'Awe-inspiring' rockfall narrowly misses hut  Last updated 05:00
22/01/2013 Plateau Hut CLOSE CALL: The 3-kilometre-long
rockslide off Mt Dixon was close enough to Plateau Hut, circled,
for the Department of Conservation to shut the hut and airlift
climbers out of it last night.  Relevant offers  A colossal
rockfall came only a few hundred metres from engulfing a popular
climbers' hut in the Aoraki Mt Cook National Park.  Twelve
people were in the hut as huge quantities of rocks, which
climbers described as sounding like a Boeing 747 coming through,
plunged hundreds of metres down Mt Dixon about 2.15pm yesterday,
shooting plumes of dust high into the air.  No-one was injured,
including other climbers who were further up Mt Dixon when the
rockslide happened.  Climber Andrew McGregor, who was in the
Plateau Hut, said the rocks came to a halt about 200 metres
away.  But the Sydney student said he and the other climbers
were not afraid.  "Those there didn't think they were in any
immediate danger. Everyone treate