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An injured climber had to spend nearly six hours close to the Mt Taranaki summit wearing track pants and trainers.
Taranaki Rescue Helicopters pilot Chris Hall said the man’s ordeal prompted him to remind would-be climbers that the mountain is “treacherous” whenever it had any snow.
Helicopters came to the aid of five people in two separate incidents high on the mountain on Saturday and rescuers also assisted another under-prepared adventurer they came across while descending from the mountain.
Hall said emergency services were notified about 5am on Saturday that three climbers had become stranded in “treacherous” conditions while descending from the summit.
He said the wind conditions in the early morning meant it was only safe to drop rescuers some 300m below the stranded trio.
“We tried to establish a hover near them, however, the wind was just too strong and we just kept descending.
“No matter which way I approached their position I seemed to be downwind and the only way I could get into wind was pointing directly at the mountain which is not a particularly safe position to be in. It was about 30 to 40 knots up there, it was pretty gusty, it was all over the place.
“It’s the only time I’ve ever seen the wind blowing snow down the mountain. Sometimes, it picks up the snow off the top of the mountain - it sort of tumbles horizontally - but this was literally pouring down like a river,” Hall said.
An injured climber had to spend nearly six hours close to the Mt Taranaki summit wearing track pants and trainers. Photo / Alan Gibson
Hall said he understood the climbers had headed up the mountain early the previous day and had spent nearly 24 hours on the mountain before they were rescued.
“It looks like they had some fairly reasonable gear and they were using all the proper precautions to get themselves off the mountain but I think they just got themselves, maybe, in a position where it exceeded their capabilities.
“So they did the right thing - they stayed put - and called us in to go help them out,” Hall said.
Hall said the same could not be said for another pair who activated their emergency locator beacon after one climber “took a slide” down nearly 150m of ice about 300 to 400m from the top just before 11am.
Hall said the two climbers were climbing without ropes or ice-axes and the man who fell was poorly equipped to handle the terrain or the high altitude weather conditions.
He said the climber was lucky to escape with only minor injuries.
“They’d decided to climb the mountain on a bit of a spur of the moment affair. They didn’t have the right sort of gear - a pair of trainers and some trackie bottoms is probably not appropriate at this time of year to be climbing the mountain.
“He maybe slid about 150m down the mountain which is quite a reasonable distance and - as a result - his legs just got shredded.”
Hall said because the Taranaki Alpine Rescue team members were already walking the first trio down the mountain, extra rescue staff had to be flown in from Mt Ruapehu to be dropped into position near the injured man.
The climbers were picked up from the mountain at about 4.30pm - nearly six hours after their initial call for help.
“People look at the mountain and how accessible it is and think they can just go for a run.
“If there’s snow on that mountain it’s treacherous - it’s solid ice. So if you don’t have the right equipment one wrong step and it could end in tragedy and has ended in tragedy,” Hall said.
The climber was transported to Taranaki Base Hospital to have his injuries assessed.
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