Missing Mt Cook climbers: Friend looks for closure

By RNZ

A friend of two of three people missing on Aoraki Mount Cook says it would help bring closure if local climbers are able to find them.

On Friday, the police called off the search for Americans Kurt Blair and Carlos Romero and an unnamed Canadian national who have been missing since December 2.

Police said they believe the men took a fall while climbing around the mountain.

Fellow US climber Patrick Ormond, who lived in Colorado, said knowing what happened would help put the families’ and friends’ minds at ease.

“These guys basically vanished into thin air ... and it’s hard to wrap your head around that.”

Ormond said there was a slim to none chance the trio would be found after five days, but there was always hope.

“If they had shown up – popped out of a snow cave or something ... [we] didn’t figure that was gonna happen.

“There’s always a little thought back there, like ‘Maybe?’”

The men flew into Plateau Hut at 3.30pm last Saturday, planning to summit the mountain via Zurbriggen Ridge, but failed to meet their flight out.

Police said they would resume the search, however, if the final three weeks of the climbing season turned up any clues.

The tragic news delivered by police

On Friday, police said they believed the trio of missing climbers on Aoraki/Mt Cook are dead.

Drones had been positioned high on the South Island mountain to aid in the search for the foreign climbers, who have been missing since the weekend.

Police said on Friday afternoon that a helicopter had found further climbing-related items on the mountain, including a top and energy gels.

Drone footage showed where the climbers attempted to traverse the slopes below a ridge.

Police say that due to the length of time since the men were reported missing, lack of communications, items received and reconnaissance today, they do not believe the men have survived.

It is believed they have fallen.

“This is certainly not the news we wanted to share today,” the Aoraki area commander, Inspector Vicki Walker, said at a police standup.

“First and foremost, we’re thinking of the men’s families in the United States and Canada and the wider climbing community.

“We’ve spoken to them today, and as you’d expect, it’s not the phone call they wanted to receive.

“Myself and the team are devastated for them. We all wanted a positive result.”

The feasibility of any recovery operation will be carefully considered and managed, Walker added. The coroner will be advised.

The trio failed to turn up for their plane out of the country on Monday.

The friends and family of Kurt Blair have since started planning a memorial service in celebration of his life.

“It is with a heavy heart that we put this together. Please join us for a celebration of life for Kurt Blair on Friday, December 6, 2024, at 4pm,” they said in a post online.

Laura Lisowski, a friend of Blair’s, told the Herald he was an “absolutely magical human being”.

“I’ve climbed many places with many people around the world and never has a guide (or person in general, frankly) made such an impression on me as Kurt,” she said.

Lisowski described Blair as an “extremely dynamic individual” who was full of wisdom and would never miss a “witty remark”.

In a post online, Silverton Avalanche School in the US said it had been notified the climbers had succumbed to a fatal fall.

The school paid tribute to Blair online, remembering him as the “nicest guy” who came from a “proud lineage of mountain adventurers”.

- RNZ and additional NZME

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