Police have identified two hikers who were found deceased due to freezing near Victoria’s tallest peak, believed to be international travelers. It is speculated they might have perished after accidentally taking a wrong path.
The women, who were in their 20s and 30s, were located by two doctors around 1 pm on Friday near Cleve Cole Hut, a secluded refuge often visited by those venturing to Mount Bogong.
Although they were near the hut, the pair was discovered together on an exposed plain at Lendenfeld Point, without any shelter from the harsh weather conditions.
Police are now working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade to contact their families overseas.
Experienced adventurers and others who know the mountain area well have taken to social media to share their condolences.
The experts have also put out suggestions the women were ill-prepared for their hike after it was revealed they may have died from hypothermia.
It’s believed the women had no communication or safety equipment and had the incorrect gear for the notoriously brutal region.
Local residents mention that while the area is manageable during daylight, the weather can deteriorate quickly, leading to the hypothesis that the women may have lost their way during a day hike and became trapped in frigid conditions.
Emergency crews launched a major recovery operation involving more than a dozen police and SES volunteers
The bodies of the two women were sadly discovered by two hiking doctors around 1pm on Friday near Cleve Cole Hut (pictured)
A Victoria Police helicopter was used in the recovery
Locals have also suggested that the hikers could have signed a logbook at the base of the Bogong Staircase, and it is presumed investigators have checked this book along with any unattended vehicles at the trailhead parking area.
A significant recovery operation was launched after the bodies were found together, involving over a dozen police officers and SES volunteers.
However, worsening conditions forced rescuers to camp overnight near the bodies after helicopters were unable to fly in.
The grim retrieval was finally completed at 10.30am on Saturday.
Police say the women likely succumbed to severe hypothermia during a period of extreme weather earlier in the week, when temperatures plunged to -2.8C and snow blanketed the region.
Victoria Police Inspector Paul Hargreaves said investigators believe the pair may have been stranded for up to three days.
‘It’s fair to say they may have been there for the last two to three days,’ Insp Hargreaves told reporters.
‘It’s a beautiful environment until it’s not, and when it’s not it’s pretty extreme
Search crews were forced to camp at the site overnight
‘We ask anyone who was hiking in the area and saw someone looking disorientated or inadequately dressed to contact us.’
The hikers who made the grim discovery are assisting police with inquiries.
The case will now be referred to the coroner.
‘When you look at that period of two to three days, they are exceptionally hard conditions, blizzard conditions, and it is likely the two people have succumbed to those conditions,’ Insp Hargreaves said.
‘This area is commonly frequented by outback adventurers who like to experience these conditions, but at times they become quite dangerous and unfavourable.
Mount Bogong, standing at 1,986 metres, is a magnet for experienced hikers and backcountry adventurers, but can quickly turn dangerous in bad weather.
Mount Bogong Club president Keith Jackson told Nine News the area had been extremely cold in the days before the bodies were found.
‘It’s a beautiful environment until it’s not, and when it’s not it’s pretty extreme,’ he said.
Locals say the Mount Bogong area during daylight is manageable but conditions can turn quickly
‘You’ve got to know what you’re doing, you’ve got to make sure you’re prepared and you’ve got to have the right gear.’
The case has gripped the public and social media adventure experts are openly discussing how the tragedy may have unfolded.
A Reddit user wrote that the region where the women were discovered has ’24/7 freezing conditions’.
‘They were high up above the tree line on the exposed Bogong summit ridge, the highest elevation point in Victoria, while Falls Creek nearby has been reporting ‘feels like’ temperatures of -10C for the last few days straight,’ they wrote.
‘I’ve been up there on a gorgeous blue sky, light winds, summer day when the temperature at Falls was a balmy 20C and the temperature in the valleys below was pushing 35C-40C, and even then the wind chill was pretty cold at the top.
‘The wind chill very easily becomes dangerously cold up there on the ridge as the freezing wind accelerates up and over the range.
‘The snow pole line that runs from Hotham to Bogong would’ve led them to the safety of Cleve Cole hut about a kilometre or two further down the track, but you quite often can’t even see the next pole along when the weather decides to turn proper feral.
‘We might not have the highest elevation mountains in the world or the coldest of climates, but the high country still isn’t a place to f*** around in when the weather turns.’
