13 Dec 2008

Mt Cook climber rescued

7:01 am on 13 December 2008

s] An Australian climber has been picked up on Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, but searchers are still looking for his companion.

An Australian climber has been picked up on Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, but searchers are still looking for his companion.

A helicopter located one of the climbers on the mountain on Saturday morning when a torch light was spotted.

He was picked up and taken to Plateau Hutt.

The two men were flown there last Saturday and set out to climb Aoraki Mount Cook via the Zurbriggens route at 1am on Wednesday.

Low cloud, wind and poor visibility hampered an aerial search for them on Friday night.

Police say the weather has been unsettled since Wednesday and there is between 25 - 30cm of new snow at Plateau Hut.

A Japanese climber was rescued on the mountain on 5 December after being trapped for a week by bad weather. His guide died of exposure.