over the years.
He said it’s important to note it’s not just inexperienced people who died - some were experts.
“If you go through the people that have lost their lives there, both recovered and unrecovered, there’s a real mixture of very experienced people, down to inexperienced and people who probably did underestimate it,” he said.
Swanson said while the terrain has its risks, most people successfully climb the area and leave “happy with great memories”.
“It’s all about risk management,” he said.
Bellringer agreed saying: “The world would be a sad place if we didn’t have challenges. It’s intelligent people who weigh up the risk. It would be a sad time and place if we didn’t allow it.”
Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based Multimedia Journalist and breaking news reporter.
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