DEAD CLIMBER HAD SMOKED CANNABIS

Cannabis use may have contributed to the death of a climber who fell from
Mitre Peak in November, Te Anau coroner John Donaldson said yesterday.

The inquest for Jonas Theiss, a 27-year-old German graduate from the Tai
Poutini Polytechnic outdoor recreation course in Greymouth, was held
yesterday in Te Anau.

Constable Finn Murphy, of Te Anau, said Mr Theiss was an experienced and
accomplished climber. He led two companions on a climb of Mitre Peak,
overlooking Milford Sound.

The night before, they stayed on The Footstool, a forested knob on the
Mitre Peak ridge.

Statements from the survivors said they had consumed cannabis that night.

They climbed Mitre Peak the next day, November 25.

During the descent Mr Theiss realised he had left his hat behind and
suggested the others eat lunch while he retrieved it.

After Mr Theiss failed to rejoin the group, one climber raised the alarm at
Milford Sound. A helicopter search late that night was unsuccessful.

Next morning Mr Theiss was sighted about 200m down a sheer cliff face in a
crevice, but bad weather stopped rescuers reaching his body. It was
recovered by helicopter with the help of the Queenstown alpine cliff rescue
team two days later.

A toxicology report showed Mr Theiss had THC, a cannabis chemical, in his
bloodstream.

Mr Donaldson criticised the group's use of cannabis and the fact they had
no locator beacon. Climbing required attention and quick, clear thinking
and the use of cannabis affected all three, he said.

A guide, as Mr Theiss was training to be, had to be reliable and ethical,
and to use cannabis would put his whole party at risk.

He hoped it did not form part of outdoor recreation campus culture.

This was the second recent tragic case where rescue had been delayed
through lack of a personal locator beacon, Mr Donaldson said.

"Obviously this is a lesson to be learned the hard way."

The beacons were vital in Fiordland where sudden weather changes sometimes
gave only brief opportunities for rescue.

As a result an opportunity for recovery of Mr Theiss' body had been lost,
and it had been exposed to indignities for two more days on the mountainside.

Mr Donaldson found that Mr Theiss died from multiple skeletal injuries on
November 25, with a possible contributing cause the THC in his blood.