decision-making on deadly Great Walk criticised

"even then, after 5 hours of hiking to cover 3-4kms, they walked past a emergency hut with no personal shelter. That’s not calculated risk, that’s delusion. " Purely a guess but I wonder if hypothermia was already playing a role in the decision process. We will never know but the call to go back had to be made at least 4 hours before they got to this point. I was going to write a comment about the Grey bar but after writing it 3 times it couldnt say what I wanted

> And so I, for one, no longer even notice, see, or read warning signs because I pass 100's of them every day. One further aspect that gets me about this is when warning signs are so numerous that they don't really work, and so in some places DOC doesn't even bother to warn. It tells people that tracks are closed, and outright implies that it's illegal to go there. Egmont NP is littered with them, for example. I appreciate much of what DOC does but IMHO such signs are borderline unlawful in most cases.

Warnings and other safety items have got to the saturation point where they no longer work as expected.. My work has me on public streets in a hi vis vest. The public see me and dont run me over but ask them 30 minutes later and they wont remember I was there. Also go into a lot of workshops and warehouses and its a sea of orange hi vis vests. Its a wonder they dont paint the walls orange as well so the forklifts dont drive into them.

Hi viz camo? http://tramper.nz/files/objectversions/9071/17-BackRidgeBiv.JPG

That said ... and I realise I'm contradicting myself here: the 'emergency use only' warning signs at Harris Saddle shelter seem overly fierce. They threaten fines & prosecution for staying there except in a 'genuine emergency'. I had the shelter in mind as a fall back overnight spot sneaking through between snowfall events this winter ... but the signs really made me think twice about using it. I was almost 1hr ahead of my cutoff time for the saddle - so had no issue. But had I been borderline timewise: would I have felt I could justify staying there as a 'genuine emergency'? Probably. But I could imagine many wouldn't. I thought at the time that maybe removing those penalty for non emergency use signs in winter when they put the other warning signs up would encourage less risky decisions.

But had I been borderline timewise: would I have felt I could justify staying there as a 'genuine emergency'? Its only a crime if you get caught. Would Mr Plod have come knocking?

@geeves. Agree personally - stuff Mr Plod. But not the point here. For someone inexperienced who does not realise the seriousness of being 30% of the way over an alpine pass 5hrs into a winters day above the snowline - anything that discourages stopping at safety & shelter is adding to the risk of an unsafe decision and fatal consequences.

@madpom I'll have to check out the signs when next I'm there. In this particular instance, though, is it true they could not read English? If not, perhaps said signs did not have the same impact for them as for one who reads English. Not remembering the signs, maybe the graphics were clear enough to connote "don't stay here unless it's a genuine emergency"?

The result here, is quite unsurprising, i.e. 'Petr took off his trousers as he felt they were a nuisance.' But geeves raises what has become a very strong point, there are too may signs etc... just look at the highways, so many reflective signs it's become dangerous to drive at nighttime with car headlamps on!: 'Warnings and other safety items have got to the saturation point where they no longer work as expected.. My work has me on public streets in a hi vis vest. The public see me and dont run me over but ask them 30 minutes later and they wont remember I was there. Also go into a lot of workshops and warehouses and its a sea of orange hi vis vests. Its a wonder they dont paint the walls orange as well so the forklifts dont drive into them.' - geeves

the problem with harris saddle is people use it regularly to do the routeburn for free. they deliberately target the shelter as their only place to stay... same with the shelters on the Kepler track... the rangers do check the shelters in summer.. so now you're saving up to $70 if you're a kiwi or $140 if you're a foreigner by staying in the shelter if you're walking the track in summer.