Twizel Police have released details of those who have died on Ball Pass in the Southern Alps this morning
The three deceased have been confirmed as a female and two males:
a female guide from New Zealand, a male client from Japan and male client from the UK.
All survivors of the group are now back at Mt Cook.
The bodies of the deceased are still at the scene as poor weather has put retrieval on hold," says Snr Constable Brent Swanson.
From Gottlieb Braun-Elwert of Alpine Recreation Ltd:
'Erica Beuzenberg a guide of Alpine Recreation Ltd, Lake Tekapo, was guiding a party of clients over Ball Pass together with a second guide on the morning of 9 March 2005.
At the time of the accident she was roped to her two clients from England and Japan.
Straight after crossing the Ball Pass some 30m down from a scree slope on the western side of the pass the party descended on moderately angled snow-covered ice, when one of the clients slipped. While getting into a self- arrest position with his ice axe the client unbalanced both the guide and the other client who then also started sliding down the slope before reaching the steeper part of the slope which led to an ice cliff over which the party fell.
The party then slid some further 200m down an icy slope before coming to a rest. All three were confirmed dead at the arrival of the search and rescue party.
Erica Beuzenberg had been guiding without incident for Alpine Recreation for 16 years. Both her guiding record and her personal climbing record are outstanding. In 1989 she became the first person to complete winter ascents of all NZ 3000m peaks in one single winter. She was the first woman to climb Aoraki Mt Cook in winter, the first woman to climb the Balfour face of Mt Tasman in winter, the first woman to climb Cerro Fitz Roy in winter , one of the most difficult mountains on earth. Erica had countless weeks of summer and winter guiding to her credit both overseas and in New Zealand. It is an unspeakable tragedy that such an experienced guide died on the job on what is perceived to be easy terrain.