It wasn't quite dawn on the mountain when a wave of ice and snow tumbled down on them. Jo Morgan and the two guides she was roped together with had set out for the summit at 2 am and she'd just messaged her husband "All is OK".
But it wasn't.
Both guides died in the avalanche early Wednesday on Mount Hicks, while Morgan managed to survive after being almost completely buried in snow and then punching and wriggling her way free over the course of about an hour.
An adventurer and philanthropist from one of New Zealand's most well-known families, Morgan described her ordeal in an interview with Radio New Zealand.
"It's a terrifying thing," she said. "It's a bit like the surf coming down on you. Just a huge big wave of ice coming down the slopes toward you."
"I could feel when I stuck my hand up that I was into air rather than into something solid," she told RNZ. "So I was very lucky that my position allowed me to actually clear my face and take a big breath and think, 'Wow. Let's hope no more comes down.'"
"Mt Hicks lords over us as we hope for a weather window before our rations are done for," she wrote. "Yes I wish I'd done more training, but have decided I excel in suffering."
"I'm absolutely broken," Morgan told Television New Zealand. "Two of my very dear friends lost their lives today, under tragic circumstances. I just got really lucky."
"They were great mates. I wouldn't have left without saying goodbye to them," she told RNZ. "They're an amazing loss to the climbing community. They're both just so cheerful and capable and competent."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content