You may have recently heard something of Matthew Briggs, especially if you follow New Zealand’s general media. A month ago, his story was splashed around many front pages, after he and his dog returned from an ordeal where he slid off a bluff breaking a wrist, ankle and ribs, tied himself up and stopped the bleeding, and set up camp for a week waiting for rescue. Then, when nothing happened, he crawled for two days with his injuries to reach a back-country hut where two hunters who happened to be present walked a thirteen hour day to raise the alarm.
He might have sold his story to a trashy women’s magazine (or to a trashy Sunday newspaper), but instead he’s written it up in detail for all to read and learn from, over at the New Zealand Tramper website. What he’s created is a first-hand account from someone well qualified in the New Zealand back-country, which is actually very educational about what can go wrong, how to deal with it, how mistakes can occur, and what it’s like to have to cope with the media after something like this. It’s published in five parts:
It’s definitely worth a read. There’s also been an ongoing discussion about the event in the NZ Tramper forums.
