FED:Tributes start for doctor who died on NZ's Mount Cook

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-2008
FED:Tributes start for doctor who died on NZ's Mount Cook

SYDNEY, Dec 13 AAP - Tributes have begun pouring in for a Perth doctor presumed dead
after falling off New Zealand's highest mountain.

Dr Mark Vinar, 43, is presumed dead after disappearing off Zurbriggens Ridge, on Mt
Cook, on Thursday.

His 42-year-old brother, Miles, also of Perth, was found by a member of an alpine rescue
team and rescued by helicopter on Saturday morning.

He'd dug an ice cave and waited two nights for help to arrive.

Chief executive officer of Perth Primary Care Network, Chris Carter, who worked with
Dr Vinar, said his colleague was always willing to help.

"It's a pretty rare person that does the after-hours work and he was always a person
who said yes to a shift," Mr Carter told ABC Radio.

"He would always help us out in a hole.

"He will be very missed by us and he'll be very missed by the patients that received
services from him."

A search for Dr Vinar has been called off, with conditions and the avalanche risk making
it too dangerous to continue.

The men had flown to Plateau Hut, in the Mt Cook National Park, last Saturday with
plans to climb the mountain via the Zurbriggens route early on Wednesday morning.

The pair holed up high on Zurbriggens ridge on Wednesday night, but decided to return
to Plateau Hut on Thursday because of poor weather conditions.

But soon after setting off, Mark Vinar fell and disappeared.

Plateau Hut guides raised the alarm on Friday when the pair failed to return as expected.

Miles Vinar was spotted coming down the mountain at first light on Saturday, and picked
up by helicopter, Senior Constable Les Andrew said.

He told rescuers his brother fell on Thursday morning and he lost sight of him.

Miles Vinar continued to descend, but conditions were so bad he decided to hole himself
up in the snow and wait for help.

"He's climbed down a bit further and he's come across Mark's pack that had the tent,
the shovel and so forth in it," Snr Const Andrew said.

"But it was too dangerous for him to walk across to it.

"So, he's dug himself in with his ice axe and spent the night and it wasn't until this
morning when it was cleared up that he was able to signal where he was."

His missing brother is presumed to have fallen down to the base of Zurbriggens Ridge,
a crevassed and high avalanche danger area.

"There is no sign of the missing climber and it is presumed he has either fallen into
a crevasse and become buried, or has been buried under snow and ice debris," the New Zealand
Department of Conservation said in a statement.

"There has been 30cm of new, fresh snow."

A Mt Cook ranger told ABC Radio the terrain where the doctor fell was "a very steep
face on the side of our highest mountain (Mount Cook/Aoraki)".

"It is 45 degrees ice and rock. It is very alpine," he said.

The route the two men took was described as being a more difficult route than that
followed by most climbers.

"The sea is only 20km away so weather conditions change rapidly," the ranger said.

Speaking from the family home in Ardross, Perth, the climbers' father told AAP he was
too distraught to talk.

"I am their father. I just can't speak about it right now," he said through tears.

Earlier on Saturday, a male relative at the family home told AAP the family was feeling
"pretty miserable".

"He (Mark Vinar) has fallen into a crevasse, they can't get him out, that's all we
know," the man, who didn't give his name, said.

Miles Vinar was ill and "recovering from the ordeal", the man said, but had spoken
briefly with his wife in Australia.

"I wasn't party to the conversation, so that's all I know," he said.

Dr Vinar is the ninth person to die on Zurbriggens Ridge, and the 70th on Aoraki/Mt
Cook since 1907.

Thirty four Australian climbers have died in the national park, eighteen on Aoraki/Mt
Cook, news agency NZPA reported.

It is the second death on the mountain in seven days.

Japanese climbing guide Kiyoshi Ikenouchi died, while his friend and climbing companion
Hideaki Nara was rescued after being stranded on the mountain for a week.

AAP cdh/srp

KEYWORD: NZ CLIMBERS 2ND WRAP

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