Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

[Lophophaps]

Winching in steep places may be hard - the rotors may hit the ground. Thick tree cover and big rocks may preclude winching.

[Lostsoul]

They don’t like winch rescues unless there is no other option,mainly because the chopper being directly above is dangerous in itself.They always try to walk or carry a patient to somewhere they can land if possible before considering a winch.That’s why our choppers albeit becoming an ageing fleet are better than the mainland ones with wheels.Skid base choppers can land on rough terrain if required the wheeled version cant.

[Last]

Glad they're OK. Interesting to note that a winch rescue wasn't possible due to "terrain and weather". I'm curious to know how of much was due to the former? It's something we're becoming more aware of, walking through certain areas thinking "if I break a leg right here, a heli can't just pluck me up to safety".

Keith Lancaster wrote an account of rescuing a walker with a broken leg from the Loddon Range. Interesting reading.

[gatesy]

Police and paramedics are currently attending a scene where someone has fallen off Mt Gnomon in the Dial Range
Conscious but cannot move
Is likely to have fallen 20m

[Tortoise]

Not many places there to stop at 20m. Sounds like a very challenging rescue.

[north-north-west]

:shock: Not many places there to stop at 20m. Sounds like a very challenging rescue.

Depends which bit they fell off. Trying to remember ... isn't the summit a massive boulder, or am I thinking of Dial? If they went over the cliffs on the southern side, you'd think they''d have gone more than just 20m. Lucky enough to roll down one of the gullies rather than off the cliffs?
Sounds nasty, whatever happened.

[gatesy]

Helicopter there now and cloud coming in
Certainly a tricky rescue

The Dial high point is pretty much in trees, like Penny West (minus the elevation)
The Gnomon true high point is actually a rock that views from west, south and east

[Tortoise]

There's a spot a little to the west of the summit, where it's a less vertical drop. Hope to hear about the outcome, and hoping it's better than it sounds.

[Overlandman]

From Tasmanian Police Facebook

A search and rescue operation has safely extracted a group of stranded bushwalkers from the Lake Rhona area in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park this morning.

Rescue crews rescued the group from the Lake Rhona area this morning after they became stranded yesterday afternoon due to rising water levels.

The group of bushwalkers ranging in age from early to mid-thirties from Victoria, commenced a walk in the area on Saturday and raised the alarm via a satellite emergency call about 5.00pm yesterday.

The group was located by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter that was able to land in the area and safely remove the group about 8.20am this morning.

If you are planning a bushwalking trip, remember to be prepared:

✔️ Take appropriate equipment – like a map and torch, clothing and footwear to suit any conditions, regardless of the season take a waterproof jacket; adequate food and water, first aid kit.
✔️ Research the intended trip – ensure the trip is within your abilities and fitness level, and you have a route plan, map and check the expected weather forecast.
✔️ Let someone know before you go – ensure someone knows your route and expected return time.
✔️ Always carry a fully charged mobile phone and a PLB and consider a portable charger to extend battery life.
✔️ If you are heading out into Tasmania’s wilderness, download the Emergency+ application. This is a free smartphone application that uses GPS functionality to help identify an accurate location in a time of emergency.

[TentPeg]

So, if there was a walk bridge over the Gordon this "rescue" wouldn't have been needed?

[lefroy]

It would have just paid for itself. Is needing to catch a plane a life or death emergency?

[Last]

The lack of a bridge acts as a filter. If there was a bridge Rhona would be loved to death.

[Lostsoul]

From Tasmanian Police Facebook

A search and rescue operation has safely extracted a group of stranded bushwalkers from the Lake Rhona area in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park this morning.

Rescue crews rescued the group from the Lake Rhona area this morning after they became stranded yesterday afternoon due to rising water levels.

The group of bushwalkers ranging in age from early to mid-thirties from Victoria, commenced a walk in the area on Saturday and raised the alarm via a satellite emergency call about 5.00pm yesterday.

The group was located by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter that was able to land in the area and safely remove the group about 8.20am this morning.

If you are planning a bushwalking trip, remember to be prepared:

✔️ Take appropriate equipment – like a map and torch, clothing and footwear to suit any conditions, regardless of the season take a waterproof jacket; adequate food and water, first aid kit.
✔️ Research the intended trip – ensure the trip is within your abilities and fitness level, and you have a route plan, map and check the expected weather forecast.
✔️ Let someone know before you go – ensure someone knows your route and expected return time.
✔️ Always carry a fully charged mobile phone and a PLB and consider a portable charger to extend battery life.
✔️ If you are heading out into Tasmania’s wilderness, download the Emergency+ application. This is a free smartphone application that uses GPS functionality to help identify an accurate location in a time of emergency.

It’s not a taxi service,people seem to be too quick to press the button these days,they think they’re Carey Young from Sale Of The Century.Should have waited it out until the river dropped or found another spot to cross,thems the brakes when you go walking somewhere where there are river crossings involved.

[Son of a Beach]

Boggles my mind that people can't at least try to wait a day or two for the river to subside. I know people who've done exactly that at the same location. Does nobody carry emergency rations of food anymore? Or can they not survive without food for a day or so? From the way the news reports read, it sounds like they even had a satellite phone, so could contact people to let them know that they're running late. (In theory, they could have even arranged for somebody to bring more food to them, if required - so long as they had a good arm to toss it across the river ).

I guess we will never know the entire situation and the complete set of facts, but from what we read in the news sources, this seems that it does not qualify for an emergency "rescue" (or an expensive taxi ride), in my opinion.

(From my own experience in another location, I once camped for three days at a very unpleasant location while waiting for a flooded river to subside.)

[headwerkn]

I tend to agree... anyone heading into Rhona/Denisons etc. should be at least vaguely prepared to wait out 12-24 hrs on the western side of the Gordon for the level to drop. Or stash a packraft if they absolutely *must* get to the other side

The Gordon tends to rise and fall pretty quickly at that spot, and given the Rescue Team couldn't get there until the next morning... yeah, an unnecessary rescue. While a bridge is probably justifiable, it would create more problems than it solves with numbers into the area. It would be worth PWS plonking a sign near the tent area on the western side of the main (primary) log crossing explaining to walkers that 1. there's a slightly higher log crossing a couple of hundred metres up to try and 2. if that's no good, make camp and wait.

Unfortunately too many people - I'd assume mostly visitors, but probably locals as well - have a schedule, a plane to catch or work to get to and don't build in any flexibility into their plans for weather. Always risky, especially on longer trips in the SW.

[norts]

I waited for 7 days on the wrong side, supposed to be a 3 day walk. We had run out of food by then. River kept getting higher and it also snowed on about day 5. We eventually were rescued by Taspol and some volunteers from the UTAS kayak club. They brought an inflatable canoe down and ferried the two of us back across with the kayakers paddling beside the canoe if anything went wrong.

[Paul]

We didnt get stranded by rising flood waters on the way out, because we hid food after crossing the low level water on the way in. We knew we could be cut off because of the BOM forecast - that ensured we had enough food to sit out the time it took for the high level water to recede,.

Paul.

[headwerkn]

I waited for 7 days on the wrong side, supposed to be a 3 day walk. We had run out of food by then. River kept getting higher and it also snowed on about day 5.

That's the definition of a justified rescue
I've stretched 7 days' worth of food to 10 before, but 7 out of 3 is rather impressive!

[TentPeg]

Front page and page 2 news in the Mercury Monday.
They went in to Lake Rhona Friday with river levels low and returned Saturday to find the Gordon "completely flooded".
They set off a phone satellite on Saturday. The chopper arrived Sunday morning and flew the seven of them to Strathgordon and then drove them to their cars at the Lake Rhona carpark.
They returned to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
This is just wrong on so many levels.
If the chopper service is a taxi service then surely they could have just winched them down at the carpark!
And the article is written to suggest these people had no alternative.
Wrong on so many levels.......

[Roadtonowhere]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

[Letstryagain]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

Welcome to the 2020's it's the era of entitlement

[Roadtonowhere]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

Welcome to the 2020's it's the era of entitlement

Apparently so.

[Tortoise]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning. That seemed excessive to me - we don't need as much food lying in a tent waiting than walking all day. In practice, I guess plenty of people arrive without all that extra food, though a bit of prep should mean they take at least some extra and be prepared to wait. On the other hand, perhaps some people interpret that sign to suggest that it's most likely to take 6 days for the river to go down enough to cross back.

[Tortoise]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning. That seemed excessive to me - we don't need as much food lying in a tent waiting than walking all day. In practice, I guess plenty of people arrive without all that extra food, though a bit of prep should mean they take at least some extra and be prepared to wait. On the other hand, perhaps some people interpret that sign to suggest that it's most likely to take 6 days for the river to go down enough to cross back, so they don't try waiting it out.

[Warin]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning.

Once on the other side of the river there would be little to stop people doing a food drop. Make it 10 days with tinned big sister puddings... and rum.

[Last]

If the Fire Brigade are called to your house and there's a fire or other emergency, it's a free service. If they are called and it's a false alarm, it costs. Not cheap either. Some years ago it was $500

[north-north-west]

So, if there was a walk bridge over the Gordon this "rescue" wouldn't have been needed?

We've had this discussion before. Go and have a look at the crossing area when the river is running high and tell us how to build a bridge there. Plus, the river keeps the numbers down. It gets too many visitors as it is.

[TentPeg]

So, if there was a walk bridge over the Gordon this "rescue" wouldn't have been needed?

We've had this discussion before. Go and have a look at the crossing area when the river is running high and tell us how to build a bridge there. Plus, the river keeps the numbers down. It gets too many visitors as it is.

That is a bit lazy isn't it? The current crossing is where it is because the log is there. When the log is gone there will be another crossing point!

Maybe Rhona is loved too much because people have to wait for a river window to get there.

We may have had the "conversation" but that doesn't mean that everyone agrees.

So we don't put a bridge over the Gordon so everyone goes at the same time. And then we put a toilet in plain view of everyone and wonder why it isn't used.

And when all else fails we blame the user.....

[north-north-west]

Actually, the current crossing is where it is because there's a reasonable ford. That's why the track was put there; you know, the track that leads directly to the ford. The log crossings are happy accidents.

So we find somewhere viable for a bridge and cut another new track to it - and probably even more new track to connect that to the current Rasselas track and to the existing roads and then there is nothing to limit the hordes from falling upon the place any and every day of the year ...

Rhona is over-visited because it''s beautiful, a relatively short walk, and Insta-famous.

[Letstryagain]

Excellent points North nw.

I remember scrambling across that log once only to see my walking companion cross the river at ankle depth. The natural dark water makes it look much deeper than it actually is.