Exhausted young Aussies rescued - Underestimated Mount Aspiring Climb
Two young Australian men in their early 20s off on a mission to climb Mount Aspiring (3033m) had to be rescued by helicopter just across from the Bonar Glacier on their journey in after suffering from severe exhaustion.
Wakatipu Alpine Cliff Rescue Team coordinator Russ Tilsley says the pair set off their personal locator beacon at 8pm on Tuesday night (2 December) after realising they couldn’t go on. An Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter was dispatched with two Wakatipu Alpine Cliff Rescue volunteers on board, and the pilot was able to land the helicopter 200m away to pick them up.
“They’d got up just across the Bonar Glacier and were completely and utterly exhausted,” Tilsley says. “One of them had collapsed he was so exhausted, so they had to raise the alarm,” he says. “It’s a long hard climb and they’d underestimated what was involved.”
“They were on the walk in on the first day and were going to do the climb the next day, but it takes four times longer than actually climbing the mountain,” Tilsley says.“It’s a long way in and they’d underestimated the distance and obviously weren’t fit enough and in condition.”
The pilot dropped the pair to their car at Raspberry Flat.
