Thread: RSTH episode last night RIVER CROSSINGS

I'm not one for extreme heights so have been known to suffer from sweaty palms in any movie or footage with some gnarly rock climbing in it.

And in last nights episode I was getting close to that watching the guys trying to get across the river for that deer recovery. A couple of times I was thinking WTF are you doing?! Go back!!!
Anyway, good bit of commentary from Dave there. Also the fact they spent a good few hours the next day getting back across AFTER spending the night out by a fire. Good reminder for all, especially the solo hunters.

I've spent a bit of time on boats and it's the same sort of thing. Really hard to stop second guessing whether you can handle it, accept the risks are against you and pull the pin to fight another day. All to easy to think, yeh I've survived something this bad before, should be ok this time.

Taker care out there people.

Good on them for showing it. Dont think i would have been going in there, one thing i noticed was the rifle was still over the shoulder untill the last crossing, seemed to be getting caught in the water and cant have helped keeping your balance

Don't know why they did'nt share a long pole actually.

Originally Posted by Woody

Don't know why they did'nt share a long pole actually.

I dont know why they didnt cross starting 30 metres upstream in slow water instead of in the head of the rapid / gut where the water is going twice as fast, then angle across and down at 45 degrees

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I dont know why they didnt cross starting 30 metres upstream in slow water instead of in the head of the rapid / gut where the water is going twice as fast, then angle across and down at 45 degrees

You nutted out the best route to cross that river from a few minutes of footage?


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Originally Posted by MSL

You nutted out the best route to cross that river from a few minutes of footage?


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Dont know about 'the best route to cross' but there was a much safer crossing upstream. I would never never ever cross at the top of a rapid / gut where the gradient drops and the water velocity doubles or triples and most importantly where there is no safety margin of good self recovery area below the crossing point.
I was taught always to go across and down at 45 degrees going at the same speed that the water is flowing - that way you cant be knocked off your feet and to allow a good margin of safe water above the rapid just incase you do slip.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Dont know about 'the best route to cross' but there was a much safer crossing upstream. I would never never ever cross at the top of a rapid / gut where the gradient drops and the water velocity doubles or triples and most importantly where there is no safety margin of good self recovery area below the crossing point.
I was taught always to go across and down at 45 degrees going at the same speed that the water is flowing - that way you cant be knocked off your feet and to allow a good margin of safe water above the rapid just incase you do slip.

In the case of the TV river crossing they would have to run like Peter Snell to do the same speed of the water flowing...

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Dont know about 'the best route to cross' but there was a much safer crossing upstream. I would never never ever cross at the top of a rapid / gut where the gradient drops and the water velocity doubles or triples and most importantly where there is no safety margin of good self recovery area below the crossing point.
I was taught always to go across and down at 45 degrees going at the same speed that the water is flowing - that way you cant be knocked off your feet and to allow a good margin of safe water above the rapid just incase you do slip.

I picked the same as you mate, 25-30m upstream looked better and gave you more margin for outage if it turned to shit. I've done a couple of Land SARS crossing courses with the NZDA and this was an area that was focused on, the entry point and angle of crossing.
Good stuff tho' for Dave & the boys to focus on it an not take is lightly.

Originally Posted by MSL

You nutted out the best route to cross that river from a few minutes of footage?


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Mate, he's a moa hunter, of course he did!

Originally Posted by Gibo

Mate, he's a moa hunter, of course he did!

Moas cant just fly across

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I dont know why they didnt cross starting 30 metres upstream in slow water instead of in the head of the rapid / gut where the water is going twice as fast, then angle across and down at 45 degrees

We spent a good hour or two walking up and down that damn river trying to find somewhere suitable, as it was quite deceptive in places. We thought we'd found a great spot by using the drone to survey downstream, but once we got there, the outflow of various tributaries and streams that joined the main branch made it even worse.

Havent seen the episode yet, but I can totally imagine it, as I was stupid enough to do a similar scenario in my younger years on a 2 week solo mission up the Dart valley.
Late afternoon I dropped down a pretty big steep ledge( that was impossible to get back up) and left me in a position where the only way out was to cross the river.
Was all going okay until i hit the point of no return, and the river got pretty arse puckering deep, but managed to just make it across by shear luck i reckon.
Spent the night on the other side, lighting fires to warm me back up with only a space blanket for protection from the elements.
Was hoping to find a better spot to get back across the next morning, but during the night , the heavens opened up and there was no chance of getting back across the next day. It was a very long adventure the next day to get back to main camp back on the other side of the river and would of been a hell of alot longer if the jet boat bus driver didnt pick up a soggy hitchhiker and drop me back at glenorchy.
Lets just say I have a huge respect for the rivers in NZ, and how fast they can change conditions, I wont be doing that again.

What is "RSTH" pls ?

Red Stag Timber Hunters

red stag hunters club i think. its only on sky tv .