Family tramp becomes a battle against death

John Painting and his 13-year-old son, Matt, checked internet weather forecasts for a week before they drove to Turangi for four days of "bloke-bonding."

The Auckland pair made a final check with the MetService on Sunday afternoon, the night before they set off on their tramping and hunting trip.

At 9.30 am on Monday, the Paintings locked their car at the base of the Umukarikari Track and headed into the bush.

Only an hour earlier, Turangi police had warned 42-year-old John Painting to not even consider making the tramp unless he and his son had sufficient gear.

Mr Painting and Matt were equipped for nights in the bush.

But they weren't ready for what lay ahead of them - the worst blizzard to hit the Kaimanawa Ranges in years.

They listened to the warning, but began their tramp.

Three hours later, shortly after noon, a third man set off on the Umukarikari Track.

Rotorua nursing consultant Brian Pickering, an experienced bushman and a member of the Rotorua search and rescue team, was setting out on a nine-day tramp to Napier.

By 3 pm, John and Matt Painting were in trouble.

The blizzard had hit, and they were suddenly enveloped by sub-zero temperatures, snow and howling 80-knot winds.

It took only minutes for Mr Painting to be affected by hypothermia.

His body temperature plummeted, he began to shiver uncontrollably and he became delirious.

Matt Painting, a Birkdale Intermediate pupil, found the fingers of his gloves freezing together as he and his father stumbled along an exposed ridge, trying to decide what to do.

They worked out they were only an hour's tramp from the safety of Waipakihi Hut but could not orient themselves.

At 4 pm, they decided to try shelter in their tent, but its tubing collapsed in the wind as the Paintings tried desperately to pitch it.

The severity of their situation began to set in.

Ten minutes later, Brian Pickering was heading towards the hut when he spotted the Paintings through the blizzard, which had reduced visibility to 30m.

He could tell from their soaked clothing and "punch drunk" behaviour that their condition was grave.

Mr Pickering manhandled the pair off the ridge and into a small gully sprinkled with tussock.

He got them into a sleeping bag, pulled his tent over them and, at 7pm, called for help on his cellphone.

That was when the remarkable efforts of around 40 Turangi area search and rescue crew began.

At 8 pm, members of Team One headed into the bush. They spent two hours crawling on their hands and knees, battling raging winds with a chill factor of up to 20 degrees below zero.

Fearing for their lives, they turned back at 3.30am.

Mr Painting's wife Karen and daughter Chrissie were told of the crisis at 11pm and headed to Turangi. Mr Pickering's wife, Jessica, slept by the phone.

Huddled inside Mr Pickering's tent, Matt can remember the stranger forcing snacks of chocolate, muesli bars and gingernuts into his mouth.

Most of all, he recalls the urgency of Mr Pickering's voice as he repeatedly urged, "Don't go to sleep".

The three yelled at each other throughout the night, while Mr Pickering kept cellphone contact with the rescue team.

But at 3.45am, his phone battery died and contact was lost.

An hour later, Team Two headed into the blizzard and this time, five hours later, rescuers reached the stricken trio.

They established radio contact with the Turangi base and the Tranz Rail rescue helicopter was dispatched.

Pilot Shamus Howard made two attempt to reach the trampers - one at 1.15 pm and another at 5.30 pm.

High winds forced him back both times.

Two of the rescue team, Peter Morton and Harvey Steeds, stayed with the trampers during their second day and night in the cold, making sure they were fed, warm and rested.

Yesterday at 8.30 am, Ruapehu Alpine Rescue members Howard and Jared Goedhart reached the Paintings and Mr Pickering.

Matt Painting remembers the start of a series of hot drinks and warmth slowly returning to his shivering body.

Then the Tranz Rail rescue helicopter swept into view, he recalls with a grin.

"It just appeared over the ridge. I was grabbed by my shoulder and lifted in - it was quite a fun trip."

His father does not have such clear memories of the ordeal.

He was semi-conscious when Mr Pickering found him and worse affected than his son by the cold. He had made sure Matt was wearing the only windbreaker the pair had.

Senior Constable Cliff Jones of Turangi police says the Painting's near tragedy was entirely avoidable. "They were shockingly prepared," he said.

Their sleeping bags were filled with a thin dacron-polyester mix unsuited for the alpine conditions, and they did not have enough clothing. Their tent lacked the tubing necessary for use in 80-knot winds and driving snow.

Mr Painting says he has learned a lesson.

"This is what I have learned from the whole experience - bush and alpine tramping are very different. I've often thought 'how could someone get into trouble in the Waitakere Ranges?'

"I have made the same mistake in someone else's environment. But I have no recollection of having been advised of the weather.

"I would not have gone if I had consciously known it would be freezing."

"Our problem is lack of experience," said Mr Painting.

"Brian had a lot more experience and you wonder if even he should have been in there. But thank goodness he was - we owe that guy so much."

Brian Pickering rejects any suggestion of heroism.



"There wasn't really any option. There wasn't any decision to make. It's absolute luck I found them. If I had staggered a couple of metres off the track..."

Resuce helicopter pilot Shamus Howard put it starkly: "They were not due out until Friday.

"If that guy hadn't found them it would have been Saturday before anyone looked for them. By then, they would have been dead."