Max unbroken after 90m cliff fall

Five-year-old Max Christie at home after his fall. Photo / Alan Gibson

When 5-year-old Max Christie slipped out of sight 90 metres down a rocky Whakapapa cliff his parents feared they would never see him alive again.

It was Saturday afternoon and the boy had been playing in the snow with his 7-year-old brother Jackson, their 3-year-old sister Jesse and friend Leah, also 5, on a ridge at the southern end of Meads Wall.

"They had just wandered off and I was going to take some photos of them and it was only like seconds and they were gone," said Max's father, Duncan Christie, from his home in Katikati.

He said the area was signposted. He is still not sure how the pair managed to slip down the mountain.

"It was absolute panic, I just couldn't believe it especially when I looked over the edge and I thought no way could anyone get out of there alive. I basically thought he was dead."

Mr Christie made his way to Leah, who came to rest on a bluff about 30 metres below where she had been playing. But he could not see Max.

It was only when Leah's father, Adrian Powell, caught a glimpse of the young boy trying to claw his way back up over the broken rocks and patchy snow that his spirits lifted.

"I just told him to stop and wait and we would get him out."

A mountain rescue team was on the scene within minutes. But it took 2 hours for them to abseil down the cliff and carry Max out on a stretcher.

He was conscious but his face and arms were cut.

Max was later flown to Waikato Hospital but was discharged without a single broken bone.

His mother, Nikki Christie, said he was "still a bit stiff". He has several cuts and grazes to his face, a gash in his head and fading black eyes.

Asked if the family would ever return to Whakapapa, she said: "Definitely. Max is getting back to himself, he's starting to argue with us again which is pretty normal. We know we are incredibly lucky to have him with us, it's still hard to believe."