Police in New Zealand say they believe three men who went missing days ago on Aoraki Mt Cook – the country’s tallest mountain – are dead.
Americans Kurt Blair (56) and Carlos Romero (50) and an unnamed Canadian national were reported missing on Monday when they failed to meet their flight out from the mountain.
Aoraki Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said on Friday that police believed the three men had fallen while trying to cross a ridge.
The search for them has been hampered by bad weather in recent days and Ms Walker said this would now be wound down.
Helicopters and drones have been used to try and trace the location of the three climbers, who set out to climb Mt Cook on Saturday.
Ms Walker said drone footage showed evidence of where the climbers had begun to cross the slopes below the Zurbriggen Ridge
This included footprints and equipment, including clothes and energy gels, which are thought to have belonged to the men.
Scaling Mt Cook via the Zurbriggen Ridge is a Grade Four climb according to New Zealand alpine group Climb NZ. This mean that it requires “sound mountaineering judgement and experience”.
Both Blair and Romero are said to have been experienced climbers.
A tribute to Blair from the Silverton Avalanche School in the US state of Colorado described him as a “beloved fixture of the San Juan mountains who comes from a proud lineage of mountain adventurers”.
“Anyone who shared time with Kurt in the mountains knows that his calm demeanour and positive presence ran counter to the rough edges and sharp tongues so often exemplified by the hard scrabble ranks of mountain guides,” read the statement on social media.
His colleague told New Zealand’s Stuff news website that the father of two had climbed all over the world.
Meanwhile, the California-based group SWS Mountain Guides said Romero, who was known as Kique, was a “beloved guide, educator, and mentor”.
“Kique is widely respected for his skills as a guide, and enthusiasm for climbing.”
According to Stuff, Romero was originally from Venezuela and had worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for several years.
The police said they would not release the name of the Canadian man out of respect of his family’s wishes.
Mt Cook, which is in the South Island, is 3,724m (12,217ft) tall and a popular challenge for climbers from around the world.
