Army tragedy on Mt Ruapehu - new details revealed

an official investigation was conducted after the incident. it was headed by Graeme Dingle. he said the gear they had was adequate... but they shouldnt have been where they were in the conditions... it was hard icy condition and hard to dig into, and extremely exposed to the high winds that funnel over the summit plateau in a storm. on the south side of the mountain. there was deep snow where George Iwama dug a snow cave and waited out the storm until it died.