I watched a couple of newsclips of his rescue. He had a tent from what I could see and a parka, but not sure if that was given to him by the rescuer before he was winched up into the helo. He didn't have shoes on for some reason-probably soaked is my guess. No snowshoes either, which pretty much stranded him from what he said-took him hours to go a short distance.

I agree ETSU, he probably had no idea what was coming. When I was in NZ, I rarely got the forecast after heading out and there, the weather changes almost daily in some parts. Some of the mountain huts have radios for climbers to check in with the rangers and get weather reports. That is really helpful.