New Zealand avalanche today: Jo Morgan frees himself at Mount Hicks on the South Island

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A well-known adventurer has been plucked from an avalanche on a New Zealand mountain Wednesday morning, while two climbing guides have died. The three men were tied together while they were trying to reach the summit of Mount Hicks on the South Island.

"I'm completely broken," said survivor Jo Morgan at Television New Zealand. "Two of my dear friends lost their lives today in tragic circumstances, I was really lucky."

Morgan told the TV channel that they had reached an unstable slope at the start of the avalanche. "They were buried and I was buried, but my face appeared so that I could breathe," she said.

Police said the bodies of the two men were found. Their identity has not been revealed, pending the notification of the next of kin.

Lou Sanson, director general of the Department of Conservation, told Radio New Zealand that Morgan managed to activate a locator beacon after about 30 minutes, then to free himself after another 20 minutes.

Sanson said that Morgan had told her that she had a free hand at the end of the avalanche and that she was able to remove the snow from her mouth.

Morgan had already written about his rise on Facebook. On Sunday, she wrote that they were resting after going to a cabin on the Hooker Glacier.

"Mt Hicks reigns over us as we hope for a weather window before our rations are finalized," she wrote. "Yes, I would have liked to have more workout, but I decided to excel in suffering."

On Tuesday, she wrote that the hut was dark but that a break in the weather had prompted them to begin a summit attempt around 2am on Wednesday.

The New Zealand Relief Coordination Center reported that it had received a notification of Morgan's locator beacon at 6:45 am and that the rescuers had sent two helicopters and two climbing teams including an avalanche dog.

Morgan is married to well-known businessman Gareth Morgan, who launched a political party that unsuccessfully contested the 2017 elections in New Zealand. The couple's son, Sam Morgan, is one of the country's most successful entrepreneurs after founding the online TradeMe auction site.

Mount Hicks, approximately 10,500 feet high, is located in Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park.