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severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Mon 07 Sep, 2015 11:41 am
by wayno
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news ... g-mountain

Two foreign tourists rescued after a freezing -19 degree Celsius night on a Nelson Lakes mountain should not have been in the area, a DoC worker says.
The pair, an Irish woman and a Latvian man both in their 20s, were unable to be rescued by helicopter on Sunday morning due to high winds and bad weather, but a team of rescuers did reach them and warmed them up from their hypothermic states.
They were picked up at about 1pm during a break in the weather and were checked over by an advanced paramedic who determined they should not need further medical treatment.
Department of Conservation conservation services manager John Wotherspoon later said it was disappointing people had been up on the mountain given the bad weather that had been forecasted.
"It was well predicted, it did exactly what it said it would do," he said.
"If they were in a hut and the weather was bad they should have just stayed in the hut. You don't set off late in the afternoon, which is sounds like they did, to head away in deteriorating weather, that just doesn't make sense."
He said too often people made the mistake of going into the Nelson Lakes area without adequate experience or equipment, or without taking heed of the weather forecast.
Peoples' safety was their own responsibility, but DOC was there to give information, he said.
"Always check the weather forecast. Make sure you don't go anywhere where you don't have the right experience or equipment to take on that sort of country and if you're unsure talk to the front desk staff in the visitor centres they'll give you good information, and people should follow it."
Wotherspoon said he did not think the pair had gone to the visitor centre to ask for information about the route.
The pair became stranded after the woman fell on the route from Mt Angelus to Speargrass on Saturday evening, at an altitude of 1600 metres. It was snowing at the time.
The man went to assist her, then the pair called police at 5.45pm, search coordinator senior constable Dave Colville said.
"Why they were up there so late, I'll never know."
A police search and rescue team reached the trampers at 5.30am, and erected tents to try and warm the patients up. A doctor was among the rescuers, Colville said. The trampers were found 25m below the saddle in a hypothermic state, unable to assist themselves or rescuers. There was a wind chill of -19C and heavy blowing snow.
Colville said the rescuers had warmed them and their body temperatures had risen taking them out of danger of being hypothermic.
Neither of the trampers was injured, he said. Their level of experience and equipment was not yet known.
Colville said the first rescue team to reach the pair early on Sunday had done an outstanding job to bring them back from a severely hypothermic state prior to the helicopter's arrival.
Colville said the trampers were extremely lucky to have been rescued as their condition when they were found meant they were unable to help themselves.
"Without a doubt if they didn't have a cellphone and couldn't call us they would've been brown bread (dead)," he said.
"They might've survived to the morning but they couldn't walk out as their boots were frozen solid."
Police were speaking to the pair at St Arnaud.
The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter was able to fly the two search teams out as well.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Tue 08 Sep, 2015 12:48 pm
by wayno

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 6:01 am
by wayno
ill clad, set out late in the day for a hut high above the bushline in deteriorating weather and snow, no emergency shelter. helkicopter couldnt reach them, without sar rescueing and reviving them from hypothermia, they would be dead.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 8:14 am
by GPSGuided
Knowing their thinking would be feedback well for education and prevention planning.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 8:27 am
by walkon
I've read this with interest, really has a sense of deja vu about it. Not often you get a well prepared/equipped tramper needing rescue.

Gps the trouble is that the ones who need the education the most wont be looking for it.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 8:45 am
by north-north-west
wayno wrote:ill clad, set out late in the day for a hut high above the bushline in deteriorating weather and snow, no emergency shelter. helicopter couldnt reach them, without sar rescuing and reviving them from hypothermia, they would be dead.

Darwin Award material. It doesn't matter how often this happens - and gets publicised - it keeps on happening.
You can't legislate against willful ignorance.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 9:38 am
by wayno
GPSGuided wrote:Knowing their thinking would be feedback well for education and prevention planning.


Not a lot of thinking. Just do it mentality. They are nice an comfy at the lower hut so head up for a view..... Hhit the pass and hey its icy. Bad vis. Extreme winds. And its getting dark. The hut is a fee hundred metres away and they couldnt make it there or find it..

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 10:07 am
by GPSGuided
..

Edit: Strange, double posted without an obvious reason. And where has that delete post option gone?

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 10:09 am
by GPSGuided
walkon wrote:Gps the trouble is that the ones who need the education the most wont be looking for it.

But can help the DoC decide a better form of message delivery. Maybe through common tourist gateways (eg. Airlines) or backpacker/hotels or at notices in the lodge. Or one can take the attitude that this is purely up to those tourists, it's their bad luck if they don't think. I'm more concerned of the SAR crew, who have to risk their lives over these poor decisions.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 11:36 am
by wayno
various places have warning signs, tongariro crossing has a massive sign warning people to be properly equipped or turn back and they do the same thing up there... late walks up ngauruhoe without torches warm clothes or shelter. if they aren't freezing cold when they are standing in front of the sign they'll keep going. television generation, bad things happen to other people. some people want to experience danger and cant assess, prepare for and manage the risks associated.
bear grylls makes it all look so easy, get out there and get into it..., tackle everything head on...

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 11:42 am
by GPSGuided
I'm sure Bear Grylls taught that we should go naked when cold and wet... :D

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Sep, 2015 1:24 pm
by wayno
GPSGuided wrote:I'm sure Bear Grylls taught that we should go naked when cold and wet... :D



i've seen a couple of incidents at least of people being "lost" but the facts stack up like they were doing an overnight bear grylls but didnt tell anyone possibly because of negative response and pretende they were lost, one guy crossed a road when he was "lost" and kept walking through the bush, another one, went right round a small park for days , he was very familiar with the park and claimed he was lost... yet he had a lot of food with him and his favourite program was man vs wild and he wanted to apply for the military special forces...

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Thu 10 Sep, 2015 9:22 pm
by South_Aussie_Hiker
Two foreign tourists rescued after a freezing -19 degree Celsius night on a Nelson Lakes mountain should not have been in the area, a DoC worker says.


Oh, a "freezing" -19 night. Well that makes all the difference, here I was thinking it was a non freezing -19 :wink:

Journalism at its finest.

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Fri 11 Sep, 2015 3:56 am
by wayno
that was actually the wind chill , it was a few degrees below zero and very windy...

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Wed 09 Dec, 2015 4:02 pm
by john l
makes me think how cold it could get on the travis in oct?

Re: severely hypothermic trampers rescued

PostPosted: Fri 11 Dec, 2015 4:02 am
by wayno
Travers? Nelson lakes? someones just been rescued hypothermic from taranaki at around 1600m he was out for the day. be prepared for cold weather year round in the NZ mountains.