Thread: Interseting Read

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-sta...-tararua-range

Spent a lot of time in my youth in the tarauas , will never forget spending 3 days stuck at kime hut / mount hector in a big storm , shudder at the thought of wearing shorts in those conditions with 6+ hrs of walking the tops to go before reaching a hut , they have been removing huts in the ranges for years.

Huts have been getting taken away for years rather than have 2 huts they rip them out & centralise & build a big flash hut that can sleep 20 odd people rather than 2 that can hold 6 , if they want to go that way they should at least have a biv in between

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-sta...-tararua-range

Spent a lot of time in my youth in the tarauas , will never forget spending 3 days stuck at kime hut / mount hector in a big storm , shudder at the thought of wearing shorts in those conditions with 6+ hrs of walking the tops to go before reaching a hut , they have been removing huts in the ranges for years.

Yes - very good read
Sad and sobbering
Both men came from Countries were -15c and lower are the norm for 2-3 months and perished in far lesser temperatures but far greater hidden dangers

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

Huts have been getting taken away for years rather than have 2 huts they rip them out & centralise & build a big flash hut that can sleep 20 odd people rather than 2 that can hold 6 , if they want to go that way they should at least have a biv in between

Or call them emergency shelters which has more justification

Te Rangaakapua Bivy in the Ureweras is listed as 3 man and has an extra mattress under the bunk. Comfortable for 4 if you pitch a tent outside and stow packs etc

Originally Posted by berg243

you would think maintenance costs on huts would be insignificant compared to a search and rescue or someones life. it is easy to underestimate travel in a new area .

@berg243 I agree
IMHO If they cant make money off of it they pull it down, pure and simple. If its a bit buggered they cant charge for it and people will sleep in the old one so they don't have to pay for the new one-ergo pull it down.
Even if they don't maintain it, 2 walls and a roof in an emergency is still better than punga leaves etc in a storm.
I also think they don't always correct maps that they have pulled them down (maybe wrong on that) so in an emergency you waste valuable time looking for it and it isn't there.
Ever since they took a revenue stream (i.e. forestry) away from the national parks division, it has never had the money to do things sensibly.
plus the fact its usually inhabited by employees brainwashed by the eco-nazi movement that seems to want it all locked up and you can only go where they want you to go-they'd much prefer you didn't go in there at all.
geez there's a greens party member with affiliations to forest and bird (don't get me started on them) in charge so of the dept. so all common sense is goneski
Big deep breaths now- rant over.

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

Huts have been getting taken away for years rather than have 2 huts they rip them out & centralise & build a big flash hut that can sleep 20 odd people rather than 2 that can hold 6 , if they want to go that way they should at least have a biv in between

Yup-if I knew how to put two quotes in a single post yours would've been in my last one as well.

Huts or no huts those guys died because they weren't prepared for the conditions

An interesting read, and very unfortunate. I hadn't realised they had gone right around Neill-Winchcombe to attempt to get to Alpha Hut until I read this article. This detail was omitted from all the reports at the time. I thought maybe they had come unstuck over Bull Mound. I was always a bit sceptical about DoCs policy of opening up Otaki Forks and Holdsworth as these both give direct access to tracks above the bushline. But would a Biv at Winchcombe have helped: probably not. Got to agree with 308 here though. And it is the Hector to Alpha stretch that catches people out. It can be OK from Kime to Hector and then the wind hits..... plenty of hands and knees trips for me over that stretch, snow & sleet over new year etc. Do not underestimate the Tararua tops!

"Do not underestimate the Tararua tops"! May be as Puffin says. This little quote should go on doc signs? But then where do you stop....

Relatively accessible places are often underestimated, a few people have died over the years in the Silverpeaks near Dunedin too.

I remember initially the media chiming in about how both men were “experienced trampers”. Turns out one hadn’t even overnighted before. Inexperience, poor choices and yes underestimation of the mountains. Very sad for their families.