Tragedy In NZ

A snowHead

The fullest article I have found on this tragic death. From The Age. Other articles did not make it clear he was down in the crevasse on a snow bridge but did say the snow bridge collapsed during the attempted rescue. Some said under the additional weight of the rescuer.
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A snowHead

A sad lose but inevitable. Glacier (a constantly moving mass of ice) skiing is the most dangerous environment; even more so than launching yourself down a couloir. It’s always playing ‘craps’ with death and the ‘house’ inevitably wins. It’s the price you eventually pay for the thrill you seek. As a climber we spent more time tying to find alternative routes and when we did have to cross a glacier we did so with great care and much thought. It was always obvious that many skiers didn’t feel that quite as much interest was needed. In these days of climate fluctuation, glaciers (and mountains) are becoming more unstable. We need to recognise this and start re-assessing activities and areas that we once considered safe.

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Many skiers just do not think about crevasses, or maybe they don't realise how big they can be. Just a couple of weeks ago I watch (horrified) as a skier traversed across an unpisted area of the glacier - with signs every 30 m or so and roped off. He/she skied right across where I know a very large crevasse was hiding. A couple of weeks later and the crevasse is starting to appear again - how lucky or stupid was he?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've made a promise to someone that I'll be less of a clumsy prat. As for the ankle . . . ugly 10" purple scar, lots of swelling, very stiff and limited range of motion and I've to be vvvv careful with the rehab. Sad

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The irony is that mountaineers are acutely aware of crevasses because most of us do our Alpine climbing in the summer when the crevasses that you can fall down are usually visible. And yet it is because of this that the situation is safer - you then only have to worry about unstable ice making you fall into the crevasse that you can see (or crossing a dodgy snow bridge in preference to a long diversion). But you would always be roped up in this situation anyway.

In winter, it is easy for a skier to convince themself that the glacier is one big powder field, when in fact the crevasses are just hidden by a layer of snow which may or may not support their weight.

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I think I'm right in saying the IceFall on the approaches to Mt. Everest has killed more than the peak itself. Dangerous places, glaciers. The poor guy who died in NZ seemed to have plenty of experience and was not alone. Here's the latest news from the Sydney Morning Herald, which indicates he fell into the crevasse while behind his father (the earlier article had said he was in front) and landed on a snowbridge which collapsed before he could be recovered.

After all it is free

More about this accident - now we know he was with a guide who did not detect the crevasse. Presumably the guide and the father had crossed it safely and the son broke through and landed on a lower snowbridge.

Quite a reminder that we take part in a hazardous sport. From what we can tell, so far, no one was negligent. Very unpleasant and unfortunate.

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Does anyone else think it odd that the guide appeared to have no recovery equipment at all, the story says that the chap only fell 4.5M initially and only later fell to the bottom of the crevass, surely if the guide had a length of rope then they could at least have made him safe even if they did not have sufficient manpower to recover him straight away. Shocked

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Good points - and they were in contact with him for 2.5 hours so he was at least concious even if he was injured. The way the story has come out in bits and pieces is also perhaps slightly odd but one could put that down to the facts that the guide is undergoing counselling and the father may not want to tell all he knows to avoid upsetting the girlfriend any more than she already is.

But the other possibility is that the guide did have a rope but being on the wrong side of the crevasse couldn't get it within reach of the faller. All very sad.

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D G Orf, I think itn tragic situations like this it is best forget speculation and let the people leading the inquiry get on with it

I was not trying to speculate and indeed it would be wrong to do so, I just felt that it seemed odd, no mention was made in the stories about there having been any attempt to rescue him mearly that there was no chance of recovering the body, I found that a little peculiar

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Tragedy In NZ

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