O.C. Man Dies in New Zealand Hiking Accident

A Huntington Beach man fell to his death Monday as he and a friend were being guided over Ball Pass near Mt. Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand, police said.

Paul Gerard Hornack, 44, was walking between a friend and a guide when he lost his balance and plunged 80 feet, landing on a gravelly slope. His heavy backpack is believed to have contributed to the fall once Hornack lost his footing, said Greg Sutherland, a police constable in nearby Twizel, New Zealand.

Police said Hornack was still breathing and had a pulse when help first arrived, but his vital signs faded quickly. He was pronounced dead after rescuers tried for more than 30 minutes to revive him. The group was then airlifted off the mountain.

“It was hopeless,” Sutherland said. “He had mortal injuries to his head and multiple injuries to his whole body.”

Hornack and a friend, Dennis Raymond Richard, also 44, were in the middle of a 10-day hiking trip when the accident occurred in Mt. Cook National Park. It is the height of climbing season in New Zealand, where it is now summer. Hornack and Richard had already completed several hikes in the southern area of South Island, authorities said.

Richard, who is expected to remain in New Zealand until later this week, would not comment on the accident. Sutherland described the friend as “quite upset.”

“These two are very experienced hikers, so it shouldn’t have happened,” Sutherland said. “He just tripped in the wrong spot. The trek is not known to be treacherous. It was just a freak accident. It happened well below the snow line as they were negotiating an exposed rocky ridge. You don’t have to be a mountaineer to do it.”

Sutherland said there are five accidental deaths on average each year at the national park. He could recall at least one other death on Ball Pass but said it was not in the same location.

Hornack’s body was taken to Timaru, New Zealand, and will be flown back to the United States.

“Obviously, the family in America is absolutely devastated,” Sutherland said.