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New Zealand's changeable weather can lull climbers into a false sense of security, warns Mountain Safety Council alpine programme manager Paul Chaplow.
He was speaking after two Japanese climbers plunged 500m to their deaths during a descent of Mt Cook on Wednesday night.
The bodies of Takao Futono, 52, and his female friend Meguru Inoue, 31, were recovered by rescuers on Thursday.
A 28-year-old Japanese survived when a falling rock cut off a strap attaching him to his companions, stopping him being pulled down with them. Despite his traumatised state, the man completed the descent of the mountain in the dark and reached Plateau Hut early on Thursday to raise the alarm.
Mr Chaplow said yesterday that climbers needed to gather as much information as possible about river levels, mountain and track conditions, and weather because New Zealand's changeable climate often caught out trampers and others.
"The Tongariro Crossing is a classic where people can head off on a beautiful day with inadequate spare clothing and then get caught up on the top with a change of weather and they have no way of getting through that," he said.
Meanwhile, a female climber broke a leg in a fall at Ball Hut on Mt Cook yesterday and was taken to Timaru Hospital.
- NZPA
