Tramper fatality prompts review

watched a doco on Kilian Journet, the mountain runner he does things on mountains that make your hair curl... he was brought up at a mountain hostel at 2000m... he's half man half mountain goat. Ueli Steck is another one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAeHysSVMUk

Here's another follow-up on the original incident. http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/10184618/Stingy-tourists-walk-into-trouble

Ive just asked on another forum about river crossings. It will be interesting to see how its done elsewhere.

The comment thread below that article is actually very depressing to read through, but then again it is on Stuff.

@ Izogi - You reckon ?. There's a lot saying "Trampers got it wrong" & a few saying "That's harsh. Try facing the parents with that'' I think they're both right. The twist I don't like is how people aren't expecting to be accountable for themselves, their decisions, their actions. Perpetual victims ?. Sort of takes it right back to the very 2nd comment, 5 pages ago, by Waynowski ?. Cheers !.

every year theres examples in the news of foreign tourists under estimating the dangers and too often they pay with their lives. to NZers we can't understand why they took the risks they did, logical to us that they were way out of their depth... but this is a foreign land to them with foreign geography and weather conditions... it doesnt come out in teh national news that much but around the tourist towns the local news will carry stories about tourists doing very risky things in the outdoors... they take to southern lakes in inadequate water craft sometimes. made by themselves, no safety equipment, they ignore all advice from locals warning them not to proceed. fall in a southern lake and you've got thirty minutes before hypothermia cripples you, without a life jacket you're dead,,, with a life jacket your time is still limited before you're dead... a lot of nz water courses can be pretty deceptive, people may be worrying more about getting a foothold and the water not being that deep... but our streams are often lethal because of the speed the water travels at. a speed people overseas may bot be used to. the water hits you with great force even when its relatively shallow, if you loose your footing you can be in big trouble. having little ability to control where you go as you're carried downstream. the cold can send you into shock. in the early days of european colonisation of nz there were twice as many drownings per year than there are now and this is with a very small population... and a lot of those that drowned were experienced at crossing NZ water courses.

Headline on the cover on the Weekend Press (chch): "Stingy tourists walk into trouble" haha goes on to say... "tourists on a budget avoiding DOC offices in an attempt to minimise contact with people who might be trying to charge them" Basically it says they were dodging paying $54 each per night which is true and as a result of bad decision making, this girl drowned, sad but true.

wtf? I just read that Stuff page ..its the same article

@Pro-active, I'm looking more at the comments saying things like (paraphrased) "All tourists should be locked out of the conservation estate, unless they pay through the nose for a guide, because the fact that they're not New Zealanders means they're too arrogant and stupid to act safely, whereas people who grew up here know all about the dangers." There are soooo many things wrong with that reasoning, legally and practically and factually, yet it's echoing through the entire thread. Not to mention how Yessica (who should have been having the time of her life yet came out of this worse than anyone) is getting a lot of flack and declared as obviously having been an idiot for the whole dying thing, based on some hasty comments made under extreme stress by a guy who she and her boyfriend had only met a couple of days before. But yeah, it's Stuff. The message from the sewers is "We hate all tourists, you're all stupid, now come to New Zealand and give us all your money because otherwise you're just lazy thankless morons." The journo who wrote the article tried to contact me last week after I wrote a blog post. I didn't see the request in time and then had a really busy week (which is still going) so didn't reply until I saw the story this morning, but I'm not sure I'd want to be quoted in that context anyway. She seems to have gotten some good stuff out of some other people, but I'm now wondering if I ended up offending someone with the mod stick. Commenting on Stuff is usually a hiding to nothing, but 3 of the 4 comments I made (nothing inflammatory... just responding to a few people with referenced factual observations like "Only 10% of SAR operations in NZ actually involve tourists", as well as pointing out a few things like some minor issues with people's brilliant ideas punching a hole through the Bill of Rights) never made it through the mod queue. Maybe arguing against some of these people was the problem.

The Stuff article insinuates that this couple snuck onto the Milford Track without DoC's knowledge. Can someone enlighten me on how it is possible to sneak onto the Glade Wharf to do the Milford Track off- season when you are a reasonably unresourced tourist? The transport into the start at Glade House is run by a concessionaire, is it not? If in fact this couple were on the Milford Track officially with DoC's knowledge due to having booked huts and transport, then the Stuff article is printing libellous insinuations. It states on the DoC site Winter page for the Milford Track: All transport must be arranged before starting the track. The article also states that the couple had no choice but to carry on to the next hut rather than turn back. Is DoC going on about tourists avoiding hut fees etc. to avoid scrutiny of the fact that the tourists on these great walks are under pressure to keep going onward as they are unwelcome to return to the unbookable for a second night great walk hut.