Updated on: November 25, 2025 / 4:05 PM EST / CBS/AP
Two mountain climbers have died on Aoraki, New Zealand’s tallest peak, and two others from the same group were rescued, authorities said. One of the two people killed in a fall was from the United States, officials said Wednesday. Specialists from rescue organizations and government agencies recovered the dead climbers’ bodies late Tuesday local time, Police Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said.
Authorities are working with the U.S. consulate, and a New Zealand coroner will investigate the deaths. The other person who died was an internationally recognized climbing guide and a member of the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association, the association said.
Sgt. Kevin McErlain told The Timaru Herald the pair had been connected by a rope when they fell near the summit of Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook.
Authorities learned late Monday night local time that four climbers needed help on the mountain, which sits on New Zealand’s South Island. Two climbers were rescued by helicopter in the early hours of Tuesday and were uninjured, Walker said. Searchers in two helicopters searched through the night for the other climbers, who were found dead hours later.
Aoraki rises 12,218 feet and is part of the Southern Alps, the scenic, icy range that runs the length of the South Island. The settlement of Mount Cook at its base is a destination for domestic and foreign tourists. The peak is popular among experienced climbers and is technically demanding because of crevasses, avalanche risk, fast-changing weather and glacier movement.
More than 240 deaths have been recorded on Aoraki and in the surrounding national park since the start of the 20th century; dozens of those who died on the mountain have never been found. That history includes three men — two from the U.S. and one from Canada — believed to have died on Aoraki in December 2024. The Americans, Kurt Blair, 56, of Colorado, and Carlos Romero, 50, of California, were certified alpine guides. The men were missing for five days before New Zealand authorities halted the search, saying discoveries of their belongings suggested they had fallen to their deaths.
The two climbers’ deaths in New Zealand follow a series of recent fatalities on major peaks. Earlier this month, an avalanche swept through a camp on Mount Yalung Ri in Nepal, killing five foreign climbers and two guides at about 16,070 feet. Last month, Alaskan climber Balin Miller fell to his death from Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan. In August, Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsyna died after becoming stranded on Kyrgyzstan’s highest peak, and a Chinese climber was killed by falling rocks on K2. In July, German mountaineer and Olympic gold medalist Laura Dahlmeier died attempting a climb in the region.
