Experienced Australian climbers named as New Zealand fall victims By Emily Spink Dale Thistlethwaite, 35, and Stuart Hollaway, 42, died while climbing in NZ.
Two Melbourne climbers who died in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand have beennamed as Stuart Jason Hollaway, 42, and Dale Amanda Thistlethwaite, 35. 
The pair had been travelling and climbing in New Zealand since early   December 2015.
The couple were among the most experienced mountaineers in Australia and New Zealand and were honorary life members of theMelbourne University Mountaineering Club. Both were alpine and rock climbing guides and ran a company called Vertical World Mountain Guiding.
Mr Hollaway, who taught at Wesley College, was a member of the International Federation of Mountain Guide Associations, taught avalanche awareness courses in New Zealand and was a specialist in ice-climbing. The couple lived in East Brunswick.
It took four rescuers over two hours to recover the bodies of the two climbers, from the bottom of a steep face on the eastern slopes of Mount Silberhorn on Friday.
The couple had been missing since   December 28 in the Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park.
Mid-South Canterbury area Commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said they were last heardfrom in a radio call on   December 28.
Enquiries indicated that the pair fell from near the top of the mountain early on   December 29.
Four rescuers from the Aoraki/ Mount Cook alpine rescue team had to wait until late in the day on Friday to minimise the risk from melting ice. They left to recover the bodies on Friday at 6pm and returned at 8.30pm.
The rescue operation was carried out with a member of the rescue team on a long-line operating below a helicopter.
"He was taken to the scene, which was obviously incredibly steep, and he managed to excavate the bodies and attach them to the line and they flew them both out together," Commander Inspector Gaskin said.
"The major difficulty was the amount of debris that was floating off the mountain."
The matter would now be referred to the coroner.
The pair were camping high in the mountain, and Commander Inspector Gaskin said it was clear that they had fallen "a considerable distance".
"They've fallen very close to the place they were camping.
"They were roped together, so one of them's come to grief and the other one has fallen with them."
The deaths mark the first of 2016 in the national park, but the third and fourth respectively since late   November.
Melbourne woman Nicola Anne Andrews, 29, fell 300 metres in the Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park on   December 23.