Another "Left Behind"

I get exactly where Gaiters is coming from. It’s nice to tramp with others from time to time but solo tramping is my drug of choice to help me find my center again. I work in the electrical industry and almost every day is a circus with people yanking my leash all over Chch. I like people, but I get royally sick to death of them. And I get sick of electricity too and the way it has both revolutionized and ruined our lives. So the opportunity to go off by myself and unplug and re-balance my psyche is priceless. I don’t really like talking either while I’m walking because it upsets the whole rhythm of breathing and listening. I’m not talking about religion, but if you don’t see the spiritual side of tramping then it’s nothing more than walking from A to B with equipment strapped to your back. Like many here I started tramping before the advent of PLB’s so I learned those vital lessons that teach us our limits when "no one can hear you scream" ;) I always pack a PLB now but I still pretend I don’t have one, if you get my drift.

Agreed. I tramp solo 90% of the time - it's a real escape for me and I deeply enjoy the lack of modern distractions. I'm also in a job that requires constant contact with people and as a reasonably introverted person I often need to unplug and 're-centre' myself. Tramping solo allows me to do this.

Ditto. "tramping club" is as much a misnomer as "fun run".

Even going mainstream.... http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75318153/when-trampers-shouldnt-do-as-theyre-told

Is the situation regarding who pays for a (genuine) rescue situation different if it's an accident or a medical emergency? In town, if you call a St Johns ambulance for an accident situation they send the bill to ACC, if you call them for a medical emergency (say acute appendix), they send you the bill. I'd assumed that in the mountains, all such emergency situations, whether medical or accident related are paid out of the police SAR budget? I've never heard of anyone being sent a big bill following a police/SAR mountain rescue situation. I have heard of bills being disputed in situations where it was possible to quickly contact a helicopter company directly but difficult / slow to contact the police to initiate a rescue. Helicopter contacted directly / quick and necessary rescue carried out, bill sent to police, police wouldn't pay as they hadn't initiated / approved the rescue. Not sure of the final outcome of that one.

yeah , who pays can come down to who calls for the helicopter. the cost isnt covered if authorised organisations like the police, RCCNZ or DOC don't call for the helicopter. i was helicoptered out once, the police met me when it landed and all they wanted to know was who had called the helicopter, since they hadnt. someone out on his own had gone off to alert the authorities and we never saw him again so could only guess he used a DOC hut radio and DOC called the helicopter. must have been someone official since it was arthurs pass and DOC have to authorise helicopter flights there. anyway it was an air force helicopter, not like a private company was going to present a bill. i've never heard of anyone having to pay, its rare the issue of charging anyone ever gets raised seriously, i cant recall any stories about it in the media.

more information on the group that left the chap behind on the hollyford, it gets worse.. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75384122/Mates-who-left-ill-tramper-on-Hollyford-Track-may-have-misunderstood-beacon-search-and-rescue

Yes, SAR costs generally get budgeted for and absorbed by either Maritime NZ (which the RCCNZ is part of) or Police, depending on which agency was responsible for responding... and if an accident was involved then ACC will probably be roped in. If it's a PLB activation then it'll nearly always be the RCCNZ. If it's something else, like a 111 call about a missing person, it'll nearly always be Police. It's not always clear-cut and they occasionally throw incidents to each other. And of course these costs don't include things which are harder to measure like volunteer time and resources, or the types of fundraising that helicopter trusts do so they can keep their operations running. I wrote more about it at http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/2517 (skip down to 'How SAR is ....') which is not guaranteed to be correct, but it's the best I've been able to figure out. If anyone's able to elaborate on or correct anything then it'd be great.