Mt. Cook Village, New Zealand – A 36-year-old Australian man died on Friday after falling 150 meters from a ridge in Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park on New Zealand’s South Island.

Duncan Robert Rait, a New Zealand native living in Melbourne, Australia, was with a group of ski mountaineers who had just arrived by helicopter to a ridge top location near the Tasman Saddle Hut. While en route from the drop-off location to the hut he slipped from the ridgeline and fell to his death.

Rait had planned to spend four days ski touring in the area with his brother. Although not a factor in the accident, rescue efforts were hampered by weather conditions. The rescue team were dropped at the hut and then descended to the location of the injured man as the helicopter became grounded due to poor weather.  Rait was returned to Mt. Cook Village, where he was pronounced dead.

The day following Rait’s death an inexperienced and reportedly ill-equipped mountain climber with rental gear, 31-year-old Robert Buckley of the U.K. but living in Christchurch, New Zealand, slipped on ice and fell 700 meters to his own death elsewhere in the same National Park.