Police said today it might be several days before the body of a climber was recovered from a mountainside in New Zealand.
Dr Donal Deery (29), of Belfast, plunged to his death while descending a steep slope on the South Island's Southern Alps yesterday.
But snowstorms and high winds prevented emergency workers from airlifting the experienced climber's body to safety.
Local police sergeant Aaron Nicholson said: "It may be two to three days at least before we can get there. Weather conditions are very bad at the moment. We're liaising with embassy officials in the meantime to deal with the logistics of repatriating his body."
Dr Deery's female companion (25), believed to be from Northern Ireland, also slipped on the snow-covered incline and fell about 800 feet into a drainage area near the town of Wanaka.
She suffered internal injuries and fractures to her back and is recovering in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Dunedin, about 100 miles away.
The alarm was raised by a third hiking companion who ran to an emergency hut.
Dr Deery is the third climber in the past week to die in the alps near Wanaka. He was a competent hiker and competed in the gruelling Mourne Mountain Marathon in Northern Ireland last year.