The mother of one of two young Kiwi climbers trapped in a Solomon Islands ravine for more than a week says her son and his friend are doing well, after a “pretty harrowing” experience.
Keanu Isaksson, 25, and Luca Zylstra-Law, 19, were trapped in a ravine on Mount Popomanaseu, for eight days before their rescue in the early hours on Tuesday morning.
Popomanaseu is the Solomons’ highest peak, with an elevation of 2335 metres, notorious for its treacherous terrain and harsh weather.
As a week of torrential rain battered the mountain, the climbers fell into a crevise and found themselves stuck on an perch above a sheer 30 metre drop.
For the next eight days, they faced rock falls, a dwindling satellite phone battery, and the uncertainty of whether rescue was possible.
Deni Holl, Isaksson’s mother, told RNZ the pair kept their heads up – and that they made sure their mums did too.
“They certainly were being very kind to their mothers … they were telling us that they were warm and dry, which absolutely was not the case,” Holl said.
The pair, exhausted but uninjured, are currently recovering in Honiara. Holl said they are in good spirits and are even talking about their next trip to the Amazon.
“There will be no stopping them,” she said.
The boys after the ordeal.
Deni Holl
Eight days on the precipice
Isaksson and Zylstra-Law, both avid outdoorsmen, had moved their climb forward to make room for a trip to the Amazon nearer the end of the year.
Guided by locals up the mountain, they messaged their parents every day via their satellite phone.
“They had to part company with the guides because those guides could not cross into other tribal land,” Holl said.
“We had gotten one of these EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) messages every single day just saying ‘checking in, everything’s fine, love you’.”
The peak of Mt Popomaneseu in the distance.
But one day passed and neither mums were messaged. Then another day passed.
“We had no idea that anything adverse was wrong, just maybe they had forgotten to send that message.”
Three days passed before the next message came through: “Urgent. Urgent. Requiring helicopter evacuation, cannot go forwards, cannot go backwards.”
The mothers knew nothing of the chasm that the boys had found themselves in. They had tried for three days to climb out on their own, before calling for help.
“Keanu is employed by a skills company in Australia, and he is sent to various places where those skills are required … one of them is ropes access.”
“So if the boys could have gotten themselves out using ropes, that would have been happening.”
Holl recalled her shock at seeing a birds-eye photo of them taken from a helicopter, shown to her after the rescue.
“They certainly were being very kind to their mothers … they were telling us that they were warm and dry, which absolutely was not the case.”
The boys were camped on a tiny rock outcrop, on the precipice of a more than 30-metre sheer drop, under a waterfall. The river below had swollen, and they dealt with waves of torrential rain and rock falls which threatened serious injury at any moment.
The pair were stuck in a ravine for eight days.
Paul Hubbard
“They were wet and very cold the whole time, they had to snuggle up to each other to keep themselves warm,” she said.
“They had quite a plan for making sure that they were mentally sharp, and in tact the whole time. It was very frightening for them for the first few days, with the rock falls, because there was no getting away from them.”
Communication via the satellite phone was fraught. The pair had to conserve their battery, anticipating well over a week before their rescue. And little did they know, they were sending messages too long to be received by the boys under those conditions.
“That communication system only works if there is a satellite directly going over … for it to seek signal, they were in too steep a place.
But Holl and Zylstra-Law’s mum Tanya raised their boys on the great outdoors – one has a rock climbing dad, both were mentored by neighbours in the bush, and were well practiced on the nearby Mount Tamahunga and Aotearoa’s great walks.
Isaksson was only months out of a trip to Mt Everest base camp. The pair were not novices.
“So deep down, of course, we were very worried … but I know my boy.”
Long-time friends Keanu Isaksson (right) and Luca Zylstra are preparing for an upcoming trip to the Amazon.
Supplied
A gap in the weather
Rescue would not come for another five days.
Police told Holl and Tanya that, thanks to several rainless months (likely due toEl Niño conditions), the boys were caught in “some of the worst weather (authorities) had seen in decades”.
The space they were trapped in could not fit a helicopter at all, and the one on hand did not have a winch. But even if it did, a clear baring to lower a net was simply impossible.
It meant all they could do was wait for gaps in the weather to go up and make drops – food, fresh water, gear, and a radio.
Holl said she was grateful for the support she received from police, which included regular weather updates and the latest on their condition.
“They were doing everything within their power, they were very good to us,” Holl said.
Time went by with seemingly no progress, causing Holl and Tanya to go to the media and ask for re-enforcements from New Zealand and Australia.
The families had even discussed taking matters into their own hands.
“Keanu’s dad, he is a climber, my son has exactly the same qualifications as his father,” she said.
“He was booked for a flight to go over there himself, and to try and organise to be dropped as close as possible wherever there was access, and he was going to attempt to abseil to the boys, and to hoist them out somehow.
“We had no idea, but we just could not sit and wait any longer … if Tanya and I were fit enough, that is what we would be doing.”
But by early Tuesday morning, a new helicopter and a new pilot were on the scene. They came, made a drop, went back to Honiara and waited for a gap in the weather.
The boys felled an intervening tree, clearing space for a long-awaited pickup.
“What can I tell you? It was just overwhelming,” Holl said.
“I am still over at Tanya’s each day … we are very lucky to have a community like this in our little valley here, hopefully at some stage the boys will be home.”
After recovering, Holl said Isaksoon had to head back to Australia for work, but Zylstra-Law would be on the next flight home.
“All I want to be able to do is to give [Isaksson] a big hug.”
But she said Zylstra-Law would be home in the next couple days, adding “at least I will be able to give him a hug in lieu of my own son.”
