ID :
16181
Sun, 08/17/2008 - 19:14
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/16181
The shortlink copeid
Rescued Aussie climbers glad to be home
(AAP) It was hugs and tears as families greeted four Australian climbers as they returned home to Sydney after being rescued from atrocious weather on New Zealand's highest peak.
With joy came also criticism of the Australian government, which has been accused ofwithholding information from at least one family during the ordeal.
Melissa Clerke, David Freeland, Terry Cole and Jennie Landon, all from Sydney, arrived this afternoon at Sydney Airport after being trapped on Mt Cook with two other Australians for two nights at high altitude with avalanches crashing aroundthem.
David Freelands was due home on Sunday night while Stephen Dolphin has remained inNew Zealand.
The group, all members of the bushwalking club, Country Mountain Walkers, wererescued yesterday morning by helicopter after becoming trapped in a blizzard.
Severe weather had forced the group to pitch a small tent on Thursday night - the sixth day of their South Island mountain trek - where they huddled together to waitout their ordeal.
Authorities were alerted after the climbers activated an emergency beacon but thehorrendous conditions prevented a rescue until early yesterday.
Mr Cole, 37, from Parramatta, said their predicament was made even worse when an aircraft they heard on the first night of their 36-hour ordeal could not locatethem.
"To see them go away and have to buckle down for another night, it was pretty hard but you just got to try and hang in there and hope that you will get out," he toldreporters at the airport.
"We were glad to get out of there because the weather was starting to deteriorate more and more." Ms Clerke, 27, from Granville, who celebrated her birthday on the mountain, was relaxed and more concerned about what her family and those of her hiking companionshad to endure.
"It's a bit strange for us, because we're kind of up on the mountain and I think it's actually the people back down here at home that went through more trauma thanwe went through," she said.
She said she had the same fears about the rescue efforts, but her parents John andMary had their own worries back home.
Once they heard the media reports, the Clerke family started calling the Departmentof Foreign Affairs (DFAT) to find out if their daughter's group was in trouble.
"I definitely think that DFAT were no use whatsoever," Mrs Clerke said.
"As a matter of fact the second time my husband rang up they said they had the names, they knew who they were but they couldn't tell us." Mr Clerke said DFAT was "waving privacy rules" as a reason for withholding the information, which forced the family to call New Zealand authorities involved in therescue.
"New Zealand authorities - they were tremendous," he said "We were speaking to them on Friday night up until Saturday morning." "They sat on the phone for hours with you."Comment was being sought by DFAT.
David Freeland, 55, from Mosman, who was greeted by his wife Trudy, remainedpositive about the experience.
"Most of what happened was fantastic," Mr Freeland said.
"Just the last couple of days, sitting around in a tent, watching helicopters go in the wrong direction, looking for us - not what I went there hoping for." He rebuffed suggestions that the group was ill-equipped or assumed too much risk byattempting the mountain in winter.
"You can get weather like that in summer, you just get more of it in winter," he said.
"It was a good time of year for us to go up there ... and it's not crowded with other people." He said their ordeal was a "luck of the draw" and "there's no such thing as safe mountaineering." Jennie Landon, 37, from Parramatta said there were times the group was in doubt ofgetting out safely.
"There were times when we could hear avalanches around us," Ms Landon said.
"We were aware that we were camped in a safe spot. But of course the thought is still in the back of your mind you're not entirely safe and how long is it going to take for them to come and get us."
With joy came also criticism of the Australian government, which has been accused ofwithholding information from at least one family during the ordeal.
Melissa Clerke, David Freeland, Terry Cole and Jennie Landon, all from Sydney, arrived this afternoon at Sydney Airport after being trapped on Mt Cook with two other Australians for two nights at high altitude with avalanches crashing aroundthem.
David Freelands was due home on Sunday night while Stephen Dolphin has remained inNew Zealand.
The group, all members of the bushwalking club, Country Mountain Walkers, wererescued yesterday morning by helicopter after becoming trapped in a blizzard.
Severe weather had forced the group to pitch a small tent on Thursday night - the sixth day of their South Island mountain trek - where they huddled together to waitout their ordeal.
Authorities were alerted after the climbers activated an emergency beacon but thehorrendous conditions prevented a rescue until early yesterday.
Mr Cole, 37, from Parramatta, said their predicament was made even worse when an aircraft they heard on the first night of their 36-hour ordeal could not locatethem.
"To see them go away and have to buckle down for another night, it was pretty hard but you just got to try and hang in there and hope that you will get out," he toldreporters at the airport.
"We were glad to get out of there because the weather was starting to deteriorate more and more." Ms Clerke, 27, from Granville, who celebrated her birthday on the mountain, was relaxed and more concerned about what her family and those of her hiking companionshad to endure.
"It's a bit strange for us, because we're kind of up on the mountain and I think it's actually the people back down here at home that went through more trauma thanwe went through," she said.
She said she had the same fears about the rescue efforts, but her parents John andMary had their own worries back home.
Once they heard the media reports, the Clerke family started calling the Departmentof Foreign Affairs (DFAT) to find out if their daughter's group was in trouble.
"I definitely think that DFAT were no use whatsoever," Mrs Clerke said.
"As a matter of fact the second time my husband rang up they said they had the names, they knew who they were but they couldn't tell us." Mr Clerke said DFAT was "waving privacy rules" as a reason for withholding the information, which forced the family to call New Zealand authorities involved in therescue.
"New Zealand authorities - they were tremendous," he said "We were speaking to them on Friday night up until Saturday morning." "They sat on the phone for hours with you."Comment was being sought by DFAT.
David Freeland, 55, from Mosman, who was greeted by his wife Trudy, remainedpositive about the experience.
"Most of what happened was fantastic," Mr Freeland said.
"Just the last couple of days, sitting around in a tent, watching helicopters go in the wrong direction, looking for us - not what I went there hoping for." He rebuffed suggestions that the group was ill-equipped or assumed too much risk byattempting the mountain in winter.
"You can get weather like that in summer, you just get more of it in winter," he said.
"It was a good time of year for us to go up there ... and it's not crowded with other people." He said their ordeal was a "luck of the draw" and "there's no such thing as safe mountaineering." Jennie Landon, 37, from Parramatta said there were times the group was in doubt ofgetting out safely.
"There were times when we could hear avalanches around us," Ms Landon said.
"We were aware that we were camped in a safe spot. But of course the thought is still in the back of your mind you're not entirely safe and how long is it going to take for them to come and get us."
