Climbers Say They 'Would Not Have Survived Another Night'

Three nights clinging to a wet, unstable mountainside ended with a 100-foot airlift for two climbers in New Zealand's Fiordland National Park this week. Police said the pair activated a personal locator beacon near Sabre Peak on Wednesday afternoon, but pounding rain and low clouds twice grounded rescue helicopters. Emergency satellite texts to a family member confirmed the experienced climbers were unhurt but stuck in brutal weather, sheltering in a small bivvy and soaked sleeping bags as their food ran out, People reports. A clear-enough window finally opened Friday morning, when a Southern Lakes Helicopter crew located them and plucked them off the slope using a long-line rescue.

A doctor aboard assessed them before they were flown to the town of Te Anau for further checks. Search and rescue coordinator Dougall Henderson called their survival "remarkable" and credited their early beacon use, solid gear, and steady communication. The climbers "believed they would not have survived another night on the mountain," he said, per 1News. Henderson urged others heading into remote terrain to plan cautiously, carry a PLB or satellite device, and make sure someone knows their route.