the hut door was open when the searchers went to kime hut, there is some supposition that seddon did get to the hut and then went back again, perhaps he was going to see if there was anyone there who could give help if his friend was still alive when he left her.....
Reports suggest that both trampers were of the track when found(probably on or near the Main Range track). The track from Fields Hut to Bridge Peak is very obvious in good weather, similarly from Bridge Pk to Hut Mound and Kime Hut.
However anyone who has experienced this area in storm conditions ,snow and gales knows it is very difficult to get from Bridge Pk to Hut Mound and then Kime Hut. The area is quite flat and confusing in deep snow, just the odd old waratah poking up above the snow , if you are lucky.Blue alpine poles are probably there now as part of the DOC standards for routes on the open tops.
My point is , that a hut at or near the juncton of the main range -Kime- Field tracks would eliminate having to negotiate the BridgePk-HutMound-Kime Hut track to reach a safe haven in bad weather.
I remember we used to hike up there as kids, once about may I think it was after a bit of snow we charged up there. Back then we had basic gear, mind you we did have mats I remember (kime had no mattresses) but no torch...
well we got to just below hut mound and the sun dissapeared completely. The few guys who had headlamps charged on, and left me and my mate mike with a hand torch between us haha we were like the blind leading the blind and the snow drifts made it even hairier. Ah fun times!
A well known mountainrunner,Colin Rolfe, would leave Otaki Forks,run up the Waitatapia Ck to Waitewaewae Hut,up to Andersons Hut ,across to Maungahuka Hut then to Bridge Peak and via Fields Hut back to Otaki Forks as a training run.
He was between Mc Intosh and Bridge Peak and came cross a couple of blokes with very small day packs,thought it a bit strange, then met two or three more heading in the same direction.
Odd he thought and asked one of these bods where he was heading.
"Otaki Forks " was the answer.
Colin got these ones turned around and then set about running back to warn the leaders of the party the error of their ways.
In this case a potential accident/disaster/search was averted.
The party had got disorientated in mist on Bridge Peak and gone of down the Main Range. Easy ,if you dont know the area.
A hut at or near Bridge Peak with good signposting would have saved lives or potential disasters.....but as Jeffrey Archer wrote recently" Only time will tell"
Rumour has it that Kime Hut is reportedly Closed again. Like, REALLY closed. Even moreso than all this time since its construction when it's not been officially opened.
Current status issued 4th March 2014: http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-stay/backcountry-huts-by-region/wellington-kapiti/kapiti/kime-hut/
I'm assuming this is because there's an intent to fix the window issue, but am not clear on that. Has anyone heard anything for sure?
In an email to Tararua huts committee members
"DOC Masterton told us yesterday at 3 pm that the new Kime Hut will be locked, post haste, as it has not qualified for its Kapiti Coiast District Council Building certificate.
This means that DOC claim that under the Building Act, they have to lock the hut, to stop the public using it. Apparently, although it is likely to be locked as soon as DOC can helicopter in a locksmith, there will be a box that people can break to enter in an emergency."
How long do you think it will take before the box (which presumably comtains an emergency key) is broken?
Yeah, just heard via another source and was about to post. It sucks.
the claytons closed hut, the closed hut you have when you don't really have a closed hut
I struggle to understand this. If it needed the building certificate to be open to the public then it should have been locked from when it was built and the old hut left as an alternative till everything was signed off. I think DOC are being very naive if they think the general public will accept a locked hut after its been in use for about a year. Unless by saying it is closed and locking it while leaving a means of access for 'emergencies' they remove any liability from themselves when people do continue to use it.
I'm guessing this might be a consequence of new managers (DOC Masterton after the restructure), combined with them suddenly having been alerted that there was a hut on their books without a Building Certificate. That trigger is most likely the TTC's planned opening ceremony at the hut this weekend -- word probably got to a manager, who may have queried why it hadn't been "opened" already (or something like that).
So yeah. Probably someone with a new perspective thinks that DOC could be held accountable if there's an accident "in" the hut if it's clear that DOC knows people are using it (they obviously are) and it's not attempting to stop them.
Bit of an over-reaction. Hopefully it doesn't result in something worse than a minor accident inside a hut caused by non-weather-tight windows. It should be at least as much of a concern as to why Kime Hut has been sitting there in this state, for 9 months, and it's *still* not capable of getting a Building Certificate because apparently nothing's been done to address its problems.
