tramper swept away on Milford Track

[wayno]

partner of an australian swept away

A female tramper is missing and there are grave fears for her safety after she was swept down a river on the Milford Track in Fiordland yesterday.

There has been no sign of the 22-year-old tourist since 6pm when the incident happened at 3pm.

Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley said the woman was walking the track with her Australian partner when it appeared she became caught up in the Pompolona Creek at around 3pm yesterday afternoon and was swept into the Clinton River.

Her male companion had activated a beacon yesterday after the incident occurred.

The Rescue Coordination Centre attempted to send a Southern Lakes Helicopter to Pompolona Lodge but the helicopter needed to turn back due to adverse weather conditions, Fairley said.

This morning at around 7.30am a helicopter and observer search crew visited the area, searching the Clinton River and surrounds but did not find anything of significance.

Fairley said Pompolona Creek has a heavy flow due to recent rainfall and weather conditions in the area are poor with rain continuing to fall this afternoon.

The conditions were such that a foot search is not feasible. It's planned that a further aerial search would be conducted this afternoon.

Police were working with local Department of Conservation staff and local LandSAR volunteers to ensure that they had the best possible knowledge of the search area and conditions.

The pair was visiting New Zealand and walking the Milford Track after spending some time in Queenstown. Police are not able to release the nationality of the woman involved.

The male tramper is helping police with the search effort and is being supported by Victim Support.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) spokesman Michael Flyger said a beacon was activated by an Australian party of three about 6pm yesterday, near Mintaro Hutt on the track.

Grim weather prevented a helicopter reaching the area last night but a police team was flown to the hut this morning.

It has been reported one of the group is missing, he said.

There had been a lot of rain in the Fiordland and the rivers, including the Clinton River, were very high and fast-flowing, Flyger said.

The RCCNZ was working with Te Anau police to get more information from the tramping party.

The Milford Track is one of the country's most popular tramps, and is listed as one of New Zealand's nine great walks by the Department of Conservation.

Weather in the area is poor, with the MetService issuing a severe weather warning at 9.02am today.

A series of fronts are forecast to bring heavy rain to Fiordland today and for part of tomorrow.

Heavy rain fell in Fiordland yesterday and a further 180 millimetres to 220mm was expected over the next 24 hours.

MetService said rivers and streams might rise rapidly and surface flooding and slips were possible.

- Stuff
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1006305 ... swept-away

[GPSGuided]

Dreadful! Not familiar with the Milford Track, but satellite images didn't suggest there's a bridge or similar for the crossing. Is it a particularly treacherous crossing? Images and photos seemed to suggest it's a decently wide and rocky crossing.

Fingers crossed...

[wayno]

might be a removeable bridge for that creek... they take them out at the end of april when the track service level is downgraded to avoid avalanche and flood damage

[wayno]

sydney woman swept away
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/german-touris ... zrj9v.html

[photohiker]

Hmm.

Swollen river, 3 hikers arrive too late to see the crossing stones but decide to cross anyway, then they decide to cross 2 at a time?

Sad result.

[wayno]

Hmm.

Swollen river, 3 hikers arrive too late to see the crossing stones but decide to cross anyway, then they decide to cross 2 at a time?

Sad result.

possibly lack of experience with river crossing to recognise the danger... if you havent experienced crossing in a strong current, you dont know how difficult it can be,,,

[GPSGuided]

Indeed. I have no experiences with river/creek crossings of any significance, lest there in fiordland. Can't really comprehend the exact scenario. When it gets deep and rushed, I turn back. BTW, where is this Pompolona Creek. I assumed it's the one just north-west of Pompolona Hut. Is that not the one? The news story suggests it's somewhere else.

[wayno]

it might be the one at the bus shelter, theres a couple of creeks there with removeable bridges,,, normally its a trickle, but in heavy rain its floods majorly, theres a big rocky creek bed

[GPSGuided]

The report mentioned running back to Mintaro Hut, so should be b/n Pompolona Lodge and Mintaro Hut rather than on Bus Stop Shelter side. Only question is, which marked creek on the map is Pompolona Creek? B/n the two huts, there are 3 creek crossings, two without bridge marking.

[wayno]

search put on hold
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/search- ... es-5977143

[wayno]

search resumes
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1006623 ... er-resumes

[Strider]

Very sad news

[wayno]

pays to do your homework about what you're getting into...

[GPSGuided]

pays to do your homework about what you're getting into...

Most likely a lack of experience and unfamiliarity of NZ's condition on top. Once upon a time, uni students join their bushwalking club to venture out and be guided. These days, youth have so much more freedom and easy access to various adventures. Very sad and condolence to the family. They'd be heart broken.

Whilst I am aware of the previous discussion and discounting of rope in river crossings. In a situation like this, could rope have helped? Also, the victim being an Asian girl (read lightweight), was removing the backpack the correct move? I understood that weight can assist with one's stability in water. Is that correct?

[wayno]

confirmed dead

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11258973

[andrewbish]

Sad to hear this.

It's easy to underestimate the force of a swollen, fast-flowing river. I got lucky last year after being swept off my feet when crossing a river post-rainfall at Arthurs' Pass, NZ. Managed to scramble to the far bank by dragging myself along the river bottom. *&%$#! scary. Lesson learned.

[wayno]

I stepped into a hole walking along a flooded rivers edge and got swept away.... the river had control of me for nearly half an hour before i could get out, saved by a pack liner that kept my pack buoyant as i sped my way down river.. i wondered for a while if i was going to meet my maker when i couldnt get out of the main current and back to the bank. the words "completely helpless" came to mind...

[GPSGuided]

Wasn't that long ago we discussed the subject here.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16554&p=220670

[izogi]

In a situation like this, could rope have helped?

I don't think so. There are "safe" ways to use a rope but it's a very expert style of thing for getting right, at least in typical NZ rivers which tend to be fast and steep flowing mountain rivers. It's likely for most that using a rope will put people in more danger than not. That could be risking getting tangled and held underwater, getting strangled, having a false enough sense of security to be torn away unexpectedly, and so on. It's more than just fast-flowing water, too. Flooded rivers shift boulders and trees and whatever else is swept into them.

From the latest Herald account it sound as if it could have been borderline so that people with adequate ability might have safely handled it. Probably the best thing here, though, would have been to have adequately assessed that the group couldn't get through safely, and then avoided entering the river to begin with. It can be really hard if you're not prepared (mentally or otherwise) for not reaching an intended destination, though. Sadly so many of these rivers where people kill themselves in NZ are within a very short distance of reaching a back-country hut or a car-park.

[GPSGuided]

If they had a rope, wouldn't they have had the option to throw a line? So sad.

[geoskid]

I think the message about the dangers of that particular track in flood is inadequate ( considering the all-comers that walk it).
It's not so much that you will drown in the numerous side creeks that cross the track in both the Clinton River and Arthur River Valleys if you lose your footing during flood conditions, it's more that if you don't regain your feet or get to the edge of the creek or somehow arrest your flow quickly enough, you will drown in the Clinton or Arthur River, which in many places is very close to the track.
It makes the decision of whether or not to cross the side creeks a different ball game than what might be apparent - it needs to be a 100% yes I/We can or don't do it.
In Jan'13 the track was closed the night we were in the last hut. Next morning the ranger gave our hut the opportunity to go (checking Arthur River levels) if we went quickly before increasing rain resulted in more rise.
Everyone else left ,with our family and one other family about half an hour behind them. The track is quite close to the Arthur River after leaving Dumpling Hut and it was thunderous, white and boiling from bank to bank. In about 20 mins we got to the first creek crossing the track, and whilst not particularly deep (knees), it was very fast.
Everyone before us obviously got past, but with 2 kids (lightweight), and this being the first of many crossings, I pulled the pin and we went back to Dumpling Hut for another night. The consequence of losing footing in the creek draining into that torrent so close was more than I was prepared to risk.

[wayno]

depends what you mean about

could a rope have helped

one method of using a rope is to tie it to your waist as you cross a water course while someone on hte river bank holds the other end .... as already commented thats a contentious method of crossing a river and can be very dangerous...
safer way is the person crossing to possibly hang onto the rope but that can easily end up unbalancing you.
or have a rope as backup to throw to someone if they get into trouble crossing..

[roman331]

So sad that this has happened...
I have to say though that the two guys that crossed first and left the female to cross on her own ....what where they thinking!?
And to blame DOC?? I hiked the Milford track late last year, it was my first ever real hike. Yet even I could see the possible dangers this track presented.
If I had to make a call on who was responsible for the death, it would be firstly - the woman herself. Secondly, the two guys leaving her alone to cross by herself in a raging river...well what do you think is going to happen?
Im sorry if my post sounds harsh, but it makes me angry when someone makes a bad call, and blames someone else for the terrible outcome.

[wayno]

you might want to re read the article
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/german-touris ... zrj9v.html

it states sean went back to help the lady across but coming back across with her he was swept down stream..

[izogi]

If they had a rope, wouldn't they have had the option to throw a line? So sad.

In a desperate situation then I guess yes. From the description though, it might have overbalanced her trying to catch it if she hadn't overbalanced through panic (as that guy reported). It's hard to tell without having been there, I guess.

I'm no an expert (maybe someone here is and could comment). My understanding is that the 'safe' ways to use a rope is more of a mountaineering-style belay technique. So you'd have an end of the rope attached to a harness, then routed around an anchor somewhere up-stream (maybe a sturdy tree), with the other end held by a person on the other side of the pivot to let out rope or pull it in as it's needed, to minimise the chance of getting tangled or pulled under or having a wrist snapped.

But yeah. The safest thing would have been to determine that they probably shouldn't have entered to begin with.


I'm not sure on the message about dangers on this track. Everywhere I see official info about any tramping in New Zealand, there seem to be warnings all over it. That could be DOC's website, it could be information brochures, it could be signs, or it could be speaking directly to DOC staff who will frequently warn conservatively because they'll risk getting public blame if someone screws up and it eventuates they didn't.

They were walking the track out of booking season and they must have known that. Even still, DOC provides an extensive page on winter tramping for the Milford as part of its plan & prepare section, clearly explaining that bridges are removed, clearly describing the conditions to expect, and stressing that skills, fitness and experience are needed to attempt it out of season. I don't know if it played a role here, but there seems to be such a wide informal network of backpackers and travelers simply talking each other and trusting each other more than anything official which tells them what to do. Where safety advice is concerned I don't know how to address that, except to think that at some point people need to accept responsibility for their own actions and decisions.

[wayno]

i'm not suggesting what i'm about to say applied to the people on this tragic milford track trip, but there are a certain amount of bushwalkers in NZ who actively avoid contact with DOC as much as possible as they use the DOC huts and avoid paying for their use as much as possible... a bit of networking goes on with information being exchanged amongst these bushwalkers about where to go and when to avoid hut rangers... to a certain extent these people can end up missing out on valuable information about track status updates...
if this party had contacted DOC beforehand about their trip, it would be likely DOC would have informed them about the current status of the milford tracks, the removed bridges and the potentially dangerous water crossings... Milford track or not, you're in the NZ back country, keep your wits about you.. if in doubt wait it out... its not that uncommon for people to have to wait days for normally easy stream crossings that have flooded to recede enough to be safe to cross.

[wayno]

some advertising for NZ tramps show nice weather, tracks are actively promoted as being suitable for people of average outdoors ability.. but the finer details are buried, you do have to search around a bit to find references to the bridges being removed and dangers of travelling the milford track out of season... fiordland you're almost guaranteed to get rain and its heavier than most places in the world.... 200mm of rain in a day isnt that uncommon

[GPSGuided]

Reading the story, I was quite surprised they carried a PLB. Suggesting there is a level of preparation and possibly experience.

[wayno]

Reading the story, I was quite surprised they carried a PLB. Suggesting there is a level of preparation and possibly experience.

experience for where though? the desert. dry forests? if you're not used to a raging torrent cutting through your route and the comfort of the next hut is nearby on the other side.....

[wayno]

Tramper vents anger at DOC
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/1007033 ... ger-at-DOC