Trampers winched off in midnight rescue

Added Monday December 01 2008

Three trampers were winched from Mt Taranaki late on Friday night by the
Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter, after their group underestimated the
winter conditions on the mountain.

The party of five trampers visiting from Tauranga and Australia, including
twin girls, aged 10, and three adults, became stuck when they came across a
slip on the Round the Mountain track, between the North Egmont Visitor
Centre and Holly Hut.

Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter Pilot David Manduell said the two girls
and one of the women, who had an ankle injury, were winched off the mountain
by the Rescue Helicopter Team just after midnight. Police called the Rescue
Helicopter to assist at about 11.30pm and they located the group about
halfway along the 9km track. He said at that point the group had already
been on the track, which was on the snow line, for about five hours.

"The kids were obviously pretty cold, tired and miserable. "We winched down
one of our own alpine team members and two of the police SAR team to
retrieve the children and the injured women, and flew back to hospital,
where we landed about 1.10am," Mr Manduell said.

The search and rescue team remained with the other two trampers and walked
them back to North Egmont. They were all off the mountain by about 3.15am
on Saturday.

Mr Manduell said winching people on a mountain at night was never
straightforward, but luckily the weather was clear and there was little wind
at the time. If the rescue helicopter had not been able to be used, the
group would have had to wait for LandSAR team to walk to them to take them
back out, which would have meant a long, cold night for the trampers, Mr
Manduell said.

Sergeant Bruce Irvine, of New Plymouth, said the rescue was a reminder that
the mountain could be really nasty in winter conditions and should not be
underestimated.