I keep on thinking about where it all broke down.
We were actually incredibly close to the top - we were five pole markers from the plateau where Syme Hut was located. It was also the most difficult patch of the ice where I was climbing up and down to help A- find the best route. The conditions were very different from what I had last time in the area - I had actually made it up to the hut and beyond without crampons last time. However, the sunny weather, I suspect, was the factor which melted the snow, and hardened overnight, and created a slippery ground surface.
All in all, it was a combination of factors.
I didn't have my helmet on.
We had started from Auckland that day, my alarm went off at 6am to drive out to meet everyone else in Papakura. I think the tiredness was a factor as we drove out of town, avoiding the morning traffic and generally south towards New Plymouth. After lunch in Inglewood, we arrived at the base of the mountain at around 1.30pm and started the climb to the hut. It was 1100m elevation gain to get to the hut for the night.
Falling happens, accidents happen - but they are controlled and limited to low-risk areas. The main problem is, I did not make a good assessment of the extent of the falling.
After I lost my footing, I just started sliding. Just kept on sliding on and on, across patches of ice, patches of scree - alternating in velocity, but uncontrollable falling to the next surface. My head assessment made it a low consequence fall, but the reality after sliding down 100-150m proved my assessment wrong.
In the dusk light, I could no longer see the group up the mountain. My glasses, along with a few other of my effects (my camera!!) were strewn across the mountain slope. I never really factored the consequences of being absent with the inexperienced group left at the top of the mountain. When the fall stopped at a large patch of scree, there were three left above, and with losing the most experienced member, who know what that would do to the morale.
C-, my climbing partner climbed down to me while I struggled to put my crampons back onto my shoes, and we trudged down in the dark. 2/A- stayed put for a while, but eventually stumbled down the the mountain carefully.
With hiking, the consequences are usually minor, but mountain-climbing, the consequences ramp up astronomically. While we ended up walking out, the consequences could have been a lot worse. Nothing was broken, I didn't take any head knocks - but both my forearms are completely skinned and my butt and thighs are bruised purple.
We headed home at sunrise the next day after an early morning hospital visit. Accidents happen, but the concluding thought is that they just cannot happen where it happened in the weekend. The risk assessment was completely off - with the open icy snow-field, the consequences are unendingly catastrophic and life-threatening.
In comparison what it could have been, I feel very blessed < 3
