Climbers survive avalanche, blizzard at New Zealand’s famous mountain range thanks to snow cave, muesli bars

Two climbers in New Zealand miraculously survived after being buried by an avalanche and then caught in a blizzard atop one of New Zealand’s most famous mountain ranges. Their survival instinct kicked in after they had come face to face with the natural calamity. They managed to live, though, by building a snow cave and chomping off muesli bars until help arrived.

The two men, who are said to be in their 20s, were stuck atop The Remarkables mountain range– a 2,300-metre-high range above Queenstown –during their three-day ice climbing adventure.

According to local media reports, the climbers, whose identity has not been provided, had spent three nights camping and climbing in the area over the weekend before the weather deteriorated on Monday.

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After waking up on Tuesday morning, both found their tent almost buried by snow. Then they decided to walk out, but before crossing an area through a small gully, they unknowingly triggered a substantial class two avalanche—large enough to bury a person, according to officials.

The avalanche was reportedly about 70m across and carried them about 20m down south, and partially buried them.

After digging themselves out of it, both contacted the police. They attempted rescue twice,but blizzard conditions made it impossible for the cops to reach them via helicopter.

As the conditions were not conducive, both headed back to their camp the night before. But instead of erecting the wet tent, they dug out a snow cave under a huge rock and hunkered down.

Wakatipu Alpine Cliff Rescue team co-ordinator Russ Tilsley said they had plenty of food with about 15 muesli bars, which helped them to brave the chill.

“It was incredibly fortunate the men had been on the edge of the avalanche when it was triggered,” Tilsley was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“They were lucky they were there and not 50 or 100 metres into the flow, because they probably would have been dead,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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