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Tramper airlifted from Lewis Pass
DATE: 14 September 2011 TIME: 7am
Tramper airlifted from Lewis Pass
A tramper with suspected hypothermia was successfully airlifted from a ridge on the Lewis Pass this morning after being stranded there yesterday afternoon.
The Garden City Summit Rescue helicopter
from Nelson reached the 22-year-old woman just before 7am
after bad weather prevented air access yesterday, the Rescue
Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) says.
The
woman was being taken to hospital in a moderate
condition.
The tramper was one of a group of seven on
the St James walkway, just south of the Nelson Lakes
National Park.
The group set off a personal locator
beacon around 2.25pm and also made contact with rescuers via
Canterbury Mountain Radio. However, gale force winds and
limited visibility hampered rescue efforts.
Three of
the group, including the patient, spent the night in a tent
on a ridge above the walkway’s Cannibal Gorge Hut. The
other four spent the night in the hut.
RCCNZ Senior
Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Keith Allen said the
weather had cleared overnight and the helicopter was able to
get in quickly this morning.
“The helicopter crew
was stranded in Maruia Springs by weather conditions last
night so they were very close and it was a quick
trip.
“The group spent a cold night on the ridge,
but they were well prepared and did all the right things,”
Mr Allen
said.
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