New Zealand incidents

[wayno]

So it's agreed. Thousands of visitors likely and ONLY 30 deaths in Mt.Aspiring NP over 10 years.
Truth is they only have accurate figures on the negative outcomes. They wouldn't know how many actually visit.

We're just not doing our share when it comes to population mitigation.

a death is still a death and tragic no matter what the statistics, an experienced person i know died in the alps. most trampers i know in nz have had some close shaves.

[wayno]

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/ ... sing-man-0

Police and Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) from the central North Island continued the search for a missing 53-year-old man on Mount Tongariro this morning.

Four men set out at 8am yesterday to hike over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing from Ketetahi to Mangatepopo.

The group stayed together until the bush edge below Ketetahi Hut, where three of the men continued without the missing man.

Police were notified the man was missing by his wife when he did not return to his vehicle around 5pm.

The search continued until after midnight in blizzard conditions without success and reconvened at 7am this morning with four teams and helicopter assistance.

Conditions have improved today.

ENDS

Issued by the Police Media Centre

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/ ... iro-search

Police and Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) from the central North Island have located a body in the search for a missing 53-year-old man on Mount Tongariro.

A karakia will be held on Mangatepopo Road at 3pm today and a rahui will be put in place on the Tongariro Crossing for three days.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

[wayno]

Hunters rescued after being hit by avalanche

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times ... -avalanche

[wildwanderer]

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/search-continues-missing-man-0

Police and Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) from the central North Island continued the search for a missing 53-year-old man on Mount Tongariro this morning.

Four men set out at 8am yesterday to hike over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing from Ketetahi to Mangatepopo.

The group stayed together until the bush edge below Ketetahi Hut, where three of the men continued without the missing man.

Police were notified the man was missing by his wife when he did not return to his vehicle around 5pm.

The search continued until after midnight in blizzard conditions without success and reconvened at 7am this morning with four teams and helicopter assistance.

Conditions have improved today.

ENDS

Issued by the Police Media Centre

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/ ... iro-search

Police and Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR) from the central North Island have located a body in the search for a missing 53-year-old man on Mount Tongariro.

A karakia will be held on Mangatepopo Road at 3pm today and a rahui will be put in place on the Tongariro Crossing for three days.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

I often wonder in these situations of the culpability of the rest of the walking party.. do they just continue on when their 'mate' is struggling behind. And then scratch their heads when he doesn't turn up at the cars..

[nwphil]

very sad....it is a "thing" these days and not just in NZ.
what happen to the "we go in together and come out together"? I could go on about accountability and many other things but this is not the place nor the purpose of this thread.

[wayno]

very sad....it is a "thing" these days and not just in NZ.
what happen to the "we go in together and come out together"? I could go on about accountability and many other tgings bu this is not the place nor the purpose of this thread.

the crossing is marketted to tourists, they were indians, didnt have a clue the weather would be like that there, werent dressed for it, had no clue about group etiquette, didnt check the forecast, the guided walkers werent going that day the weather was so bad and the shuttles wouldnt have run for unguided walkers if the season had started...
people regularly go up in street clothes...
shuttles have banned people from going without an extra layer, stopping people who just went in a shirt and shorts and nothing else... but the clothing they take is often not good and wouldnt fare well in bad weather...

[wayno]

avalanche at Mt Cook National park kills two

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108236 ... ar-mt-cook

[wayno]

too manypeople get killed by avalanches, i've been close to an avalanche, its no laughing matter, you're up against a force that you are powerless to do anything about , the sound alone was terrifying, it was like thunder. keep your wits about you, dont go where you arent experienced to recognise the dangers. even experienced people can still miscalculate the risks

[wayno]

Tramper 'lucky to be alive' after nighttime fall down 20m waterfall

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/arti ... d=12157499

[wayno]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108979 ... on-mt-cook

[wildwanderer]

too manypeople get killed by avalanches, i've been close to an avalanche, its no laughing matter, you're up against a force that you are powerless to do anything about , the sound alone was terrifying, it was like thunder. keep your wits about you, dont go where you arent experienced to recognise the dangers. even experienced people can still miscalculate the risks

Just returned from NZ. One night I was camped in avalanche terrain at 1000m and while I was confident I was below a rocky spur with no snow directly above, the crack and roar of multiple nearby avalanches was enough to make me rapidly pull stumps and decend to below the tree line in fading light. Fastest pack up, move location and re setup camp I've ever done.

Throughout the night I could hear avalanches falling at high elevations futher up the valley. Scary as $#&$!!

[Aardvark]

Throughout the night I could hear avalanches falling at high elevations futher up the valley. Scary as $#&$!!

It's a memorable experience alright.
On multi day trips over glaciers i would dart around looking for avalanches and icefall when i heard them, only to often see the tail end of a deluge on the other side of the glacier. The roar always made it sound like it may be coming your way but then all i ever saw was a dribble of snow and ice, far away and in the scale of the whole landscape it was like a glass of water being tipped out. Quite alarming at night. I'm not sure i could ever totally ignore it.

[wayno]

Hiker rescued from Mt Ngauruhoe
Saturday, 27 April 2019 - 8:23pm
Bay of Plenty
Please attribute to Senior Constable Barry Shepherd:

A 27-year-old Auckland man owes his life to rescuers from LandSAR Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO) tonight after being stranded near the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe today.

The man was one of a group of 14 people from Auckland who set out this morning to hike over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

The group consisted of people of varying levels of fitness and enthusiasm, and the group split into several smaller groups as the day went on.

His friends reported him overdue at 2.30pm when he did not meet them at the Ketetahi carpark as arranged.

Police were able to send a message to his cell phone and determined his location using Mobile locate. The Greenlea rescue helicopter was dispatched from Taupo but low cloud prevented is getting into the Mangatepopo Valley.

Two RARO teams headed up the Valley on foot and the first team got to the man just below the Ngauruhoe Summit at 7pm.

The team has made a sterling effort finding the man in zero visibility, strong wind and freezing temperatures.

After rendering some assistance to him the team is now encouraging and assisting him down Mt Ngauruhoe.

A second RARO team has also arrived on scene to assist. A total of five rescuers are now assisting the lost hiker. The hiker is very cold but otherwise uninjured.

More information will be available when this event has concluded.

ENDS

Issued By Police Media Centre https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release ... -ngauruhoe

[wayno]

On Easter Sunday Horowhenua SAR coordinated a search for a runner in distress in the area of Kime Hut in the southern Tararuas. She was located lying motionless near the track and was flown to Masterton hospital. What follows is the story in her own words.
the name of the person will not be posted to keep the writer annonymous

"How do I begin to say what I need to say?
This will be raw and a recollection of events to the best of my ability.
This past Easter Sunday April 21st 2019, A lot of lessons learned and far too many people to thank.
I have hit the trails and the hills often and having spent my youth through to adult hood attacking New Zealand’s great outdoors. Sometimes pushing the boundaries and at times with experience, adventured well into our back country for long durations at a time.
For the love of it and to explore, I’m no stranger to hitting the tramping tracks for a run. I like to think I am well prepared and experienced enough to make the right decisions in our awesome back yard.
This past Sunday I broke all my own rules, made bad decisions and murphy’s law, what could go wrong did go wrong.
I was extremely lucky and if it wasn’t for a few people (my hero's) I wouldn’t be here today.
Against experienced advice from a colleague and friend I decided to run “Field Hut” and onwards to “Table Top” opening in the dramatic Tararua’s. Knowing that there was bad weather due, I decided I could make the trip and back before it hit and all would be well. Far too eager and “Mistake Number 1”.
Having meet a full hut of people and busy track, through passing conversation it seemed that weather conditions were fairly pleasant and achievable.
I had made great time to the hut and had had plenty of food and water for my day’s trip.
Having cooled down already, I shouldn’t have continued past the hut onwards to the tops. “Mistake Number 2”.
Still making good time and resetting my Garmin GPS watch to track myself I made it to Table Top in no time. At this point it was completely in fog. I decided if I went a little further maybe it would clear higher up. Thinking I wouldn’t have to go much further.
I was sweating and warm from the journey and decided to hang my jacket on a snow stake poles that show the track, thinking I’ll just pick it up on the way back. “I’ll only go another 5 minutes”, this could have been a life changing decision and “Mistake Number 3”.
Continuing on, now 2.8km from the “Field Hut” about 1 hours walk I was really starting to feel the cold and unbeknown to me hypothermia had already started to set in. I checked my time and noticed a almost instant change in weather, (hale and ice like winds) deciding to turn around to make the journey back, it was already too late.
With a full battery and cell phone service I was able to contact two people whom without them I wouldn’t have the opportunity to sit and give thanks today.
Loosing that connection, unable to walk anymore, tiredness set in and the wind chill was too much to bear the following decisions saved my life.
My fear was, I knew a real threat of hypothermia was that, I could lose my alertness, hallucinate and become disorientated, the last thing I wanted to do was become lost and veer off track.
So I hunkered down on the track under a shrub knowing that a Rescue Team would be 3 hours from the road end and I had given them a rough indication of my location. Hanging my visually bright camel pack on a rock to see me was my saving grace.
I came round 4 and half hours later to a helicopter hovering over me and a big bearded angel lifting me up and taking me to Masterton hospital where the lovely staff treated me for Hypothermia and the journey since has been an incredible one.
I am so so overwhelmingly grateful to the following people. Words cannot describe how thankful to you I am.
Senior Station Officer Steve Hudson for being my point of contact, for talking me down the Mountain and for all your expert advice and reliable contacts. Mate I should have listened to you and you’ll be forever my point of call for my future expeditions.
To Josh Nicholls for all the hard phones calls you had to make, for all the back ground stuff, alerting the authorities and for being My Rock.
Rob Bigwood the machine and bearded angel who ran in, ahead of the Search Team. You seriously are a Hero. A true legend. And I’ll be forever in your debt.
Jason Diedrichs from Amalgamated Helicopters in Carterton, your local knowledge and guts as a pilot is priceless and I’m so glad there was a break in the cloud. So grateful for your skills and for getting me to where I needed to be.
To the Levin Police and SAR Teams that I didn’t meet but know you were deployed and working hard I thank you for coming together quickly and making that trip in on foot.
Sorry to my Family and Friends to put you through this but know that I’m so overwhelmed by the love and support everyone had shown me. I’m speechless and a tad emotional.
I know I can’t thank you all enough, but hope there are some lessons for others that enjoy our great outdoors. Please learn from my mistakes, pack appropriately, tell someone of your planned trip and route, take a locating device, write your trip intentions in the hut books or online, research the weather and tracks. Be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.
Make the right decisions."

[wildwanderer]

I’ve often wondered about trail runners and if they are rolling the dice when in alpine or other danger prone areas..

Last year I came across a commercial running outfit must have been 20 runners heading up to Crucible Lake at Mount Aspiring National Park. They were spread across 2 km. (It’s a 4-5+ hour one way trip from the jetboat drop off point on the Wilkin if you’re walking)

There was one guy at the rear carrying a couple of flags and a 6L backpack who seemed to be the guide/operator. (dont know the point of the flags.. no one can see them past 50-100m..) Everyone else is in running gear with a camel bak and a few energy gels. A few carrying shell jackets. I noticed a shell discarded in the middle of the trail.. (Maybe this is a common thing among runners just discard and pickup on the way back? As the women mentioned by wayno did the same.) Up at Cruicle it was aprox 1C to 5C and the cloud layer constantly rising and desending to the lake, meaning the air is wet and cold.

While most of the lowland portion of the trip is on decent tracks, there are river/stream crossings and the route up to Crucible is steep and unformed not to mention avalanche prone in the upper areas.. (I witnessed one and heard several while I was up there the day before). Its complex avalanche terrain meaning they can reach the track and you cant avoid them.

With zero equipment/warm gear.. what happens if a trail runner has an issue and cant continue.. I guess in the commercial groups case there is safety in numbers however sole runners such as the women referenced have no such back up. She was lucky she had mobile phone coverage or would likely be dead from hypothermia.
As for the commercial group.. the erosion caused by all those runners rapidly pulling themselves up via tree roots on the very steep lose dirt path up to Crucible would have been tremendous.

maybe I’m just jealous of their fitness.. but I do think running far in wilderness zones with no equipment is rolling the dice and just relying on rescue services as the only option if there is an issue.

At the minimum for that commerical group there should have been two guides one at the front and rear carrying two way radios.. (im guessing/hoping the sole guide had a PLB)

[wayno]

in the seventies, three runners in the hills near wellington went for a run. a southerly front moved through after they started two hours later they all dead...
runners are constantly pushing their luck, minimal gear, no emergency shelter. they rely on keeping moving to stay warm in cold weather.... if they cant move. they are in real trouble. more runners are tackling bigger tracks further into the wilderness...

[wayno]

Tramper in nelson lakes dies from hypothermia.

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/11319475 ... rua-ranges

[wayno]

Tararua Ranges search for missing tramper Darren Myers enters day six

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113315 ... rs-day-six

[wayno]

Golden Bay tramper's story of survival: 30 hours without food, water, or shelter


https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113244 ... or-shelter

[wayno]

Body found in search for missing man, West Coast

https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release ... west-coast

[wayno]

BODY FOUND IN TARARUA SEARCH

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/113418 ... arua-range