[综合信息] 38岁IT specialist辞职登山遇难

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Melissa Martin and Brad Skinner pictured on her blog.



"You feel so great after you've been out walking for weeks; you really feel like Superman. It's awesome," she wrote.

However, she would not make it to Asia, or Europe or South America.

The adventure-loving, outdoorsy Australian was killed when she fell 40 metres down a treacherous ice face in Fiordland National Park.

Ms Martin and Mr Skinner were climbing in the Karako Glacier area, near Lake Adelaide, when the accident happened yesterday afternoon.

The peaks in Darren Mountains, where the glacier was, were about 1600 to 1700 metres above sea level, Sergeant Tod Hollebon from Te Anau police said.

Police were still trying to determine how high the couple were when they fell, but it is believed they were on a more technical part of the climb.

Mr Skinner, a computer systems engineer, was slightly below her. There was about 10 to 15 metres of rope between them, Sergeant Hollebon said.

Mr Skinner was believed to have been placing an anchor when Ms Martin suddenly slid down the 45-degree-angled ice slope.

Mr Skinner tried to control the slide, but there was too much momentum and the pair stopped only when they came to a hollowed out area, Sergeant Hollebon said.

"He was knocked unconscious and was some distance below her. When he came to he found her," said Lloyd Matheson, from Southern Lakes Helicopters.

Mr Skinner was able to alert emergency services with a locator beacon, but it emitted only an initial signal and the helicopter crew took almost an hour to find them, Mr Matheson said.

Ms Martin's death would have been instantaneous but her partner was unaware at first that she had been killed, Mr Matheson said.

"I had to console him - I was the one who had to tell him his wife was deceased."

Mr Skinner was hurt, but not badly. He was flown to Te Anau Medical Centre for treatment but has since been released.

The couple had been together for 15 years. The trip, their most extensive, was part of a biomedical research project. Mr Skinner had planned the fuel and detailed mapping and Ms Martin had planned the food.

They also had a blog of the trip - which they wouldn't update "unless we've done something that's worth talking about - a major climb or traverse or if something happens to us", Ms Martin wrote in an article on their travels for the University of Technology, Sydney.

The blog, and the couple's photo site, showed their progress through New Zealand, and footage of the Plunket Ice Dome.

"On the fourth night we were kept awake from 2am to 5am by a kea, which was relentless in its pursuit of destroying our equipment. The damn parrot was possessed!" they wrote.

Their last post was dated March 17. The couple had made it to Mount Talbot, and posted a video showing the Korako glacier - labelled "our next target".

stuff.co.nz with Glenda Kwek