Climbers spent three nights bivouaced on a steep mountain face (red square). Photo: Southern District Police Facebook
Two climbers were stranded for three nights on a steep mountainside in New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park. Thanks to dogged efforts from rescuers and smart thinking on the rescuee’s part, they were able to emerge from the ordeal unscathed.
The pair were retrieved by Southland Search and Rescue, who initiated the search when a personal locator beacon was detected near Sabre Peak on Wednesday evening, as RNZ News reports. A second attempt began when one of the stranded climbers texted their brother via satellite text messages. It wasn’t until a third attempt was launched that rescuers were able to retrieve them, around 7:00 a.m. on Friday, via a 100-foot longline extraction from the mountainside.
“Their survival is remarkable,” rescue coordinator Dougall Henderson told RNZ News. “They had been stranded on the steep mountainside for three nights, sheltering in a two-person bivy and sleeping bags, which became saturated during prolonged exposure to severe weather. They had run out of food and believed they would not have survived another night on the mountain.”
Henderson added that the successful retrieval was a result of both heroic efforts on the part of rescuers, and good decision making by the climbers.
“The climbers made the right decision to activate their beacon early and remain in place, once the weather deteriorated,” he said, adding that, “They were well equipped and they communicated clearly, using satellite messaging, and that allowed rescuers to make informed decisions, while waiting for a safe weather window.”
