Tramping’s deadly side
When Pavel Pazniak and Mykhailo Stepura set out to tramp through the Tararua Range, it was a clear, sunny day – a supposed good day to tackle the treacherous mountain ridge. But days later their bodies were found 900 metres from safety. Kirsty Lawrence in
To someone who doesn’t know the Tararua Range, the deaths of Pavel Pazniak and Mykhailo Stepura sounded like a mystery.
Found 900 metres from a hut with working cellphones and backpacks containing food, sleeping bags and drink bottles, their deaths puzzled even members of the tramping community.
How had two men with tramping experience come into such difficulty without any extreme weather events?
But at a coronial inquest in Masterton it became apparent that a series of unfortunate events led to their deaths in late November 2016 in a mountain range that many underestimate.
Since 1970, more than 22 people have died in the Tararua Range because of a combination of steep terrain, difficult river crossings and changeable winter weather conditions.
For Pazniak, the Tararuas were the last unknown to him, having already conquered river crossings, slept in an igloo on Ruapehu and hiked most tracks around the North Island.
His sister, Hanna Pazniak, says her brother was flying to Wellington for a work conference and told her he was wanting to go hiking in the ranges, but was still undecided.
If a friend or colleague decided to go with him he would, otherwise he would most likely skip it, she says. However, once he got to Wellington, Stepura was on board with the idea.
Both men were foreign nationals but had been living in New Zealand for some time.
Stepura, 39, known as Michael, lived in Lower Hutt, but was originally from Ukraine and 32-year-old Pazniak, known as Paul, lived in Auckland, but came from Belarus. The pair had met through work and discovered they both enjoyed tramping.
Hanna Pazniak says that normally when her brother was hiking he would discuss his plan and create spreadsheets to share equipment for any hike.
When they hiked together with their mum, he always had a plan for worst-case scenarios, like underestimated distances or weather conditions.
It was Stepura’s first ‘‘overnight’’ tramp and the pair quickly put together some tramping gear and food for the twoday tramp on November 18.
They had a map and checked the weather before heading leaving Stepura’s house at 5.30am the next day. Even though they had a plan, what the pair didn’t realise was their intended route was challenging.
Sergeant Peter Rix, who is based in Masterton and is part of police search and rescue, says using Google Earth, he measured the distance he believed the two men had been walking and planned to walk, and their journey was 20.4 kilometres.
This distance might not have looked long on paper, as Pazniak had done longer walks before, but Rix says these distances can be misleading, because the exposed ridges on the Tararua Range can be demanding and difficult.
This led to the duo being unprepared for the conditions they were about to face.
Acting Sergeant Anthony Matheson says Pazniak and Stepura started at the Waiohine Gorge Rd with the intention of hiking to Alpha Hut via Cone saddle, Mt Cone, Mt Neil, Winchombe, Mt Hector and the dress circle.
The duo spent a considerable amount of time trekking in cold, wet and windy conditions along exposed ridge tops.
He says it can get so windy in exposed areas along the ridge line that people struggle to stand.
These conditions are apparent in photos found on the pair’s cellphones, which show the men leaning into the wind with smiles on their faces in light jackets and three-quarter shorts.
Conditions are cloudy as they brace themselves against the high wind.
Their clothing looks damp and even though they are wet and cold, they still have beaming smiles on their faces.
Matheson says what the pair didn’t realise when they took these pictures was they were going to be away from the shelter of the bush for at least another six to eight hours.
They still had to climb Mt Hector and negotiate open country known as the ‘‘dress circle’’, where most hiking fatalities in the Tararua Range happen, due to exposure.
The bravado of the pair in the photos shows they had little concern or appreciation of the risks associated with the alpine journey they were about to undertake, he says.
Rix holds the same opinion and says the two men did not go in equipped with adequate protection from the weather, which they may have struggled through for a while.
They had taken these photos and continued their walk towards Alpha Hut.
But they never made it.
The police were alerted that the pair had not returned after Pazniak’s wife called them, concerned her husband was overdue.
Search and rescue had to postpone their initial search until the next day, due to fading light.
That morning, the search resumed with a helicopter, which initially flew to Alpha Hut.
Robert Howard was the first person to find a body.
When he went into the Tararuas tramping on November 21, he says he knew there were two men missing.
He saw the first body lying on the track mid-morning.
He noticed the man’s shoes looked fairly well used and not done up very tight.
The terrain was steep and there was an injury on the man’s left knee – it was bruised with blood, and it looked like the man had slipped, he says.
Stepura was found on the track wearing his pack. It looked like he sat down and lay back. Pazniak was found off course. It appears he attempted to find shelter in some bush.
Nataliya Stepura, Stepura’s wife, says she wants to see changes made to this area so people know how dangerous it can be.
She says people should be warned about the track and given complete information about the distance.
She also suggests a small hut for a short rest in the middle of the track, due to the large distance exposed in dangerous weather conditions.
Mountain Safety Council spokesman Nick Kingstone says people often underestimate the Tararua Range and the conditions they can find themselves in.
The safety council has just completed an in-depth look at New Zealand’s outdoor playgrounds and on July 4 the report A Walk in the
Park is set to be released.
In this report, Kingstone says they found the Tararuas are a hotspot with a large number of people getting into trouble in them.
‘‘They are quite close to the coast and have a reasonable elevation as well.
‘‘People can underestimate how quickly the weather can turn and how severe it can get through the Tararuas.’’
Areas are steep and Kingstone says the area Pazniak and Stepura set off into is for intermediate to advanced trampers.
He says if people find a situation has changed and it’s a lot colder or wetter than they anticipated, there are decisions they can make to stay safe.
In this particular case, Kingstone says as the pair got colder it would have affected their decision-making.
When heading into any area, Kingstone says people should check the outdoor safety code list on the organisation’s website.
Key things people need to focus on are planning their trips, telling someone their plans, checking the weather and knowing their limits and having adequate supplies.
‘‘The Tararuas can often seem like an easy place to go but often people find, particularly because of the weather change, they can find themselves in cold conditions quickly.’’
For every 10kmh of wind, Kingstone says 2 degrees Celsius of temperature can be lost.
This means, across the ridgeling in the ranges, if there are winds of 50kmh the temperature can change by 10C.
‘‘You can be in single-digit temperatures you’re trying to manage very quickly.’’
Their advice is for people to always take a jacket, a beanie and extra layers when tramping and always play it safe with decisionmaking.
‘‘Often the right call is to turn around or stay put.’’
Coroner Tim Scott says he believed the pair died overnight on Saturday, November 19, 2016, or in the early hours of the Sunday morning, before the search for them started.
The coroner reserved his findings.