Body found on Canterbury's Mt Lancelot

I don't think that photo is of Mt Lancelot as I don't remember any waratah markers on Jellicoe Ridge? It might be on Avalanche Peak. There are some quite deceptive bluffs in the Jellicoe Ridge area. They are not vertical and give the sense that they are climbable but can be tricky.

article has been updated with more information https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112028810/rescue-teams-search-for-missing-tramper-in-arthurs-pass

Wrong link but I think I've seen the other article earlier this morning. Seemed to have been written by someone with knowledge of the area.

sorry link updated https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112028810/rescue-teams-search-for-missing-tramper-in-arthurs-pass

Hmm, that doesn't sound good: > A rescue helicopter from Greymouth with night vision equipment was then sent to the area to search for the man, but found nothing. How's that possible? Older style PLB? No homing beacon?

The other 2 members of the group had the beacon. Nothing said about the circumstances of how the missing man was found. edit: The other 2 trampers set the beacon off from Crow Hut when the 3rd tramper failed to arrive.

The news says the guy who died was slower, so he was left behind by the faster two.

Here's a bit more info from the SAR section of the softrock.co.nz website. http://www.arthurspass.com/index.php?page=278 Tragic and terrible. I'm almost certain that all of us who visit this forums page are aware of the increased risk of injury or death when a tramping party separates. I'm sure the lead climber will be contemplating his solo ascent for the rest of his life. Years ago we were a tramping group of 4 in California's Sierra Nevada, beautiful open pine forest and granite dotted with glacial lakes. We had a slow coach with us and we left him behind. We turned off toward our lakeside campsite at what appeared to us to be an obvious bifurcation and lost our mate. Three panicked hours later we luckily found him safe and sound. Lesson learned- never separate your tramping party and if you do, have definite meet up points that are close and frequent. Lastly, always stop at a track bifurcation and wait for your travelling partner.

13/04/2019 Mt Lancelot A PLB activation was picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in Wellington at approx. 1920hrs, from a location near the Crow Hut in the upper Crow Valley. RCC dispatched the West Coast Rescue Helicopter under night vision to investigate. They found two male climbers, uninjured at the hut, however the 3rd member of the party (male) had become separated from the group and was now missing. The group had planned to make a traverse over Mt Lancelot and along the Jellicoe Ridge. An extensive night search in average conditions, and across rugged terrain failed to turn up anything. The search was escalated at 0900hrs on Sunday to include the Alpine Cliff Rescue team (ACR), Police SAR, Search dog teams, and LandSAR groups. At 1535hrs the body of the missing climber was found at the base of the bluffs leading to Mt Lancelot in a small waterfall (hence not visible to infrared night vision). It would appear the group became separated in the initial stages of the climb during the free climb of the bluff ascent as the lead climber was faster through this section; the lead climber assumed the other two were climbing the bluffs behind him together, not realising that one had already turned back, and the other had continued but appears to have slipped and fell on the wet/slimy rock. As no one caught up to the lead climber, he had assumed both had likely turned back and so continued solo to the summit of Mt Lancelot; he descended a different route to the hut to discover only one of his party there on arrival;