'Joe' I guess compared to other countries we have a fairly flat landscape with good wx most of the time BUT.....yes there's always a but. You can drown in an inch of water you don't need to be in 30 meters of water to die!
An obstacle is an obstacle you can be killed by the only 3 mtr tree for a hundred miles out in a desert landscape if yr unlucky enough to hit it!
It looks like Des & his hapless pax got caught out & sadly died from the results of hitting trees in less than favorable wx conditions & he wasn't in the Himalayas when it happened & he wasn't even in PNG he was in Australia where our tress obscured by low cloud are just as bloody unforgiving as the rest the worlds trees!
Wmk2