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Visitors to New Zealand are dying because they underestimate its mountains and backcountry, says the national volunteer search and rescue organisation LandSAR.
Japanese climbing guide Kiyoshi Ikenouchi died on Aoraki/Mt Cook after exposure to severe weather two weeks ago, and Australian climber Dr Mark Vinar is missing, presumed dead, after falling hundreds of metres while descending the peak last week.
Both men and their climbing companions were trapped on the mountain when the weather changed for the worse.
LandSAR chairman Phillip Melchior said these were the latest in a succession of avoidable accidents.
"The last thing LandSAR wants to do is to scare people from exploring our mountains and backcountry, but visitors to New Zealand persistently underrate both the extreme pace at which our weather can change in the hills, and the degree of difficulty of our mountains."
He said too many overseas climbers thought that because Aoraki/Mt Cook was small by overseas standards, it would be easy to climb, but the mountain was technically quite difficult.
Nine people have died on Zurbriggens Ridge, where Dr Vinar is presumed dead, and 70 people have died on Aoraki/Mt Cook since 1907.
- NZPA
