Windy Tops

Tag: favourite

  • How the Cave Creek Accident shaped DoC

    If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might have noticed me comment occasionally about ways in which the NZ Department of Conservation’s safety policies influence an experience in the back-country. I refer to things such as asset numbers being stamped everywhere, gratuitous warning signage, and removal of bunks from huts to comply with a law intended for urban environments. When I’ve discussed these issues with tramping friends, the Cave Creek Tragedy of 28th April 1995 has usually been cited as the reason, and it’s not so much a presumption.

    This Thursday will be the 16th anniversary of the Cave Creek Disaster. Besides the impact it had on many people and families, the accident also had a profound impact on DoC and its management of much of New Zealand’s outdoors. At the time it was the most serious accident to have occurred in modern times on the Conservation Estate, short of aircraft accidents. The implications were not shaped just by the accident itself, but in the numerous factors and fundamental faults in DoC’s design from the beginning. These flaws created a situation that would very likely have led to a serious accident sooner or later.

    From time to time I’ve met people (often from outside New Zealand) who needed explanation of what happened at Cave Creek. Despite having followed news at the time, and remembering bits from a television documentary that screened in 1998, I was also young when it happened. It’s only after trying to explain the significance of the event that I found I really didn’t know as much detail as I thought I did. Therefore I’ve tried to research things from (easily) available sources, and collated it here. I’ve attempted to present things accurately and hopefully opinionated bits will be easily distinguished. With a few exceptions I’ve removed names because I don’t think they’re relevant, but all of that should be fairly easy to discover for those interested. As always, I welcome any comments or corrections in the comments section.

    THE ACCIDENT

    In 1995, Tai Poutini Polytechnic continued to develop its Outdoor Recreation course for those wanting a career in outdoor pursuits, with training in a wide range of outdoor activities. 40 students took the course that year. To make things manageable they were split into two groups of 20. Between the 27th and 28th of April, Group A and then Group B would take part in a field trip meant specifically for non-recreational studies. In essence, it was a guided visit to the bush, to learn a few things and foster an appreciation of the environment in which they’d likely be working. This time they’d visit an area that included the Cave Creek Resurgence, and a platform located 30 metres above a chasm would allow viewing of the point at which Cave Creek emerged from an underground cave system (here it is on a map).

    On the day before the accident, Shirley Slatter, the Information Manager of DoC’s Punakaiki Visitor Centre, accompanied course tutor John Skilton and 20 students of Group A to the platform. As people stood on the platform, Ms Slatter thought she noticed it move slightly. This concerned her, and afterwards she managed to persuade Stephen O’Dea, the new manager of the visitor’s centre who’d not yet seen the platform, to return with Group B the following day and check it out. Ms Slatter even went as far to suggest that people probably shouldn’t be allowed to crowd onto the platform at once. It simply never occurred to her that the situation had been so serious, and for then at least she was content with reporting her concerns.
    (more…)

  • Trip: Powell, Totara Flats and Sayers

    5267725185_35e7683f18_m-7374090
    Saturday night sunset
    on Totara Flats.

    This is meant to be a tramping club trip, though really it’s just Éamonn and me. We’re the “social” trip, but I think people bailed on the social idea when it became clearer that we’d be pack-horses for everyone else who’s converging on Totara Flats from various directions. Between us we’ve decided the most “social” way of getting to Totara Flats will be up to Powell and over High Ridge. I’ve decided my hobby on this trip will be collecting Department of Conservation Asset Numbers. Asset number bagging is set to be the next big thing once everyone’s gotten bored of hut bagging, and I figure I’m getting a head-start on the crowd.

    Dates: 10th – 12th December, 2010
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Holdsworth Road End.
    People: Éamonn and me.
    Huts visited: Holdsworth Lodge (0 nights), Mountain House Shelter (0 nights), Powell Hut (1 night), Totara Flats Hut (1 night), Sayers Hut (0 nights).
    Intended route: Walk to Powell Hut on Friday night, then over High Ridge to Totara Flats for Saturday night, then back out to Holdsworth Road.
    Actual route: Powell Hut on Friday night, but to Totara Flats via the more direct route. Over the Waiohine to Sayers Hut on Sunday, the up to spot-height 772 and along ridge to the north past 768, and eventually back to the track above Totara Creek. Then out to Holdsworth Road via Pig Flat, and down to the Atiwhakatu Track.
    [Photos]

    [Download GPX file] [View GPX on NZTopoMap]
    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.
    5267715733_b325f6bb97_m-5830903
    The Atiwhakatu Valley
    from near Rocky Lookout.

    Friday, 8pm: We’ve arrived at the Holdsworth road-end, the weather’s not too flash. Best to get going.

    8.55pm: It’s not quite raining yet, but a strong nor-westerly is blowing. I’ve just been nearly blown off my feet near the Rocky Lookout. Not at the lookout, but on the track below it. The wind just came screaming alongside the ridge out of nowhere. It’s eerie and discomforting.

    This’ll be bad for Steve and Richard, who were planning to walk and swim down the Waiohine Gorge. We’ve checked the book and they signed in at Holdsworth Lodge earlier today, headed straight for Waiohine Forks. We’ll be okay for ourselves, by comparison. I have the rain all sussed since I bought myself a brand new tramping umbrella earlier today. It’s in my pack, and may just prove to be the best $14.99 I’ve ever spent.

    (more…)

  • The Next Three Hours

    Last weekend, when four of us bailed out of our trip through Leon Kinvig Hut in the Ruahines, part of the reasoning was the weather forecast. All things considered I think we made a good decision, and it started me thinking about the role of weather forecasts in outdoor recreation, especially tramping.

    Something I’ve heard about New Zealand is that for the next three hours, a good judgement on the weather from looking out the window is likely to be more accurate than a forecast issued by the MetService. After three hours, probabilities switch around and the forecast becomes more accurate than what you can typically judge on your own. Coming from me this is just an out-of-context statement taken from anecdotal rumours of random research, but I find the essence believable. Obviously it depends on how you interpret statistics and the “correctness” of forecasts, not to mention how good you are at judging the weather. A more important point to draw from this is that there’s a lot of information available from observing what’s around you, especially regarding what’s about to happen during the next few hours.

    Forecasts in New Zealand are also fallible thanks to limited data, proximity to the sea, endless micro-climates, and the need to simplify the colossal amount of information and expertise into a way that can be conveyed to people not trained in meteorology. A sunny forecast doesn’t guarantee sunny weather, and vice-versa. Even the isobar charts, which I think can convey some of the most useful information if applied well with local knowledge (something for which I’d like to improve my skills), are a gross simplification of all the information considered by forecasters who draw them.
    (more…)

  • In Search of Esmond J. Kime

    Here’s a slice of history:

    From Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 137, 13 June 1922, Page 8:
    MISSING TRAMPERS

    Two Wellington youths, who set out to cross the Tararuas last Thursday morning, have not since been heard of, and their long absence has aroused anxiety for their safety. They are Mr. Allan Bollons, son of Captain Bollons, of Wellington, and Mr. E. J. Kime, of Rongotea, and both are employees of the Post and Telegraph Department. They expected reaching Otaki on Saturday night or Sunday morning, but in view of the amount of snow on the ranges, it is considered that they may have taken shelter in the Mt. Alpha hut, and remained there.

    Mr Vosseler, the chief guide of the Tararua Tramping Club, has organised two search parties to go over the range from each side, and the parties left the city this morning.

    The year of 1922 was probably a turning point for how the Tararua Range was seen and treated by people in outdoor recreation circles. At a time when best practices for visiting the back-country were in a comparative infancy, two serious accidents, first in January and then in June, were a catalyst for improving tracks and the building of a new hut on the Tararuas’ Southern Crossing route.

    1425662741_39bea50ee8_m-6583631
    Kime Hut as it currently stands. The current
    hut is the first replacement on the current site,
    having been built during the 1970s.
    [Update 12-Dec-2013: Kime Hut has been replaced
    again, so is now in its third incarnation.]

    Tellings of both accidents are given through Chris MacLean’s history of the Tararuas titled Tararua: the story of a mountain range, to which I often refer on this blog because I think it’s such a great book. It was only when searching for more information after a query that I noticed the National Library has very recently added another 30 years of issues of The Evening Post to its public online and searchable archive called Papers Past. This makes it easier to view another perspective through the Evening Post as things unfolded. It also reveals additional information that isn’t widely circulated, especially around Alan Bollons’ side of the story as was related through interviews in the Evening Post, which I wasn’t very aware of until now.

    Below, I’ve reproduced a batch of newspaper articles about the search for Esmond Kime as it occurred, and some of the consequences that eventually led to the improvements of tracks and hut facilities along the Tararua Southern Crossing route. Thanks to the National Library for resourcing the Papers Past service and making this possible, and thanks to Ms Hamilton nee Bollons for starting the discussion that led to me coming across this. I’ve found reading the whole lot really fascinating.
    (more…)

  • Trip: Crow Hut, McKinnon Hut and general confusion

    4741840406_0f680dc882_m-7756698
    Above McKinnon Hut.

    Getting out of Crow Hut right now is one of the more awkward climbs from a valley I’ve personally had. We more or less slid down the hill-side yesterday morning, persistent rain apparently making the topsoil absolutely sodden. A year ago I bought the cheapest Scarpas I could find, part of an experiment with getting cheap boots, but the soles are the best I’ve had on any boots to date and I’ve learned to trust them. Yesterday they often failed. Placing them flat on the soil (usually safe) was enough to trigger random acts of slipping and sliding, or sometimes not. So, now on the way up, and faced with one of yesterday’s 80 centimetre skid-marks on a 40 degree slope and no clear way around the edges, I have some uncertainty about exactly where to put my foot.

    Still, in my case with hands poised in front ready to spread myself flat on the ground and slow the slide next time something slips out of place, we eventually get through the worst of it.

    There’s snow up here now, which must be from last night.

    Dates: 25th – 27th June, 2010
    Location: Ruahine Forest Park, Kawhatau Base Road-end.
    People: Amanda, Alistair, Richard and me.
    Huts visited: Crow Hut (1 night), McKinnon Hut (0 nights)
    Planned route: Up and around the Mokai Patea Ridge, down to Crow Hut for Saturday night. Then up and along the Hikurangi Range over Mangaweka, and out past Purity Hut.
    Actual route: Straight to Crow Hut for Saturday night, up along and down to McKinnon Hut, back to the Kawhatau River via the main track, then bashing up to a farm.
    [Photos]
    [map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/20100627-crow-hut-and-mckinnon-hut.gpx%5D

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Yesterday was a short day. Camping at Kawhatau Base overnight, we’d hoped to get up over Mokai Patea — an alpine ridge which you know you’re on because it’s a kilometre wide (as Alistair put it) — drop down to Crow Hut and stay a night, then up to the tops and along the Hikurangi Range. Another trampey club group sharing our transport, with a shorter plan in mind (walking into McKinnon Hut and back), was set to drive the van further south later today to collect us. We abandoned our whole plan before it began, looking at the weather and everything. Just rain and rain and rain, not entirely claggy tops but enough to limit visibility to about 5o metres or so. We decided to ditch the idea of the Hikurangis, go straight to Crow Hut, and maybe get up early and around the Mokai Patea Range on the next day, ending up back where we began.
    (more…)

  • The Hut Fallacy

    1426537098_47ac3b8445-5531718
    A clouded in Kime Hut on the exposed tops of the Southern Crossing, Tararua Range.

    fallacy [fal-uh-see]. 1. a deceptive, misleading, or false notion, belief, etc.: That the world is flat was at one time a popular fallacy.. 2. a misleading or unsound argument. 3. deceptive, misleading, or false nature; erroneousness. 4. Logic. any of various types of erroneous reasoning that render arguments logically unsound.

    The Hut Fallacy. 1. a deceptive, misleading, or false notion or belief prevalent in New Zealand outdoor circles that the objective of reaching back-country huts can reliably replace additional measures of safety. 2. a presumption that plans work, judgement is always perfect and/or that accidents only happen to other people.

    I hope nobody minds me defining this term, at the very least for my own purposes. Despite this kind of thing happening often, I don’t know of a quick and easy term to describe it. I think The Hut Fallacy is something that pops up often in New Zealand’s back-country.
    (more…)

  • Trip: Walking the Mokihinui River, Southern Branch

    The Mokihinui River, near the south-west side of Kahurangi National Park, has a large catchment. Our new years’ walk along the river was inspired by recent plans of Meridian Energy to build an 85 metre dam, which would flood the river with an artificial 14 kilometre lake for the purposes of electricity export from the region. This would be at the expense of a unique landscape that can only be formed by a wild river, and of the flora and fauna that inhabits the region. A recent unofficial statement suggested that the current government is unlikely to allow this to occur, although Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee has since complained that his comment was taken out of context and he’s not interfering. The official commission doesn’t expect to reach a decision until February 2010, and nothing’s certain in the current climate. This is why we wanted to go out and see the Mokihinui River, because its future seems quite uncertain.
    [Update 7th April 2010: The dam has been given approval, pending a likely appeal.] [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]

    4252809497_2d7660e0d6_m-5611269
    Sue crosses one of
    many side creeks.

    Dates: 31st December, 2009 – 5th January 2010 (one day late)
    Location: Mokihinui River, Mokihinui Forks Ecological Area and Lyell Range-Radiant Range Conservation Area (south-east of Kahurangi National Park).
    People: Steve, Allen, Sue, Dmitry, Mark, Robert and me.
    Huts visited: Mokihinui Forks Hut (0 nights).
    Route: Start at Lyell, walk up the gold mining route to the head of the south branch of the Mokihinui River, follow the river to Mohihinui Forks Hut, then out along the route on the river’s true left to Seddonville.
    [Photos]
    [map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/20100105-mokihinui-south-branch.gpx%5D

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    (more…)

  • Trip: Holdsworth Lodge to Mitre Flats and back

    I had a free weekend and I realised that I hadn’t been to the Tararuas for about six months! Don’t ask me how this happened because it’s my favourite mountain range. Since I had the time, I made up my mind to get back and visit them again. The weather forecast was changing every hour leading up to my leaving home on Saturday morning, which was probably because the Met service forecasters weren’t very certain about exactly where a particular system was going to hit. It looked as if it might get very rainy, but I guess you can’t really beat the Tararuas when it’s raining. They’re fantastic.

    3501198093_61c6954306_m-6005503
    Between Atiwhakatu Hut
    and Mitre Flats.

    Dates: 2nd – 3rd May, 2009
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Holdsworth road-end.
    People: Just me.
    Huts visited: Holdsworth Lodge (0 nights), Atiwhakatu Hut (0 nights), Mitre Flats Hut (1 night).
    Route: Start at Holdsworth Lodge, walk straight to Mitre Flats (via the track), then walk back.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    (more…)

  • Trip: Four days of D’Urville, Moss Pass, Sabine, and an ice axe

    Having an ice axe attached to your pack makes you look cool. Therefore, what better way to spend Easter than four days in Nelson Lakes National Park with an ice axe, and also with people who are friends? Well, there are possibly other things that could be at least as good, but the ice axe and other people in Nelson Lakes thing is what I did… despite having begun the trip without an ice axe.

    3441436202_dcd38597e9_m-5900897
    Bernie in front of Lake Constance.

    Dates: 9th – 13th April, 2009
    Location: Nelson Lakes National Park, Lake Rotoroa.
    People: Hans, Mika, Marie, Jen, Matthew, Bernie, Paul, and me.
    Huts visited: D’Urville Hut (0 nights), Morgan Hut (0 nights), George Lyon Hut [formerly Ella Hut] (1 night), Blue Lake Hut (1 night), West Sabine Hut (1 night), Sabine Hut (0 nights).
    Route: Water taxi to D’Urville Hut, south past Morgan Hut to George Lyon Hut for Friday night. Climb over Moss Pass and down the other side on Saturday, to Blue Lake Hut. Roam around and explore on Sunday morning, then continue north up Sabine to West Sabine Hut in afternoon. Continue to Sabine Hut (and return water taxi) on Monday.
    [Photos and movies]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Our trip had been carefully planned by Steve, who sadly had to withdraw at the last minute over a foot he injured during the Oxfam 100 km Trailwalker the previous weekend. Having hired a cheap rental van and taken it onto the Interislander from Wellington on Thursday night, we arrived at the end of Lake Rotoroa some time well after midnight. I don’t know exactly what time it was, but I do know that after setting up some tents and flies, we were drifting off to sleep some time after 1.30am. We discovered at late notice that we’d almost mis-calculated how much shelter to bring and were short by a small fly or so. Thankfully, however, enough people had brought their own anti-social tents beyond the need of the organised plan. Marie crunched into Hans and Mika’s tent, Jen and Paul set up their small one-person tents, while Bernie, Matthew and I slid under my Huntech two-person fly, which can easily and comfortably accommodate three people despite the name.

    (more…)

  • Trip: Penn Creek Hut on a rainy day

    Last weekend we went to Penn Creek Hut in the western Tararuas.

    Dates: 1st – 3rd August, 2008
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Otaki Forks region.
    People: Craig, Fraser, Peter and me.
    Huts visited: Field Hut (1 night), Penn Creek Hut (1 night), Parawai Lodge (0 nights).
    Intended Route: Otaki Forks to Field for Friday night, then up to Vosseler and navigate down spur to Penn Creek Hut for Saturday night. Out to Otaki Forks via Table Top on Sunday.
    Actual Route: Straight to Penn Creek Hut via Table Top on Saturday (due to heavy rain), then back up to Table Top on Sunday via spur starting at S26 025307, due to a flooded side-creek blocking the usual track.
    Related bits: Craig also wrote about this weekend.
    [Photos]

    This post is a trip report. You can find other trip reports about other places linked from the Trip Reports Page, or by browsing the Trip Reports Category.

    Saturday night, prior to which we didn’t do much at all: There’s a little mould on the Penn Creek Hut mattress that I’m sitting on as I write these notes. We’ve been here for 5 hours now, since a bit after mid-day. Water drips from the skylight into a bucket. There’s also water dripping into the fireplace, thwarting efforts to get a fire going. We even tried to burn some of Peter’s marshmallows, but that didn’t work either. Did I mention that the trees are dripping? And so is the sky. The bucket was nearly full when we arrived and we’ll need to empty it before we leave.

    There were supposed to be six people in our group, but two bailed on Thursday, citing correlations between the reputation of the Tararua Range and the weekend’s forecast. This meant that before we arrived, we only had Craig’s small billy in which to cook. Fortunately there’s some quite good cooking and cleaning gear at the hut. Craig organised the trip. He looked impressive earlier today, sporting his Oringi Jacket — “the jacket that keeps you and your shorts dry” — just like that guy inside the back cover of every FMC bulletin. Peter’s on his first ever club trip, having arrived a few weeks ago from Scotland. Fraser’s also on his first club trip although he’s been tramping in New Zealand before, particularly in the Orongorongo Valley, and has some interesting stories. Last night I asked Fraser about his pack, which looks about as old as he is and far more worn down. He told me he found it in a dumpster and had to argue with his friend about who’d get to keep it.

    (more…)