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Source: ONE News -
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When a young Christchurch man unwittingly picked up two left boots before setting off on an adventure with his brother to Mt Cook National Park, he could not have known it would cost him his life.
Mark Ellis, 23, was killed on Tuesday when he lost control of his car on the unsealed Tasman Valley Rd near Mt Cook Village.
He was driving back from the park to hire another pair of boots when his car left the road.
He was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene.
His parents, Earth Sea Sky adventure clothing company owners Dave and Jane Ellis, were devastated by his death.
Ellis found he had mixed up the boots as he and brother Ben, 21, were about to set off to Lake Tasman, which they were going to row across in an inflatable dinghy before tramping to The Nun's Veil near Mt Cook.
Mark left Ben behind as he drove back to hire another pair of boots.
He would have been angry at himself for the mix-up after he had made sure everything else was organised to the last detail, his father said.
"The trip had been planned for about four weeks and it was going to be a real adventure for him and his brother.
"He would have been thinking about going away up the mountain and knew it would have put them behind an hour.
"He just had his eyes on the mountain, so he left his brother at the road end waiting for him, never to return."
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