Parents' flight of hope for daughter

By Paul Dykes, Anna Bowden and Joel Ford
The parents of a New Zealand woman climber feared lost in Alaskan mountains have rushed from their Tauranga home to be nearer the search - holding on to a faint hope that their daughter has survived.
Elaine and Neil McNeill took a shuttle bus to Auckland at 1.30am today, accompanied by their other daughter Wendy, to board a 7am flight for Calgary.
Their daughter Karen McNeill, 37, is lost in Alaska's Denali National Park with her American climbing companion, Sue Nott, 36, of Colorado.
The experienced pair went up a 5303m mountain four weeks ago, carrying 14 days' supply of food for a climb they expected to take only 10 days.
No search was mounted until June 1, although their food was due to run out on May 28.
Brian McNeill, Karen's brother, said from his Taihape farm this morning that his parents, both aged in their mid-60s, have flown to Calgary to meet up with Karen's partner Brad, whom she brought home to Tauranga last Christmas.
"They sort of feel they want to go over there to be supportive to Brad," Brian McNeill said.
"It has been devastating for them but they have not totally given up hope. You always live in hope.
"But we are in limbo, really. The search has been going on since [last] Saturday.
"You just don't know, it's probably not very good," he said of the chances of his sister being found safe.
Karen Holmes, who lives over the road from the McNeills, said the couple had been getting two-hourly progress reports from search headquarters.
She said they seemed as though they were in shock and they had made the decision to go to Canada on Tuesday.
They have lived in Tauranga about 18 months, after moving from Taihape.
Mrs McNeill had been working at Bronwyn's Fabulous Fabrics until yesterday.
"She was holding up pretty well," said work colleague Sharon Roucher.
All the women working at the shop were following the story closely and Mrs McNeill would be keeping in contact to relay events as they unfolded.
"She is a lady who doesn't show a lot of emotion. She keeps most of it inside," Ms Roucher said of her colleague.
The only sign searchers have found of the missing women was a ripped backpack, believed to be Ms Nott's, along with a radio and sleeping bag that were spotted last Friday in an avalanche debris field.
On Sunday, a helicopter crew spotted a yellow bag, black fleece hat and pink nylon jacket in the same area.
Searchers last week had spotted tracks at the 4724m-4815m level but they appeared to simply end. Park service officials said they had no indication that the pair had approached the summit.
On Monday night, photographs confirmed footprints at 5000m, giving hope that the women were at the higher elevation.
Searchers are now hoping to make a further attempt to get a high-altitude Lama helicopter near the summit of Mount Foraker to resume the search.
"We haven't been able to do anything today. The clouds have prevented that," Kris Fister, a National Park Service spokeswoman said two days ago.
The two climbers might have burrowed themselves into a sheltered spot, such as a snow cave or crevasse, to reduce their exposure to the wind and cold.
"With each passing day the chances that the two women are alive is diminished," Ms Fister said.
It was believed the two have been without food and fuel for seven days and perhaps as many as 10, she said.
"Given the harsh conditions up there, it makes the possibility that they have survived less and less with each passing day," Ms Fister said.
- additional reporting NZPA