A long-time friend of two of the four climbers killed on Wednesday following an avalanche on Mount Tasman has paid tribute to their climbing skills and experience.
New Zealanders Paul Scaife, 52, and David Hiddleston, 35, were both senior guides and directors of Aspiring Guides .
A fellow director of the Wanaka-based company, financial author Martin Hawes, says both men were top mountaineers and will be greatly missed by the climbing community.
Two Australians - Andrew Platt, 31, and David Gardner, 40, who had been living in Dunedin, were also killed. Platt was a cardiology registrar at the Royal Perth Hospital.
Injured climber Mark Dosser, who is in Christchurch Hospital, says the avalanche swept them off the north shoulder of the mountain too fast to save those who died.
Dosser says the three guides had climbed a rope length ahead, and had put in anchors to bring their clients up on a rope winching device when the avalanche hit.
The other injured man is Gabriel Amandor from California.
The Mountain Guides Association says it will conduct an inquiry into the events surrounding the fatal avalanche.
The group of six climbers were swept 500 metres down the slopes of the peak in Mt Cook National Park.
MGA president Trevor Street says the incident is the first guiding fatality in about a decade, and the loss will have a huge impact on the association.
He says the association will look at witness statements and gather together other information to try to determine what went wrong.
