The search for two climbers missing on Aoraki Mt Cook has been called off as they are not believed to be alive, police say.
The men set off on Friday, December 12 from the Tasman Valley car park for Plateau Hut. They then departed the hut on the following evening with the intention of summitting Aoraki Mt Cook via the Linda Glacier route.
The Department of Conservation was alerted when the pair failed to return to Plateau Hut on Monday morning.
Aoraki Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said search and rescue efforts spanned three days, when weather allowed.
Search teams today found located "some items of climbing equipment".
"A visual investigation of this area has led to the determination that the overdue climbers have been caught in a significant ice avalanche within a known icefall hazard zone on the upper Linda Glacier," Walker said.
"Because of the scale and volume of material involved, we don't believe this avalanche was survivable."
DOC Aoraki Mount Cook operations manager Sally Jones said the area remained too unstable for ground crews to access or for a recovery operation to be attempted.
"The Linda Glacier is an unforgiving alpine environment. Conditions can change rapidly, and even highly experienced climbers are exposed to unexpected hazards including icefall, crevasses, avalanches, and extreme weather."
Aerial reconnaissance had not been able to pinpoint where the bodies of the climbers might be, however police would consider a recovery operation if warmer weather allowed, Walker said.
"Sadly, for now, we can’t reach them and they lie in rest on the maunga, and our sympathy is with their whānau."
It comes three weeks after a New Zealand guide and their US client died on Aoraki Mt Cook after they fell from a ridge near the summit.
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