News and Events (Last Update 30/10/08)
26/10/08 Mt Philistine
A 38 year old local male climber has fallen from the Warnocks Bluff route on Mt Philistine whilst assumably descending through the 150m high cliff face on a solo climbing trip. The accident most probably occured on Thursday 23rd. The alarm was raised by friends in Arthur's Pass on Sunday morning after it became clear he had not been seen in several days and his vehicle was discovered in a local car park. He had not left his intentions. Arthur's Pass Police, Coastwide Helicopters and members of the APRES initiated a air & land search. The initial helicopter search discovered the climbers body at the base of the bluffs on Warnocks Knob, and made the recovery. It appears he has died from severe trauma received in the fall.
26/09/08 Avalanche Peak
A young male U.S. tourist after failing to take onboard any advice on current alpine conditions when he spoke to DoC (though he was convinced to hire a locator beacon when it became clear he was going to climb ill-prepared anyway) - he obviously had no experience in an outdoor environment (let alone an alpine one). He chose to climb Avalanche Peak on the Thursday. He was carrying no mountaineering equipment though did have an overnight pack (thankfully - for unknown reasons). On the ascent to Avalanche Peak via the east face (about 100m off route) he eventually slipped & fell on the very icy conditions (crampons & iceaxe required) from near the summit, luckily coming to a rest after sliding through 150m into the small basin on the Avalanche Ridge. Injuries sustained was generally limited to lacerations on the hands. His pack managed to open in the last 30m of the slide spewing gear down the fall-line. He then spent the "mild" night in this basin (he had overnight equipment but no tent/bivy bag). At first light on Friday morning he triggered the locator beacon. The Rescue Coordination Centre in Wellington dispatched the Solid Energy Rescue Helicopter from Greymouth, the beacon was easily located and he was retrieved. Unfortunately because he was away from his equipment when the helicopter arrived (and Police determined the SAR component was over), a volunteer walkin party from APRES had to climb the peak and retrieve his scattered gear - a fun day had by all!
15/07/08 Mt Philistine
Two male NZ climbers who had successfully ascended Mt Philistine were on a midday descent through the central "Warnocks Bluff" area when one climber slipped and fell when a snow foot-hold failed on a short down climb. He literally tumbled through a steep gully system for about 60 metres, then slid down towards Warnocks Knob area for a further 120 metres on 30-40º snow-slope, he was unable to arrest his fall, coming to a halt on less steep terrain (a very lucky boy). The other climber having witnessed the fall, but not the trajectory, continued to sidle/descend the remaining face eventually finding his buddy on the lower slopes. A very good first aid assessment was undertaken, then the injured climber moved into a safer position (which given the massive rock explosion off the Philistine Bluffs the following day was not a bad idea), the uninjured climber then made a very rapid descent to Arthur's Pass to raise the alarm. Westpac Air Rescue and APRES climbers were dispatched to the site. The climber was recovered using winch & stretcher, and taken to Christchurch Hospital. Amazingly he is only received a broken nose, rib, and extensive bruising (possibly some internal bruising as well) from the accident and was mildly hypothermic on arrival in Arthur's Pass.
15/03/08 Mingha River
A party of 10 New Zealanders completing the Deception River - Mingha River route as a day trip separated in the Upper Deception with a group of 6 exiting the Mingha River at 1930hrs. The remaining 4 failed to turn up by 2200hrs. Police were notified. A hasty search by an APRES member at 2300hrs found the party about 3.2km upstream on the Mingha River, they had lit a campfire but had no overnight equipment including lights. Amongst the party were two sprained knees and a shoulder. Given lights & encouragement they managed to exit the route by 0200hrs. Thank you to Arthur's Pass Fire for providing support/comms.
15/03/08 McGraths Creek
A 20 year old male overseas tramper after climbing Avalanche Peak traversed towards Rome Ridge, he then decided to descend into McGraths Creek discovering bluffs, sidling out southwards then descending a steep, loose, scree gully onto cliff ledges he eventually found that he was unable to extract himself in any direction. He sighted trampers on Scott's Track (Avalanche Peak) and called loudly for help, these trampers hearing him (but could not see him) raced to treeline to get cellphone coverage to raise the alarm with DOC. In the meantime, the trapped tramper also got cellphone coverage and called 111. A APRES climbing team was put on standby and Garden City Helicopters (Westpac Air Rescue) dispatched. The tramper was recovered by helicopter skid-rescue at 17:56hrs. He was uninjured, wind chilled, but not hypothermic.
30/12/07 Otira Valley
A 63 year old male day-tramper on the Otira Valley track slipped and fell whilst negotiating a side creek crossing on the track. He fractured one of his lower legs in two places. The alarm was raised by other people on the track at the time and he was attended initially by his doctor daughter. He was recovered by stretcher carry by members of Arthur's Pass Rescue, then extracted by winch from the valley by Westpac Air Rescue and taken to Christchurch Hospital.
18/10/07 Mt Aicken???
At about 7pm this evening Arthur's Pass Rescue was called to a "missing" day tramper (22y.o. overseas tourist), aledged by his three friends to have not returned from Mt Aicken (this "fact" was reaffirmed in four separate interviews and backed up by LKP being the turn-off to Mt Aicken on the Punchbowl track). Two members of APRES ascended Mt Aicken searching the entire route to the summit, and the notorious "Graham Creek" headwaters. Nothing was found except a string of fresh foot-prints in snow & mud that confirmed someone had made a successful climb of this mountain today. In the meantime our missing day tramper was actually on Avalanche Peak having become lost on the backside of the mountain (probably as a result of following footprints in the snow towards Lyell Peak or the Crow Valley), luckily he eventually refound the summit and made his own descent down Scott's Track. A nice night in the hills spent by all.
17/09/07 Cass/Lagoon Saddle Track
Arthur's Pass Rescue called out to search for two overseas trampers overdue from weekend tramp on the Cass/Lagoon Saddle route in the Craigieburn Forest Park. Search was purposely delayed until 1500hrs on Monday as heavy rain & swollen rivers had delayed other known parties (9 persons) in the region. Missing trampers were discovered arriving at their vehicle at 1530hrs after "slow going" caused by weather and poor hitch-hikes at the beginning of their tramp delayed their start until 1500hrs on the Saturday.
?/9/07 Chimney Fire at Aickens and car fire at Otira
Arthur's Pass Rural Fire were call called to two incidents to the west this month. A car crash near Goat Creek resulted in the car being destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning. The driver suffered only minor injuries. The incident was attended by Kumara, APRFF and Ferguson Brothers. The chimney fire was spotted by locals and controlled before APRFF and Kumara arrived.
04/06/07 Upper Avoca Valley
A 24yr old male hunter left Avoca Hut in Craigieburn Forest Park on Sunday 3rd June to hunt about the Moraine Flat area in the upper Avoca Valley. He told his partner before leaving that his trip may become an overnight affair (though he was not adequately prepared for this in the wintry conditions?) and not to become worried until Monday lunch-time. When he didn't return by this time she walked and drove their 4WD out to Glenthorne Station to raise the alarm by 17:00hrs.
Christchurch Police initiated SAR operations on Tuesday morning at first light, attempting to get a helicopter into the area in marginal weather conditions (galeforce winds). LandSar teams (including dogs) from the Canterbury region were also dispatched into the area from Tuesday through to the following Sunday (up to 75 searchers), along with Helicopter support from NZAF Iriquois and Mt hutt Helicopters. The search area concentrated on the extensive area bounded by the Avoca Col, Half Moon Saddle and downstream to Basins Hut, with an intensive "contact search" (ie. visual inspection of most accessible ground) of the area immediately surrounding Avoca Hut in a 1.5km radius to 1300m ASL, no sign was found to date (10/6/07). Snowfall to 900m on the Thursday night did not aid searching, nor has the fact he was likely wearing camouflage coloured clothing. It is unlikely he could have survived the weather conditions over the past week given his preparedness.
Over Easter 2008 trampers in the Avoca Valley discovered two items of clothing in the Moraine Flat area, these were identified as belonging to the missing hunter. During the week that followed a helicopter pilot flying over the area saw a body below some bluffs &s gullies in the same area. On Sunday 23rd March a Police SAR team recovered the body. It has formally been identified as that of the missing hunter. It would appear he has fallen from cliffs, and lodged in high gullies, later to be dislodged by winter avalanche activity.
21/05/07 Deception River
Six Boy Scouts and five adults commenced the Goat Pass route on Saturday 19th May, tramping up the Mingha River. A heavy rain & severe gale warning was issued on Saturday midday for Sunday/Monday, the original morning forecast (including Friday's) called for heavy rain to develop during this same period. Leaving Goat Pass hut on Sunday morning in developing rain they became trapped by rapidly rising river levels in the upper Deception River caused by snow-melt and heavy rain. They were reported overdue by a parent on Sunday afternoon when they failed to appear at the Morrison footbridge at Aickens. Failing light, extreme weather (140km/h winds + heavy rain) and flooding rivers prevented any search being mounted, a listening watch (APRES) was held overnight for the Goat Pass radio in case they returned there. The scouts spent the night encamped (without tents) on the steep riverbank. The storm continued into Monday, nothing was heard from Goat Pass, whilst eastern rivers eased to crossable levels. With further heavy weather predicted the Police arranged for Coast Wide Helicopters to mount a search and extraction mission. All were flown to Aickens by mid-Monday afternoon. No injuries.
9/5/07 4WD Vs train
A 4WD vehical lost control and rolled down a bank onto railway lines just north of Otira. The 4 occupants, some with serious injuries, were able to get out of the vehical shortly before it was hit by a west bound train. All occupants were taken to by ambulance to Greymouth Hospital. Incident attended by Coastwide Builders, Otira Hotel staff, Fergusons Contracting, Arthur's Pass Rural Fire, Kumara Fire Brigade and Greymouth St John.
9/05/07 Tumbledown Creek
One of two male overseas trampers/climbers fell about 30 metres on Wednesday (9/5) into the Tumbledown Creek canyon resulting in a head injury (deep laceration to forehead). Because of concerns about the injury he set off the EPIRB they were carrying. Unfortunately the EPIRB also experienced the same fall dislodging the battery bank and it failed to activate (this went un-noticed by the trampers at the time). On Thursday (10/5) mid-morning they realised the beacon had malfunctioned and repaired it (also placing it in a position where their GPS achieved the greater number of satellites). The beacon was picked up almost immediately by a low azimuth satellite positioning it in the Polar Range area of the park (a good 20km east of their actual position).
An RDF (Radio Direction Finding) search by Westpac Air Rescue proved inconclusive in this area. Because the beacon was of the old frequency style (121.5MHz) its ID was not known. However Arthur's Pass Visitor Centre had hired a beacon to trampers that were known to be in the Hunts Creek/Waimak Falls area, a brief RDF search took place here but no beacon was heard. The beacon was again picked up by satellite moving directly overhead at 0100hrs on Friday morning identifying its location as closer to the Campbell Pass area, another RDF search by Westpac Air Rescue early morning confirmed the Campbell Pass area, as did a jet-liner overflying the area. An APRES LandSar team was dispatched to Carrington Hut (assisted by Westpac) in marginal weather conditions (galeforce winds, heavy rain and high level snow) making its way on foot to Campbell Pass (nothing was found on ascent routes to the Pass). The Solid Energy Rescue chopper from the West Coast was able to fly up the Taipo and located the trampers (waving) in the upper Tumbledown Creek catchment, but because of high winds/poor visibility was unable to uplift them (winching would be required). An ACR (cliff rescue) team from the West Coast was dispatched to Julia Hut using a helicopter from the Glaciers. The ACR team was able to extract the trampers that evening and walk them back to Julia Hut. Westpac Air Rescue had to revisit the Taipo that evening also because of a "flight following" incident with the glacier helicopter. The trampers were taken to Greymouth Hospital early on Saturday morning. Note: identifying the beacons location was difficult because they were in a tight sided canyon which meant an accurate fix could only be made by aircraft passing directly overhead, rather than the normal 7km range when the beacon is located on open ground. Satellite positioning accuracy can vary up to 20km.
06/04/07 Carrington Hut
On Thursday 5th April a 53 year old male climber injured his left leg in a rockfall near White Col above Barker Hut. His two climbing companions evacuated him to Carrington Hut during the coarse of the day (9hrs). Overnight his condition worsened, no longer being able to walk. The alarm was raised by hut radio at 8am on Friday. Arthur's Pass Police / APRES arranged for a medi-evac which was completed shortly after by Westpac Air Rescue. The climber was taken to Christchurch Hospital suffering deep lacerations and extensive bruising to his left leg. Note: Barker Hut radio currently receives only, it cannot transmit!
04/03/07 Big Tops / Koropuku
A 31 year old female tramper became separated from her tramping partner on the Big Tops range (above Koropuku Creek) at 10:30hrs on Saturday 3rd. Their intended route was to take them along the Taramakau ranges to Lake Minchin. Because of confusion about "who was ahead of who" the woman continued along the intended route to the 1681m high point before realising her partner was now likely behind. In the meantime her partner after preliminary searching, retraced his steps to the site of their previous night camp on the Big Tops and re-established it placing out bright markers to indicate its location. After she had not returned to this site he exited the route on Sunday to Aickens to raise the alarm at 14:35hrs. As the woman was not carrying shelter or a map (though she had the food stock, but no stove) she decided after seeing what she determined to be the Koropuku Hut descended screes into Koropuku Creek but as she was in the creek bed was unable to locate the hut (and the semi-marked route back to the Big Tops range) so descended past it, eventually overnighting about an hours bash below the hut. On Sunday she continued downstream to the Koropuku "blockup" gorge and decided to climb back up to the Big Tops range. Arthur's Pass Police and West Coast SAR had initiated a helicopter search at 15:25hrs (Sunday). Initial searches along the entire path of the intended route with variations into all known huts and water sources failed to find her (we had flown over her a couple of times but she was still ascending through thick undergrowth). After refuelling the helicopter it was decided that a final search should be made close to the bush edge on the western side of the Big Tops range prior to sunset and lowering cloud cover ceasing air activity, and a ground crew from APRES arranged to follow in the entire route from Aickens. Because of the excellent vigilance of the Coastwide Helicopter pilot she was spotted near treeline at the 1077m point at the southern end of the Big Tops range at 18:45hrs, after pickup she was delivered to Aickens. She was suffering no injury.
28/02/07 Edwards Valley
A 30 year old male climber was reported as overdue through the DOC intention system from a solo climb of Mt Franklin from Taruahuna Pass at 08:00hrs. The climber was carrying an EPIRB (locator beacon) that had not been triggered. With respect to his intended route and mission it was decided that the climber would be "doing well" to complete the route in the time allowed, so SAR operations were temporarily suspended until midday on Wednesday (at which time his beacon would be remotely triggered and a radio locating helicopter dispatched from Queenstown). At 11:30hrs APRES located the climber exiting the Edwards Valley track into the Bealey Valley. The climber had been delayed by changes in climbing plans (he was successful however) and tendonitis in an ankle requiring him to spend the extra night at Edwards Hut.
11/02/07 Edwards Valley
A 25 year old female Taiwanese tramper was reported overdue when she failed to return to her place of employment in Arthur's Pass on the evening of Saturday 10/02/07. She had been tramping to Edwards Hut with a companion on the Friday, and was to return solo, whilst her companion continued on the Tarn Col route to the Hawdon Valley. APRES & Arthur's Pass Police mounted a foot search to Edwards Hut at 23:00hrs on Saturday night, which turned up nothing. A more intensive TCA (tracking & clue) search next morning on the return found foot-prints along the track but could find no other evidence of mishap. The search was intensified with air support (Coastwide Helicopters) and Canterbury LandSar teams on Sunday morning. Again initial searching by air, tracker dog, and ground teams failed to find her. Much later in the day a team found foot-prints in the East Edwards Valley, a followup air search by NZAF Iriquois found and recovered her from her high encampment on the East Edwards river. She had various distress signals showing (smokey fire, orange marker, SOS). Apparently she was still in the dense scrub when the first overhead helicopter searches took place and could not make a signal, she became lost when she moved away from the Edwards Track and confused river valley systems. She was uninjured apart from some grazing. Many thanks to the numerous persons and organisations that participated in this search.
02/02/07 Cass/Lagoon Saddle Track
An overseas female tramper reported as overdue through the DOC intention system (24hrs). There had been moderate rain the area over previous days, other trampers had successfully exited the track during the period, and nothing heard from Hamilton Hut radio. An APRES foot party searched the Lagoon Saddle route (her intended exit & her car parked at this end), she was found near bushline on "burnt face", no problems having spent a voluntary extra day at Hamilton Hut, and was unawares that a search would be initiated once she became overdue.
29-01-07 Avalanche Peak
A 60 year old female member of a guided party attempting the Avalanche Peak circuit in poorer weather sprained (turned out to be a fracture) her right ankle outside treeline, assisted across the basin to the Scott's track she badly sprained (turned out to be a double fracture) her left ankle during the descent at about 1370m (about 600m vertically above the village) and was not able to carry on. The alarm was raised by one of the tour guides via mobile phone. A stretcher carry party (16 members) consisting of APRES, DOC, Police and some tour members was dispatched at 16:50hrs. The weather at the time was moderate rain, fog and occassional gusting winds. The stretcher carry to the road took 1¾ hours. Malvern (Darfield) Ambulance took the patient to Christchurch. Many thanks to ALL who assisted.
20/01/07 Edwards Valley
On the 19-01-07 (13:30hrs) a 60 year old male tramper has taken a fall whilst descending rocky areas from Lake Mavis into the upper Edwards Valley. In this fall he has suffered deep lacerations to the head, a possible arm fracture, possible rib fractures and other lacerations/bruising. Assisted by his three tramping companions the party managed to reach Edwards Hut. An attempt was made to call for help on the hut radio (HF Mountain Radio) but all attempts failed. Next morning another party in the hut has walked out the Edwards Valley to Arthur's Pass to raise the alarm. With deteriorating weather, a helicopter and foot party recovery team (AP Police/APRES) were organised. Luckily Westpac Air Rescue was able to reach the hut and extract and transport the injured party and his partner to Christchurch hospital.
13/1/07 Sprained ankle requires assisted walk out
A tramper returning from Anticrow hut sprained his ankle and required help to walk out from the "BB Trail" between Turkey Flat and the Bealey Bridge. Attended by Arthur's Pass Police, APRES and Malvern St John.
10/1/07 Crash lucky to avoid fatality
A car heading east at speed crossed the centre line on 'Hiace' corner and collided with an oncoming car. 4 people were flown or taken by ambulance to Chistchurch hospital for further checks but there were no serious injuries. Crash attended by Arthur's Pass Police, APRFF, Springfield Fire Brigade, St John and Westpac Rescue.
9/1/07 Day tramper spends 24 hours on Mt Cassidy
A male tramper became trapped in a steep rocky gully near the Cons Track/Mt Cassidy route. Judging that it would be unsafe to continue up, or return back down the gully, he prepared himself to wait until he was reported overdue through the DOC intention card system. He had warm clothing, food and water, but his location required him to stay awake all night to ensure that he did not fall. He was located and rescued by Coastwide Helicopters and APRES the following day, tired and stiff but ok.
?/12/06 Motor cycle leaves the Klondyke Causeway
A lone motorcyclist travelling east lost control of his bike and left the road. The accident was attended by APRFF, Arthur's Pass Store staff and St John.
10/8/06 Coral Track incident (from www.softrock.co.nz)
Two inexperienced male trampers visiting NZ from overseas attempted to ascended Coral track. Above the treeline one of them lost a glove down a gut on the true-right of the ice-clad ridgeline. He decided to climb down to retrieve it, he lost his footing (no iceaxe or crampons) and slipped, sliding some 70 metres down the 45º chute and over a 4-5 metre cliff. He screamed for help but his partner, unable to assist directly, descended Coral track back to Arthur's Pass Village to raise the alarm at 16:30hrs. Arthur's Pass Police organised a helicopter (Coastwide) and strop rescue team, which arrived at 17:06hrs. Initial searching of the ridge discovered his glove, hat and fall-line skid marks but not him. A member of APRES was delivered to treeline to initiate a voice response & track search, this discovered double fresh descent boot prints and a blood trail being discovered joining the ice covered track a short distance in, no voice response was forthcoming. Search was stood down when he exited the Coral track onto Highway 73. He was suffering from deep lacerations to hands & general body bruising - he had also lost his diabetic insulin pump during the fall. He was later transferred to Christchurch hospital by Westpac Air Rescue.
6/9/06 Car rolls in gorge
4 teenagers failed to negotiate a corner in the lower Otira Gorge. Their vehicle rolled onto its roof sometime after 9pm. The occupants were taken to the Otira Hotel where they were monitored and treated for potential spinal injuries. Incident attended by Ferguson Brothers Contracting, the Moana Health Nurse, Arthur's Pass St John and Rural Fire and Greymouth St John.
10/08/06 Ignorance almost costs life
An inexperienced overseas tramper lost his footing while trying to retrieve a dropped glove at the top of Coral Track. He was not carrying an ice axe or wearing crampons, essential items given the condition in existence at the time. He slid around 70 metres down a steep snow gully and fell over a 4-5 metre cliff. His companion ran back down the track to get help. When a member of APRES was dropped by helicopter at the tree line, the fallen tramper could not be located. He subsequently made his own way down through the forest to the highway, from where he was transfered to hospital by Westpac Rescue to treat cuts and bruising.
29/7/06 Car torched
A Nissan sedan, parked at Klondyke Corner, burned out under suspicious circumstances early this morning. The fire was attended by APRFF and Springfield Brigade. Thanks to Fulton Hogan and the Bealey Hotel for reporting the incident.
24/7/06 Black ice injures pedestrians
An overnight freeze, following a day of snow melt, resulted in black ice on most village footpaths. An overseas visitor who slipped on the ice outside the visitor centre suffered injuries to her head, shoulder and lower back. She was transported to Christchurch Hospital by St John ambulance. Several train passengers suffered falls after disembarking the Tranz Alpine and another person was injured after falling on steps in the village.
14/7/06 Ceiling cavity fire caught in nick of time
A ceiling fire in a village house was fortunately noticed by a passing local in time to alert the owner and save the house. The ceiling fire was extensive and only 1 or 2 more minutes would have probably meant the loss of the building. The fire, which was attended by APRFF and Springfield Fire Brigade (Sheffield Fire Brigade was also called out), was quickly controlled, but smouldering hotspots required Springfield crew members to enter the ceiling cavity with a Rega backpack sprayer.
19/6/06 Big snow brushes Arthur's Pass
The heavy snow falls that have fallen accross the South Island over the last week closed State Highway 73 and cut power and telephone links, shutting the village off from the outside world for 2 days. As with many southerly snow falls however, eastern Canterbury suffered worse conditions than the village, and most locals were well prepared for a bit of snow. Some north-west snow-falls forecast for the coming week are of more concern, as this aspect is where the heavier dumps for Arthur's Pass usually come from.
21/05/06 Trampers part on Kelly Range
Two trampers became seperated on their way to Carol Hut on the Kelly Range. One of the trampers took a fall and injured his leg, and unaware of his plight the other tramper continued to the Hut. The injured tramper made his way to the road and raised the alarm. An APRES member was dispatched to the hut to ensure the other tramper came to no harm searching for their companion.
18/3/06 Day walker spends a night out on Mt Aicken
A Japanese day tramper lost his way when descending off Mt Aicken and ended up meeting one of his searchers
when he reached Highway 73, 3 days overdue. Search conducted by APRES, Pegasus, Oxford, tracker dogs and handlers and Christchurch ACR.
15/3/06 Body found near Browning Pass
The body of a missing overseas tramper was located in the intial helicopter search of his planned attempt of the 3 passes route. It appears he died of injuries sustained in a fall, short was off route.
26/2/06 Day tramper dies on Mt Aicken
The body of an overdue english tramper was located by an APRES team after 5 days of searching. It appears she became disoriented on the peak and descended into increasingly steep terrain, eventually making a fatal fall into the headwaters of Graham Stream. The search and recovery involved search teams from Arthur's Pass, Christchurch, Timaru, Hamner Springs and the Christchurch ACR team with RNZAF 3 Squadron.
9/4/06 4WD hits stationary bus
A 4WD with 5 occupants crashed into the back of a bus parked at roadworks near Otira. 2 patients were flown by Westpac to Christchurch and the remaining 3 were transported by ambulance. Incident attended by APRFF, St John, Westpac and Greymouth Fire Brigade.
17/2/06 Trampers make unplanned swim in Otehake River
Two trampers lost their footing while attempting to cross the Otehake River while it was in flood. One of the pair became trapped on a narrow piece of shore beneath a cliff. Another party used their Emergency Locator Beacon (ELB). The person was rescued in a challenging winch pick up by West Coast Air Rescue.
4/2/06 Stretcher carry on Bealey Spur
A 26 year old woman with a hip injury was transported by stretcher to State Highway 73 where she was airlifted to hospoital by Westpac.
27/1/06 Tramper dials for help
An overseas visitor day walking on Mt Aicken used her cell phone to call for help when she became lost. She mistakingly believed she was on Mt Cassidy and a search there by APRES failed to locate her and the search area was widened, locating her with binoculars high on Mt Aicken. She was rescued by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.