Unprepared & foolish: stories of idiots you've met

trampers without raingear, using softsell or down jackets as rain jackets, sleeping bags on the outside of a pack without any waterproof protection.. trampers panicking in a storm and abandoning their packs to get off the ridge fast...

I'm always careful about judging people on sight, over what i would often consider a liability. Everyone can be different and there is always someone who would try to prove you wrong. I've encountered many examples of unpreparedness but with the absence of any adverse conditions these people do what they do and walk away boasting a good time and of how they didn't have to pay any attention to limiting risk. The most recent thing i saw was a barefoot walker who literally carried nothing. It was not a graded track. Lucky for us we were headed in the other direction. We usually want to run away from such people because we resent their readiness to divert us from our agenda, to take care of them in the event they encounter an obstacle. He, no doubt thought he was tough and perhaps better for his minimalism. On the other hand, he may have been out just for shock value. Likely not, because we would have been the only people on that route, that late in the day. Obviously everyone draws the line differently when it comes down to being self sufficient.

Its sometimes hard to know whether a decision that looks foolish to us really is for the other party. In the first instance I know people that have done the Milford on one day and Routburn the next so turning a 9 day trip into 4 isn't nessecsarily that far fetched although the choice of rain gear doesn't inspire confidence. As for barefoot tramping. There is a nz Facebook group about tramping barefoot and there used to be a picture on there of someone on top of Ruapeahu in snow but not in shoes. Not our kettle of fish I know but feet can be conditioned to handle most of what the ground can throw at them. Only story I can think of was at the previous Kime hut and involved university students. They had a brand new multi fuel stove. Tested at home on gas then bought kero for the trip. Not a clue about preheating. They got the stove lit but liquid kero running all over the bench. I'm glad they bought kero

mountain runners racing to beat bad weather with stuff all gear....

Last year while we where approaching Aspiring Hut for our overnight stay a Israeli couple was about to going up to cascade saddle. Forecast for the rest of the afternoon and the two days ahead where pouring rains and severe wind conditions. We were chatting about it and then the guy asked me and my partner to go up with them. We warned them saying that cascade saddle can be dangerous in such a conditions and we asked if the had a Plb in case of emergency. They didn’t have any idea what a PLB was. Long story short they went inside the warden house,talked to him and at the end the headed out the valley to the direction of the car park. I’m glad that we talked and they somehow saw our concerns in my face. I suppose that it’s all about informations and preparation. Although people sometime doesn’t get how dangerous can be.

A young Korean guy walking on Stewart Island who wore jandals, and had two loaves of white bread and 2 containers of peanut butter as his entire food supply. Couldnt speak any english at all - and this was years before we sold NZ out to tourism at all costs. A swiss guy in the Otago Siberia region who couldnt be advised on routes, thought he was the shizzle, and had about 5-6 kgs of excess cookware adding useless weight in his pack. He was choppered out sometime later as he hurt himself. Maybe an overly heavy pack contributed to his difficulties....? A couple of guys at Mt Somers, one got heat exhaustion/dehydration and collapsed and later made a full recovery (there was a nurse @ the hut). His mate however had panicked, run off to get cell reception and by the time he got back to the hut later that nite (it was now dark) we heard the rescue chopper coming in. Total waste of resources. Drinking regular water and using proper sun protection wouldve prevented that. I've done the Broken Axe Pinnacles with a group with a barefoot tramper. There are 2 groupings of these guys IMO - the responsible kind who treat it as a lifestyle and who seek your views on doing it (so you can say "no" if you think they may be a risk to your group), and the other kind - the "I'm looking for myself, will carry nothing, you can look after me if I stuff up, but I'm doing the TA along with 1000 other people, so they can look after me/feed me too."

Mountain runner going up to Routeburn Falls Hut in mid winter. This runner had no warm clothes, bare legs, short shorts, and it was windy and raining freezing sleet on her thin nylon wind-breaker. It was alternating between sleet and pouring rain. She was wet through, but fine as long as she kept running and hot. But if she'd turned an ankle or pulled a muscle, she'd be cold and wet with no way to get warm. I wonder how long an immobilized human could stay functional, with just a lycra base layer and wet wind-breaker, at 2° in sleet and rain.

I knew a couple of Buddhist monks who did the Heaphy. No raincoats, and no food. At each hut they accepted alms-food from curious trampers who asked what they were doing. Fortunately it didn't rain, and kind people gave them enough food. But imposing on other trampers like that is just not on.

where they come from its good karma to give to a monk. and the locals believe that and so it encourages them to give to them and it encourages the monks to think what they are doing is good... but if they dont get food they are just philosophical about it like it was meant to be. and it wont necessarily put them off either... but when you're tramping its really deliberately bludging... might help if someone told them most nzers don't believe in budhism and dont like them begging for food in the mountains when other people have bothered to carry and cook their own...