A distraught young Frenchman ran through challenging terrain to the nearest backcountry hut after his tramping partner died in a glacier fall in Mt Aspiring National Park.
Police said the woman who died had been attempting to make her way across exposed and difficult terrain and fell several metres on Friday night.
The Otago Daily Times understands both trampers were in their 20s.
A man, who declined to give his name, told the ODT he was on the mountain near Brewster Hut when the distraught male tramper came running towards him.
The tramper told him the woman had "slipped up by the glacier, hit her head and died".
"He came running down, crying and asking for help.
"I was the first person who met him coming down."
The man estimated the glacier field would have been about a 90-minute walk from Brewster Hut.
He saw Otago Rescue Helicopters and Wānaka’s LandSar team arrive at the hut on Friday night before going further up the mountain, while police were taking statements at the hut on Saturday morning.
The 12-bed Brewster Hut was full on Friday and people were also camping in tents around it, he said.
A group of medically trained people happened to be staying that night, and a couple of people could speak French with the young man.
"Everyone rallied around him."
He decided to contact the ODT because he was concerned the Brewster Hut route was being underestimated by several of the people he saw that day.
"I saw people who were not prepared for the glacier coming down.
"People were going up there unprepared."
Last year, the Otago Daily Times and Wānaka Sun reported similar concerns from Wānaka LandSar’s former chairman, Bill Day, who said teams were conducting multiple searches each year in the area beyond the hut.
Sergeant Darren Cranfield, of Wānaka, said in a statement the incident happened about 7pm after the woman left Brewster Hut with her tramping partner, heading towards the glacier fields.
"The woman was sadly located deceased and her death has been referred to the coroner," he said.
