Rescued climbers ‘always confident’

Press, 15 January 1982, Page 2

Rescued climbers ‘always confident’

The four climbers who were rescued in the Southern Alps yesterday after having been stranded there by a snowstorm for 14 days had always been confident that they would get out, said the leader of the party yesterday. The climbers, who were stranded on Lambert Col (1830 m near the _ head of Westland's Wanganui River, were lifted off by helicopter early yesterday afternoon, and were taken to Harihari. The relieving doctor at Whataroa, Dr P. D. Galloway, and Mr R. Levett, of Harihari, were flown into the mountains on Wednesday night with food and warm clothing after two other members of the climbing party. Mr Matt Johnston and Ms Sue Ensor, had tramped out to raise the alarm. Dr Galloway and Mr

Levett reached the climbers about 9.30 a.m. yesterday. The four climbers who were brought out yesterday are Mr Simon Leicester, Mr Chris Hardiman, Ms Penny Hazard, and Ms Kath Feeney, all of Wellington. The party’s leader,, who did not want to be identified as such, said that the members of the party were fit and well. Some of them had swollen feel from dehydration but none of them had frostbite, as had been feared earlier. Low cloud hampered efforts to lift the climbers out by helicopter yesterday morning but the weather cleared about 12.30 p.m. to allow the rescue. Low cloud also forced back the helicopter on Wednesday. Sergeant R. O'Connell, of the Hokitika police, said that rain had began to fall again

as soon as the climbers had been rescued. The Greymouth face-res-cue squad, which stood by at Harihari, was not needed. The six climbers set out from Harihari on December 29 for an 11-day traverse of the snowfields on the western side of the Main Divide between the Wanganui River and the Whataroa River. They were trapped by a severe snowstorm which lasted for five days. They huddled in a tent that eventually collapsed under the weight of snow and lost their sleeping bags and some food. After digging themselves out, they wrapped themselves in a spare tent to try to keep warm. The climbers celebrated their rescue at the Harihari Hotel last evening, according to the Press Association.