A Czech woman found alive in a remote mountain cabin in New Zealand has told police she spent a month there alone after her partner fell and died on a hiking trail.
The woman was found on Wednesday at a warden’s hut on the famous Routeburn track, which winds through a spectacular gorge in the mountains of Fiordland national park in the South Island.
According to police the couple started the walk on 26 July and the man fell down a steep slope on 28 July. The woman said she climbed down the slope and reached him but he died shortly afterwards.
Since then, the woman said, she had been living in a warden’s hut that was left locked and unattended for the winter at Lake Mackenzie, about halfway along the 32km track.
Despite heavy snowfalls in the past month, she was found in good health on Wednesday by a search and rescue team after concerns were raised with police that the couple had not been heard from since late July. They had only been reported missing to New Zealand police this week by the Czech consulate.
“This is a highly unusual case,” said Inspector Olaf Jensen, the Otago Lakes central area police commander.
“It is very unusual for someone to be missing for such a long time in the New Zealand bush without it being reported.”
Police said the pair – described as in their late 20s to early 30s and visiting New Zealand since January – had been reasonably well equipped for their expedition and had “some experience” in the New Zealand bush, but became disoriented and veered off the track, which is when the man fell to his death. Police were working to retrieve his body on Thursday.
After her partner’s death, police said, the woman spent three nights in the bush before making her way to the Lake Mackenzie hut on 31 July, a distance of approximately 2km, where she broke in and used its supplies of food, firewood and gas.
There was a mountain radio in the hut but the woman was unable to operate it, Jensen said. During her month-long stay she felt unable to walk out due to her own injuries and conditions that included up to a metre of snow and the risk of avalanches.
The woman drew an “H” in the snow – for “Help” – hoping it would be seen from the air. No other trampers came to the hut while she was there, she told police.
The Routeburn track usually takes intermediate walkers between two and four days to complete. It is officially closed during winter but numerous people still walk the track as it is well marked and there are public huts that remain open.
The New Zealand department of conservation’s website says facilities on the track “are greatly reduced” in the winter months when there are also “additional safety hazards to consider”.
“Walking the track during this time should only be attempted by fit, experienced and well equipped people,” it says.
Through the months of July and August numerous tourists posted pictures from the Routeburn track on social media.
Ian Sime, a spokesperson for the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club, said he had never heard of a tourist being lost on a major tramping track for such a length of time and he found the case “unbelievable”.
“I am flabbergasted, I don’t understand how this could happen. Even in winter there are teams of people walking parts of the track and staying in the huts.”
Sime said the track was not known for being particularly dangerous and even during the winter it was usually easy to find.
Noel Saxon, general manager of Ultimate Hikes Queenstown, said the woman’s survival was an incredible feat.
“I have been very surprised by this story – she must be a hardy character to have stayed out there so long in these conditions,” he said.
“I do find it unusual that no one else walked through during her time in the hut but it is not out of the question. In certain conditions it could be difficult to go anywhere and potentially that is what has happened here.”
During the summer Saxon guides groups of tourists of “average fitness” along the Routeburn and from the start of the track it takes them a day to walk to Lake Mackenzie Hut.