Windy Tops

Tag: rivers

  • Good insight on river safety

    Earlier today Toni Burgess (aka AntNZ) posted an excellent article about river safety in New Zealand. I’ve written about river safety on this blog in the past, yet Toni’s article, which also draws on expertise from Heather Grady of Outdoor Training NZ, really manages to put some of the less intuitive aspects in perspective.

    For example, on braided rivers:

    …a recent Te Araroa group took the decision to cross the Rangitata River, it took them 2 hours and this river is known to be in full flood with no channels showing within an hour. So essentially you could be half way across the river, finding yourself on a shrinking island of shifting river bed.

    If you spend any time around rivers, or suspect you might in the future, it’s a highly worthwhile read.

  • Recap on the recent Milford Track accident – DOC’s Review

    Kathryn Ryan interviewed Allan Munn this morning on Nine to Noon (Radio NZ National). Allan Munn is the Department of Conservation’s Southern Region Services Director. The interview regards changes being made following the death, in May 2014, of a person who was swept away from the Milford Track.

    This morning’s 20 minute interview can be listened to here. It’s also been reported on in The Press, and by Wilderness Magazine.

    The incident which sparked this review occurred when the group were on the Milford Track out of the main tourist season, after many of the standard “Great Walk” style facilities are removed. It’s not uncommon for people to visit outside the booking season, whether to avoid higher hut fees or after having been too late to book at an earlier time. It remains public land with open access, and can be relatively safe with good preparation and advice, and an ability to assess conditions. The group didn’t seem to have been be prepared for the reduced facilities, nor properly aware of it. This combined with other factors probably led to bad decisions and eventually resulted in the accident.

    I wrote down some of my own thoughts about this a few months ago.

    DOC has now completed an internal review. It’s decided that safety processes are fundamentally sound, but certain things could still be improved upon. During the interview Mr Munn noted that DOC had “a range of contacts with that party” prior to the event. The party members either didn’t hear the available advice, or chose to ignore it and take their chances. In the face of this, there’s probably little that could have reasonably and immediately been done in that specific case.

    More generally, though, DOC’s review has acknowledged that there are problems with getting key messages across to the masses in the face of modern forms of media, much of which is out of DOC’s control. It’s also noting higher numbers of visitors of limited skills and experience aiming to walk the Milford Track during the buffer zone between the end of the tourist season and when the most dangerous winter conditions set in.
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  • The Price of Great Walks

    Last month an incident occurred, out of season, on the Milford Track. I’ll reflect on a few things before getting to it.

    In New Zealand we have an enshrined legal right to enter most parts of the Conservation Estate. (I wrote more about how this works, over here.) By design in law, it’s difficult for people to be fenced out for their protection. In exchange visitors are considered responsible for their own safety. After all, one person’s dangerous place could be another adequately skilled person’s source of adventure.

    Great Walks, however, don’t always fit nicely into this framework. Similar concepts have existed previously, but the modern idea of “Great Walks” began with the Department of Conservation’s effort towards its mandate of fostering recreation. The idea has been to consolidate and market several of the most iconic tramping trips, and make them relatively accessible for a large number of people of varying abilities.

    Over time they’ve become intensively used. By the latter end of the 1990s, booking systems were being introduced to control overcrowding. A booking system can’t restrict anyone’s entry to the land, but tactical limitations of facility use (especially huts), combined with bylaws to disallow camping in certain areas, now makes it impractical to walk some Great Walks without booking ahead.

    The Milford Track is one such Great Walk. In the booking season, between November and May, it becomes a beautifully iconic conveyor belt of tourists. The speed at which you might want to walk it doesn’t matter, because “the track takes 4 days to walk“. This is thanks to the requirement of booking all three huts at once for sequential nights, with these huts being the only legal place to stay. If this doesn’t work for you, you could either search for a way to camp further than 500 metres from the line of the track (difficult with the geography), or run the entire track without stopping.
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  • Trip: Blackwater, Twin Peak, Butchers Creek, South Ohau

    This weekend should be spent mostly in rivers, and it’s helpful that the upcoming forecast is actually accommodating. A very small amount of rain forecast from the east, some wind high up, but otherwise sunshine to burn. This is my first opportunity to get out since about October last year, and I’m looking forward to it.

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    Phillip, Fiona, Andy and Alistair ready to leave.

    After a brief stop for dinner at Levin, we drop Harry and his guy at the bridge next to the Makaretu Stream. Starting tomorrow morning, those two intend to walk up the Makaretu before dropping into the East Waitewaewae and coming out Sunday evening at Otaki Forks. The rest of us continue to the end of Poads Road, where we meet another trampey club group (organised by Mike G) whose plan will be to walk half way up Gable End, and then follow an unofficial track direct from about .912 down to South Ohau Hut. Our own intention is to follow the Blackwater Stream up to its headwaters, hit the track at the top, then drop into Butchers Creek and the South Ohau. This evening, though, we’ll all walk in for about an hour towards a great ad-hoc campsite at Blackwater Junction.

    Dates: 31st January – 2nd February, 2014.
    Location: Tararua Forest Park, Poads Road.
    People: Alistair, Fiona, Phillip, Andy and me.
    Huts visited: South Ohau Hut (1 night).
    Intended route: Poads Road to Blackwater Junction (Friday night), up Blackwater Stream and navigate up to point between Waiopehu (.1094) and Twin Peak (.1097). Across to Butcher Saddle, then down Butchers Creek into the South Ohau Hut for Saturday night. Out via Blackwater Junction to Poads Road on Sunday.
    Actual route: Bailed out of Butchers Creek and straight up to near .810, then down Yeates Track.
    Also see: Phillip also wrote a report for the WTMC newsletter.
    [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.
    12278752014_142bde6dfc_n-2042535
    Farm land between Poads Road
    and Tararua Forest Park.

    The five of us get away before the others, walking from about 8.30pm. After a routine stroll, eventually by torch-light, we arrive at Blackwater Junction at about 9.40pm and are setting up flies in the trees just beyond the bridge over Blackwater Stream. Fiona takes the billy and a few water bottles slightly further, to fill them up from the South Ohau.s Some time before the other group wanders up and finds their own campsite. Andy’s on the other side of my tent fly. Phillip and Fiona have the another one, and Alistair’s just laying out his sleeping bag under the trees, not seeing a need for shelter this evening.

    Blackwater Junction is a great place for camping, and there are heaps of great clear, flat places in the trees very close to the track which passes through.Unfortunately this doesn’t translate well to the quality of my sleep tonight. That Levin takeaway dinner hasn’t gone down well, and despite the flat-ness of most of these campsites, somehow I’ve found one where my mattress is on a sideways slope. Andy, who’s sharing the fly, seems to fare much better as long as I’m not waking him.

    I might have risen with the bellbirds had I not already been awake. Alistair’s up not long after 6am on Saturday, strolls past the front of the fly (I say “hello” because I’ve been awake most of the night anyway), and gets started on boiling the billy. After lying for a while longer, trying to decide if it’s worth looking for any more sleep, I finally give up, unzip my sleeping bag, crawl out of the liner, rummage through my back to find breakfast, and go out to search for hot water. Andy’s doing the same.
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  • Mokihinui River Saved

    After walking from the southern branch a couple of years ago, it’s fantastic to see that the Mokihinui River has been saved from flooding by a hydro dam. The project was granted resource consent in 2010 pending a likely appeal and further permission from DoC and the Minister of Conservation. It’s been dragging through the Environment Court for some time now, but today Meridian Energy decided not to pursue it further. Further details are available on Stuff, or via the NZ Herald.

  • Rivers and Ropes and Mutual Support

    I’ve written a little about river crossing techniques in the past, and I’m about to do so again. Before continuing, I’d like to stress that this post is not meant to be instructional in any way, so much as commenting on some recent happenings in the world of river safety techniques. Back-country rivers are dangerous beasts that kill people who make mistakes. Judging and crossing rivers safely in an outdoors situation is a delicate skill, and the best way to learn it is through river safety courses and by getting experience in controlled situations with experienced people.

    That said, there’s an interesting discussion developing through Federated Mountain Clubs, and highlighted in the November 2011 FMC Bulletin. In it, FMC have published a condensed edition of a report by Brian Wilkins regarding the fording of rivers. It’d be fair to say that Brian is very critical of the Mountain Safety Council’s training materials for the past 20 years which focus on mutual support methods for crossing rivers, and he proposes a return to sufficient training for rope use as an option. The abbreviated article in the printed FMC Bulletin is diplomatic, but FMC have also made the complete 32 page write-up available as a PDF downloadable from their website, and certain parts of it certainly aren’t diplomatic.

    Before continuing (and please remember this when reading what follows), I should stress that the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council has since responded to Brian Wilkins’ article with a statement issued on 9th December 2011 (PDF), explaining why it pushes mutual support methods and avoids rope techniques. In short, mutual support methods have been carefully developed by experts over a long period of time, after many trials it was decided that ropes can become very dangerous unless used correctly… which few people can do, and “it was concluded that ropes can give people a false impression of their abilities and can tempt people to try unsafe conditions”.

    The entirety of the debate is an interesting read.
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  • New documentaries on New Zealand Rivers

    I’m not normally one for watching television, but there are a couple of worthwhile television documentaries out right now that document various New Zealand Rivers, and may be worthwhile watching.

    • A Tale of Two Rivers is a 30 minute documentary that looks at power schemes and the west coast, focusing on Meridian’s plan to dam the Mokihinui River, and HDL Stockton’s plan to dam and generate power from polluted mine water.

      The documentary is currently screening on the digital only TVNZ 6. At this time of writing, the two remaining screenings on TVNZ6 are Thursday 16th September (7pm to 7.30pm), and Saturday 18th September (7.30pm to 8pm). The documentary is also available on DVD for $15.

    • Rivers is a new series presented by well-known New Zealand scenic photographer, back-country explorer and calendar salesman, Craig Potton. For each one-hour episode, Craig travels the length of a major river in New Zealand, talking to people and examining its past, present and future. The five episodes screen on Prime TV, Sunday nights between 7.30pm and 8.30pm. (The first episode, looking at the Clutha River, screened last Sunday.)

    Enjoy.

  • Trip: Crow Hut, McKinnon Hut and general confusion

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    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.
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  • Mokihinui decision appealed

    Following from this decision, it’s interesting to read on Stuff that the Department of Conservation is now appealing the decision to allow damming of the Mokihinui River. (That’s the river we went for a walk along back during new year.) I assumed the decision would be appealed, but was more convinced the appeal would come from an organisation affiliated with the Wild Rivers campaign. [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]

    Even if the appeal is turned down, the Minister of Conservation (Kate Wilkinson) still has to finally approve Meridian’s plans to dam the river because it happens to be on conservation land, and she would have to do so in the face of her main advising department giving strong advice about how bad-an-idea they think it is. On the other hand, Kate Wilkinson ordered a review into the advocacy role of her department a couple of months ago.

    Anyway, enough of this, politics is boring. I’m going tramping this weekend, or possibly swimming depending on how things go.

  • Mokihinui to be dammed

    Well, probably. Several months ago I wrote about our trip along the Mokihinui River, which has been under threat of being dammed by Meridian Energy for some time. A few months later than planned, the Official Commission has finally released a (very long) report in favour of the decision to allow a dam. This will be a surprise for some, because late last year Gerry Brownlee (Minister of Energy and Resources, and Minister for Economic Development) let slip that he didn’t think it would go ahead, before he pulled back and claimed he didn’t get involved in local politics. [Update 22nd May 2012: Meridian has now withdrawn its project from the Environment Court and will not proceed.]

    The decision was majority rather than unanimous, with two of the three commissioners (John Lumsden and Terry Archer) finding in favour of the consents, but the other commissioner (Greg Ryder) considering “that the effects of the proposal on the ecology of the Mokihinui catchment were not only adverse but could not be satisfactorily mitigated”. Their full decisions can be read from page 296 of part one of the document linked from above.

    It is very likely that this decision will be appealed before anything happens. The New Zealand Wild Rivers campaign more or less echoes my thoughts on this.

    A media report from The Press is here.