'Wee flat bit' saves climber

An injured climber spent a night sitting on a rocky outcrop no bigger than a chair waiting to be rescued after falling on Aoraki Mt Cook.

Rescuers said Christchurch man Guy McKinnon was lucky to survive.

He fell 5m to the tiny outcrop but would have plummeted a further 1500m if the rocks had not broken his fall.

"It would have been all over, basically," said Constable Brent Swanson, of Twizel.

Mr McKinnon set off an emergency beacon at 9pm on Saturday. The signal was picked up by a satellite and sent to Canberra before being passed to rescue co-ordinators in Wellington.

A rescue operation started at first light yesterday and Mr McKinnon was found on the North Ridge of the mountain at an altitude of 3300m.

Search and rescue mission controller Dave Wilson said Mr McKinnon waved to his rescuers and pointed to his leg, making breaking motions to indicate his injury.

Helicopter pilots Lindsay Bell and Chris Wilding carried out "some exceptional flying", said police.

Mr Wilding said a harness was dropped to Mr McKinnon and he was able to secure it around himself. He was winched to safety within five minutes.

Mr Wilding, a Garden City Helicopters pilot operating the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, said the rocks and locator beacon saved Mr McKinnon's life.

"It was not a ledge as such," he said, describing the spot where Mr McKinnon landed. "It was more broken rocks that weren't as steep as the other rocks.

"It was probably two feet by two feet [60cm by 60cm] on a rocky ridge. It wasn't like a flat ledge, it was more a wee flat bit that probably wasn't much bigger than a chair."

Mr McKinnon, aged in his early 20s, was flown to Christchurch Hospital with a broken left ankle.

The well-known Christchurch climber entered the national park on Friday to solo-climb the difficult and hazardous Sheila Face, or North Ridge of the mountain, said Mr Swanson.

He was experienced and well-equipped, and the weather was good.

Mr Swanson said Mr McKinnon left Empress Hutt at 3.30pm on Saturday and reached the North Ridge via Greens Gully. He was climbing the last rock buttress when he fell.