Saw this in the news http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/canterbury-earthquake/4103809/Trampers-warned-off-Canterbury-tracks
If I were down in Canterbury I think I would be on the phone to DOC and volunteer to help do the initial assessments. Surely a competent back country tramper would be competent to do an initial assement of slips and tree falls and make a visual assessment of damage to structures.
I would hate to see these tracks languish in a closed state for too long while hard pressed DOC staff deal with priorities close to home.
pmcke that is not a bad idea.
However for myself and probably a lot of others around chch, selwyn and waimakariri, which is the majority of the population of canterbury, the state of the tramping tracks hasn't even entered our minds in the last 72 hours. Many people are still without running water and a few without power. We were lucky in that our house sustained no significant damage, but hundreds of people are homeless, staying in evacuation centres or with friends. Their houses are unliveable, or so damaged that they are not safe in the aftershocks.
My husband and I are back at work (I'm a doctor and he is in the emergency services) but due to the aftershocks no one is getting much sleep. Last night there were 14 aftershocks between 11.30pm and 6am, 2 at magnitude 5.4, which doesn't make for a peaceful night.
I'm sure your post wasn't meant to be accusatory but to those of us a little tired and shaken up and a lot inconvenienced it may have come across that way :-)
Sorry, wasn't meant to be accusatory. I guess I just hate it when DOC say that tracks are closed and I imagine this is somewhere where a tramping club may help, in good time I imagine. While I appreciate there are many who are fairly despirate I have been speaking to one or two who tell me they have barely been touched and assure me that it is life very much as normal. I guess my challenge would be directed at them.
Hello. I could be well off, but I wonder if their main concern might be bridges and huts. For those at least, they'd probably need to send in a qualified structural engineer or two to make it all nice and legal for OSH purposes before "recommending" to people that they're okay, wouldn't they?
In related news, the NZ Alpine Club has pushed out a notice warning people to stay away from rock climbing on the Port Hills for now: http://alpineclub.org.nz/news/2010/earthquake-damage-port-hills-christchurch
Yes, I saw that pic of Castle Rock. On the plus side it may have created some new routes for the future :-)
The Press has published a few more details of earthquake damage to various nearby conservation areas: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4112461
Well, Stuff attributes it to The Press so I'm assuming it was printed this morning.
Just to add, there are at least 5 photos attached to that article if you click in the right places. It looks as if the old Staveley Lime Kilns took a battering.
http://blog.doc.govt.nz/2010/09/15/historic-heritage-hit-by-earthquake/
Packhorse Hut chimney, Godley Head track, Staveley Lim Kiln.
At our Mt Somers Walkway Society meeting on tuesday,DOC told us that it`s the Sharplin Falls track that is closed,& will be for several weeks.The quake brought a large rockfall down & demolished a section of steps.There`s more hanging up but DOC won`t send in an engineer until the aftershocks dissipate.
The round the mountain track,two huts & shelter are okay,although the toilet at Pinnacles Hut is full.This requires a chopper evac.We`re told this hut is planned for upgrading within two years.
Lew
This closure of the Sharplin Falls track intrigues me. So a track is closed because of an essentially natural event, ie a landslide. Could an alternative route not be found around the rockfall? Sure this may not be an option for Mum Dad and the kids out for a Sunday afternoon walk, but if someone was determined to get to the falls and assess the hazards along the way for themselves then why should the track be closed for them. You would think that a warning of the hazard would be more appropriate. This sort of thing bothers me because I believe we are a tad away in this country of having managers close National Parks and other conservation areas for weather events and such like. I was talking to an ex Minister of Conservation about this the other day and her suggestion to me was to keep on the case.
