The must-see location claiming lives:

The Gertrude Saddle offers a spectacular mountain vista in the Fiordland National Park. But the route to get to it can be fatal for the unprepared. Dave reports.

Aview to die for. And while trampers that head to the Gertrude Saddle in the Fiordland National Park never go with the intention of it being their last hike, the reality is, the saddle has claimed at least half a dozen people in the past 15 years.

Gertrude Saddle may have once been the domain of alpine climbers and a few trampers, but it has fast become a must-see location thanks to the internet and social media.

On paper, the walk is a halfday adventure but the reality is that tourists are entering an alpine environment where the stakes are higher and the consequences fatal.

A search online reveals hundreds of similar photos on social media of tourists at the Gertrude Saddle. A lone figure stands on the edge of a rocky outcrop. The only thing above them is a clear sky. Hundreds of metres below a river winds down a green valley flanked by steep mountains to where it eventually joins Milford Sound.

In the distance, you can see Mitre Peak backed by the Tasman Sea, which stretches into the horizon.

Yesterday, the coroner released a report on the deaths of two tourists, 31-year old Israeli man Udy Brill in March 2016 and 53-year-old French woman AnneMarie Scaglione-Genet in January 2017.

Their deaths were far from the first, but the coroner’s report looked into both because of the fact there were similarities in where and how the two died.

The coroner, in the report, says the death of ScaglioneGenet may have been preventable if DOC had installed route markers at the crucial crossing point in the 10 months following the death of Brill.

But, despite route markers being installed, the latest death came in April this year, after a 28-year-old German man slipped and fell between 30m and 40m on the Gertrude Saddle route.

To get to the saddle it is a four to six-hour return walk starting from a car park off the Milford Rd near the Homer Tunnel.

At peak times, the car park can have up to 30 cars and up to 180 people walking the route.

The Department of Conservation website describes it as a challenging tramping route requiring tramping and alpine experience.

There is a marked track from the car park to the head of the Gertrude Valley, but above the bush line there are no permanent markers because they are often taken out by avalanches or rock movement.

DOC Te Anau operations manager Greg Lind said DOC was facing a challenging situation in terms of how it managed visitors.

People were no longer looking at the information on the DOC website, advice from DOC staff was being ignored and people did not pay attention to the warning signs on tracks, Lind said.

‘‘What we are seeing is a significant change in the way people are getting their information.’’

Instead, visitors were getting information from Facebook and Instagram and third party websites, he said.

Visitors were expecting a great experience based on what they were seeing on social media, Lind said.

Mountaineer and rock climber Peter O’Neill, who has used the track half a dozen times, said the route could be difficult in places.

O’Neill is also the chairman of the Southland Section of the New Zealand Alpine Club that has a hut near the start of the track.

For the club members, the Gertrude Saddle provides access to mountaineering routes and alpine climbing areas in the Darren Mountains.

Of the short walks in the Fiordland National Park, Gertrude Saddle was one of the best, O’Neill said.

However, for a person to go up there on their first time, it might be a bit of an ask, he said.

The saddle was somewhere people needed to be prepared to go, O’Neill said.

Many people did not have the right gear – footwear that offered good grip was a start, O’Neill said.

Parts of the track are very steep, and in places off the route, the rock could be slippery.

In places, some scrambling was required and steel cables had been put in place to help people up.

Once people realised what terrain they were getting into, they should make a decision as to whether they out of their depth or could continue, O’Neill said.