Tourist found a month after trek misery
Print Edition
A CZECH tourist, whose partner fell to his death, survived a harrowing month in the frozen New Zealand wilderness before being rescued, police said yesterday.
The woman was found on Wednesday living in a park warden’s hut on the snowed-in Routeburn Track, inspector Olaf Jensen said. She was admitted to a local hospital and found to be in reasonable health, he added, although she remained upset from her ordeal.
Jensen said the young couple left on July 26 to hike the 32-kilometer track, a route which typically takes three days. But he said the couple became lost because the track markers were buried in deep snow.
He said that two days into their ordeal, the man fell down a steep slope and died. The woman then spent the next three nights living outside in freezing conditions before stumbling upon the hut and breaking in, Jensen said. He said she suffered from some frost bite, hypothermia and other minor injuries.
“Given her experience and the avalanche risk, she decided it was best for her safety to remain in the hut, and that was the correct decision to make,” Jensen said.
He said the woman fashioned a letter “H’’ in the snow outside to signal she needed help, and waited. But Jensen said hikers were avoiding the route and nobody came. “It was not passable,” he said, “It was really extreme conditions.”
Jensen said it was almost a month before the Czech consulate finally raised the alarm on Wednesday. He said police found the couple’s car at the trailhead and sent a helicopter along the route. He said the woman was relieved to see her rescuers after her traumatic experience.
The Routeburn Track, on the South Island, is listed among New Zealand’s top 10 “Great Walks” and is popular with tourists during the Southern Hemisphere summer.
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