Rescues highlight safety messages
A lost young couple, a sick tramper and ‘a rookie error’ kept Taupo¯ Police, Greenlea rescue helicopter staff and Land Search and Rescue volunteers busy last weekend.
Senior Constable Barry Shepherd of Taupo¯ Police says the various incidents all illustrated the difference between those who were well prepared and well equipped, and those who had failed to follow the basic rules of outdoor safety.
The callouts on Friday and Saturday followed two search and rescue callouts a fortnight ago, one to a person who had lost the track on Mt Urchin in the Kaimanawa Forest Park, and another to a French tourist on Mt Tauhara who had followed the stream instead of the track and found himself lost on the mountain’s north face. Both were rescued by the helicopter.
In the latest rescues the action started on Thursday evening when a water taxi operator at Kawakawa Bay near Kinloch spotted a rock climber in difficulty.
Mr Shepherd said it appeared two American climbers had set out to ascend a 45-metre rock face using a 70-metre climbing rope.When it came time for the first climber to abseil down, he ran out of rope. He anchored himself to the rock face and tried to rearrange the rope but it got snagged and from there he could not go up or down.
The water taxi driver rang police and they and the Lake Taupo Harbourmaster went to the bay along with a DoC worker and two Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation volunteers. There it was agreed that the safest way to rescue the stranded man was to winch him off by helicopter and he was rescued before dark.
Mr Shepherd said the climbers made a basic error in not checking they had a rope long enough for the climb and they had also not taken any means of communication. If they had not been able to attract the water taxi driver’s attention they would have been in “a spot of bother”.
On Saturday, Land Search and Rescue volunteers were called to Mt Pihanga where a young couple who had tramped up to the peak from Lake Rotopounamu the night before were reported overdue. The young man had texted his father that morning at 10am to say they were about to start down and the father rang police when the couple had not appeared by 6.30pm. The pair were found walking on a forestry road south of the mountain, having apparently got lost on the descent. Mr Shepherd said while the pair had intended to retrace their steps from the day before, the bush on Mt Pihanga is very thick, there is no marked track and it is easy to get lost. However, it was good they had advised somebody of their plans.
“There’s no trail up and no trail down and it’s no surprise that they’ve come down and ended up going the wrong way.
“They found their way out and may not have been that concerned but perhaps some navigation aids might have been useful. If you’re going to go bush where there’s no tracks, you need to have some GPS skills.”
On Saturday evening Taupo¯ Police were alerted to a report of a personal locator beacon that had been set off in the Kaimanawa Ranges. It belonged to a 17-yearold tramper who had set out on a solo five-day tramp from Urchin to Clements Mill Rd. He had good equipment but had fallen ill unexpectedly, and made the decision to set off his beacon. He was also able to contact his father by phone. Mr Shepherd said with visibility too poor for the helicopter to fly, a Search and Rescue team set off from Kiko Rd and the teenager spent the night near Ngapuketurua where he hunkered down in the rain.
The next morning the weather cleared enough for a helicopter to reach him and he was flown to Taupo¯ and assessed by a paramedic.
Mr Shepherd said the young man, from Hawke’s Bay, was wellprepared and had done multi-day tramps before and it was simply bad luck that he had become sick during his trip.
“It’s always good to see people carrying PLBs because you can’t always get phone coverage.”
The last callout was to two fishermen who had been on a multi-day backcountry fishing trip and got split up while walking out. Mr Shepherd said the case underlined the importance of sticking together in the outdoors.
He said the rescues illustrated the importance of being wellorganised in case of the unexpected.