Adventurer saved near ‘pole of inaccessibility’: New Zealand’s most remote rescue
Adventurer saved near ‘pole of inaccessibility’: New Zealand’s most remote rescue
There is a point in New Zealand called the “pole of inaccessibility”, which is the furthest place anywhere from a road.
And adventurer Riley Meason was near there when a falling boulder took him out in February this year.
“A boulder was coming for my chest and my head, and I knew that was gonna kill me.”
Riley was headed for the pole of inaccessibility, which is deep in the mountains between the West Coast and Queenstown.
The pole has been plotted on a map and few, if any, Kiwis have been there.
It had taken RiIey nine days to tramp in there when the boulder came loose and hit. He had a split-second to get his head and chest out of the way.
“THAT WAS GONNA KILL ME” Riley Meason (left) after being hit by a boulder while adventuring with friend Gabe Ross (right).
"I thought I’d let it take my legs,” Riley said. “And it came down and smoked my leg. I could feel my left leg bending, almost about a snap of my femur and it cut my knee up real bad.”
Riley was alive, but seriously injured - and literally in the most remote part of New Zealand.
But Riley and his mate Gabe Ross, who together make up adventure duo “The Weekend Mish” were prepared - they let off an EPIRB emergency beacon and sent a message through an inReach satellite communicator.
New Zealand’s most remote rescue was underway.
WHY GO ON A “MISSION” TO THE POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY?
Riley and Gabe call themselves the “Mish” because of the adventurous “missions” they go on. And this was one hell of a mission.
Gabe: “A 12 day adventure into the most remote part of New Zealand. 180 kms on foot, 65 kms on pack raft, around 8,000 vertical metres covered, and just an adventure of a lifetime.”
REMOTEST RESCUE: The Weekend Mish were near New Zealand’s “Pole of Inaccessibility” - the place in New Zealand that is the furthest from any road.Andrew Douglas Clifford
They had heard about the pole of inaccessibility, which was charted by cartographer Andrew Douglas-Clifford, also known as “The Map Kiwi”.
This was a mission Riley and Gabe could not resist - and they had prepared for months for it.
It meant heading into places few have heard of like the Olivine ranges, home to glaciers. They had got to a mountain pass called Trinity Col when the boulder hit.
“We'd just done nine days of the most epic traversing we've ever done in our lives, and we came across the hardest point in the trip, which was crossing Trinity Col,” said Gabe.
“Trinity Col was a mountain pass that definitely some people would have climbed it before, but we couldn't find any records or route descriptions. Some bugger in an oil skin pair of shoes probably would have done it back in the day, but as far as the online records go, we couldn't find anyone.”
The pass used to be a glacier, and Gabe and Riley were climbing through some scree “95% of the way to the top” when Gabe pulled a rock loose - and told Riley not to touch it.
Riley:“ So what I did, I grabbed the rock beside it, which was probably the size of a picnic table and as soon as I put my hand on it, it came loose.“
And so they were trapped - still about a day’s walk away from the pole of inaccessibility, and nine days walk back to a road.
Riley: “A surreal, scary feeling, that you're that far away from any help.”
Gabe: “Just a shitty feeling. We need to be rescued. We need help urgently.”
“LIKE A UFO COMING IN”: RESCUE CHOPPER INCOMING
"LIKE A UFO": The moment the chopper arrived in the dark to rescue Riley Meason, who was at one of the most remote points in New Zealand.Supplied
The boys didn’t know it at first, but the emergency beacon and satellite message (“Hey, we need help, and we need it now!") had been picked up by the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter service.
Gabe’s mind had turned to the worse about his injured mate.
“Has he broken a leg? Is there potentially an artery that could be affected and bleeding? Is Riley going to make it?”
Gabe: “Within about 10 to 15 minutes, we had a reply saying, ‘We're gonna come and have a go at getting you out there’".
Riley: “Hearing those emergency service people saying, "We're coming to get you," it's like, that's what you want to hear. When you need it the most.”
“SHE LOOKED LIKE SUPERMAN JUMPING OUT”: Paramedic Olivia Latter was dropped on the edge of the mountain to assess Riley Meason’s injuries.Supplied
Suddenly in the dark, they heard the sound of the chopper. Pilot Justin Gloag had got in, carrying paramedics Dan Bentley and Olivia Latter.
Riley: “It's a beautiful sound, yeah. You hear that buzz and that noise, you're like, "Oh, it's finally, finally, they're here’.”
Gabe saw the chopper’s lights coming through the pitch black and it was a surreal sight.“It's just a billowing echo. That thing looks like a UFO coming in.”
Things got even more surreal when paramedic Olivia jumped out of the chopper and it took off again while she assessed Riley.
“She looked like Superman jumping out,” said Riley.
RESCUE REUNION: Paramedics Dan Bentley (left) and Olivia Latter (right) are reunited with the Weekend Mish during a fundraising bike ride from Queenstown to Invercargill, as part of Westpac’s annual Chopper Appeal.Supplied
“THEY SAVED MY LIFE”: CHOPPER ONLY CHANCE AT NEW ZEALAND’S MOST REMOTE POINT.
Riley is clear about the role of the chopper: “They saved my life”.
I was doing a charity bike ride from Queenstown to Invercargill as part of the Westpac Chopper Appeal alongside paramedics Olivia and Dan and decided to reunite Riley with them.
It was all pretty Southern Man stuff, but a grateful Riley thanked them for the “unreal rescue”.
And there is no question the Weekend Mish are appreciative of our rescue choppers.
Gabe: “They do God's work. It's just absolutely incredible. We don't think we would be able to do what we do without the knowledge that there is someone that'll come look for you if things go wrong, because if something does go wrong out there and they weren't able to come get you, you’re buggered.”
IN HAPPIER TIMES: “The Weekend Mish”, Gabe Ross and Riley Meason, meet up with The F#$%ing News (Paddy Gower).Supplied
And the last words go to Riley.
“The chopper saved my life. I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now if they hadn't come to get me.”
To donate to the Westpac Chopper Appeal go to chopperappeal.co.nz