At 11:19 am on Friday July 18th, ARC received notification that a PLB had been activated on the northeastern aspect of Mt Cupola in Nelson Lakes National Park.
Two team members responded quickly, presenting at the GCH hanger where equipment for a possible technical winter alpine rescue was prepared for departure in the Westpac AIRMED 6 helicopter.
The roughly 40 minute flight provided time for the combined team of ARC and Westpac Rescue to discuss potential rescue scenarios and tactics that would be employed in each case.
As the team neared the climber’s coordinates, they were informed by RCC of a second PLB activation only a few hundred metres from the first.
On initial search from the air a group of two was immediately spotted moving well in relatively benign terrain, they waved toward the helicopter and pointed higher toward a cliff band broken by several steep couloirs.
The team assessed that both members of this group appeared uninjured and mobile, so noted their location and continued to search for a climber in distress.
After several passes the climber was located deep in one of the steeper couloirs at roughly two thirds of its height in a precarious position where he was unable to sit down or rest.
The two-member ARC team were able to winch to a small plateau above the couloir, undertake a short down-climb to its edge and construct a bolted anchor in a rocky outcrop.
This allowed one member to make a 60 metre abseil with two ropes down to the climber, where a further anchor was constructed with traditional climbing protection.
With both the ARC member and climber secured to this anchor the Westpac helicopter was able to lower its winch into the couloir and retrieve both of them, before repositioning to also retrieve the second ARC member who had retrieved the ropes and anchor equipment.
The climber was uninjured and was able to be transported to safety along with his remaining gear from Cupola hut.
The second group were contacted by the Westpac Rescue team while ARC was undertaking their rescue and confirmed that they had activated the second PLB after seeing the distressed climber and that they were unharmed and did not require rescue.
Alpine Rescue Canterbury 