Avalanche Accidents in Aotearoa - New Zealand
point all search efforts were terminated. It was not until the 18th of January that a ski plane pilot advised the national park personnel that he had seen something red below the main rib of the Lower Caroline Face. A search team accessed the area by helicopter and recovered the body of the missing climber. The body was found in the original search area but had been covered with avalanche debris at the time of the initial search. The body had
subsequently been exposed by warmer summer weather melting the snow. The post-mortem examination showed that the victim had sustained multiple injuries. Due to the nature of the face, it is highly likely that the climber was avalanched off the mountain. However, few details are known about the fate of the climber as his fall could have been caused by climber error. The only conclusive
Figure 4.17: Caroline Face Avalanche Site Diagram
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