Windy Tops

Tag: tongariro

  • Heuristic Traps of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

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    Leaving South Crater near
    the end of spring.

    A rescue that may have been inevitable occurred in Tongariro National Park on Saturday, when 16 people were rescued from the Tongariro Crossing, at least four of whom were in early stages of hypothermia. Present media appear to be pushing an angle that assigns much blame to a shuttle operator (who also has a side of the story) for giving the group incorrect advice about weather, although that’s something I struggle to accept. [Update 5/5/2012: This morning the Dominion Post also weighed in with an editorial, which largely blames the shuttle operator, but which I also think ignores much of the problem.]

    “It got very nasty very quickly, and we became separated into three groups.

    “We had the strong wind at our backs and we didn’t want to turn back into a headwind.”

    Their hands became so cold that it became too difficult to open their packs to find food.

    It was not until a woman collapsed with hypothermia that they decided to head back, he said.

    Two Auckland trampers, Ghaz Jabur and Graham Plows, found the confused and hysterical group late in the morning and helped them off the mountain. They also contacted police by cellphone.

    “The visibility was down to 10 to 20 metres; it was a freezing wind and we were crouching behind this boulder when we saw this hysterical person coming towards us,” Mr Jabur said. “We asked him if he was alone and he said he was with a big party who were trapped further up.”

    The men grabbed their packs and climbed up to find the group huddled together. “They were hysterical; they had minimal clothing on – puffer jackets, hoodies, jeans, tights and sandshoes.”

    The men gave spare clothes they had in their packs to the worst-affected and tried to get them out of the wind.

    “All we could do was grab them and pull them down the slope. We did this for about 10 to 20 minutes, it was totally exhausting.

    “Two guys and two of the girls were in a really bad way. They were shaking involuntarily, they had hypothermia and their eyes were rolling. They couldn’t put food in their mouths; they would have died for sure.

    “The only way we could get their attention was to scream at them one at a time and tell them what to do.”

    For me, it’s a reminder that the Tongariro Crossing is one of the wackiest places I’ve been in New Zealand in terms of seeing unprepared people in a wild, potentially very isolated, changeable and dangerous environment. I wrote about this problem of inexperience combined with popularity at the Tongariro Crossing a couple of years ago, and this TVNZ Close Up story from a few months before impresses the extent of the problem.

    It’d be premature to try to comment on specifics of exactly what happened with regard to advice given, but I’m not entirely sure it’s relevant. While it’s good to have responsible people on the edges, assigning blame to operators for dropping off and collecting people who aren’t prepared also ignores the bulk of the problem.

    That said, it also feels simplistic to just assign blame to people themselves and go no further—there are bigger things happening. Even if 16 people found themselves in trouble and had inadequate clothing and weren’t properly aware of the forecast and nearly died, and even if it is their own fault, they still weren’t doing anything especially different from what a substantial proportion of people have been doing before them and will likely continue to do in the future. In that respect, these people just happened to be the unlucky ones out of the crowd. For me, that is a much bigger problem, and this incident is merely symptomatic.
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  • Tongariro Crossing Dangers

    Just quickly, this 5 minute Close Up report clearly demonstrates what’s wrong with the Tongariro Crossing right now, and why probably nothing’s going to change until there’s an unexpected storm that wipes 50 tourists off the mountain. Hopefully that change, assuming it occurs, revolves around more effective education of tourists by whatever means are appropriate, and does not involve restricting the freedom of people to explore conservation land on their own terms. [Update 8th May 2012: I’ve put some thoughts on the latest Tongariro Crossing accident over here.]

    I think this problem is caused by a combination of things, notably:

    • The Tongariro Alpine Crossing (formerly the Tongariro Crossing) is often advertised as the best daywalk in New Zealand, and something that must be done.
    • For many tourists to New Zealand, it’ll be their first experience, their only experience or one of very few outdoor experiences, meaning they’re unlikely to have appropriate clothing and gear.
    • Tourists often come to New Zealand from places with very different conditions to New Zealand’s alpine conditions, possibly through tourist trails of other countries where it’s more difficult for tourists to get to dangerous places unsupervised, and aren’t prepared for what to expect, possible sudden changes in weather or other dangers.
    • Some people set aside a specific day to walk the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, and arrange and book other parts of their trip around this date. If the weather isn’t appropriate on the day they’ve chosen, the go anyway.

    To demonstrate the changeability of the weather, these two photos were taken less than an hour apart during November 2007.

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    295011163_8d0e44ff4b-9729309

    I realise I’m 4 months late with posting this link. I’m afraid I don’t watch much television.

  • Daywalk: Ruapehu Crater Lake

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    The summit plateau during summer,
    Dome Shelter partly obscured behind.

    If you followed his blog, you’d think that Craig never leaves his bike behind these days. He occasionally gets out in tramping boots though, which is great because he’s probably one of the most skilled people at off-track navigating who I know. Last week Craig mentioned that after riding his bike around Ruapehu in one of those cycling events, he intended to take advantage of a truly awesome weekend weather forecast and wander up to the crater lake of Mt Ruapehu for a look. I’ve not been up that way before, and it piqued my interest enough to convince me to gatecrash. The basic plan was to go up the easy way, which is to drive to the top of The Bruce (that road up to Whakapapa Skifield), and head up from there. As a side note, we visited in the middle of summer. In winter you’d likely need alpine gear and it’s nowhere near as straightforward. It’s an un-marked route in which people can and do get lost and have accidents, and I guess in alpine environments even small problems can have serious consequences.

    Date: 7th February, 2010
    Location: Tongariro National Park, from the top of Bruce Road.
    People: Craig and me.
    Huts visited: Dome Shelter, aka Dome Equipment Shed (0 nights).
    Route: Walk up from the end of Bruce Road to the top of the Waterfall Express chair-lift, then continue up Knoll Ridge to Dome Shelter at the Crater Lake. Down via Restful Ridge.
    Related bits: Craig also wrote about this walk.
    [Photos]
    [map:https://93a12629bf06.ngrok-free.app/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/20100207-ruapehu-crater-lake.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.
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    Early morning Ruapehu from
    near Ohakune.

    Various weekend scheduling issues meant I couldn’t leave on Saturday, and the arrangement meant dragging myself out of bed to leave Wellington at 3am, so as to reach Ohakune at about 7am and wake Craig at DOC’s Mangawhero camp-site. I really wanted to stand outside his tent and blow a whistle really loud, but he was already packing up when I arrived, and nearby campers might not have appreciated it the same way I expect Craig would have with his understanding sense of humour. At least there was still a nice climb ahead during the day. A chap visiting the camp-side from Auckland, whom Craig had befriended, seemed to think we’d knock it off before lunch time. With a 1000 metre climb, I certainly wasn’t confident we’d be up and down within that time.
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  • Learning to slide down a mountain

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    Looking over Whakapapa Skifield,
    Mt Ruapehu.

    For two of the last three weekends I’ve been taking a snowcraft course with tongue and meats up at Mt Ruapehu. The course is basically a toned down alpine course, which includes things like ice-axe and crampon use, but doesn’t go as far as covering ropes. (I’ll leave that for later.) It’s been a lot of fun, even though the weather hasn’t been too co-operative.
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  • Daywalk: The Tongariro Crossing

    Date: 11th November, 2006
    Location: Tongariro National Park
    Huts visited: Mangatepopo Hut (0 nights), Ketetahi Hut.
    People: Dave, Celeste, Stacey and me.
    [Photos]

    Dave, Celeste, Stacey and I went up to Tongariro National Park for the weekend with the specific intention of walking the Tongariro Crossing.

    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.

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