River crossing rules of thumb ?.

crossing together as a mutually supportive group, practice river crossing in safe settings with experienced trampers pref instructor. learn how to identify good places to cross,, crossing a river is optional, not compulsory.... don be swayed because your hut or the roadend is close and you dont want to wait it out. you should be prepared to wait it out. find another route or turn back.

The mutual support methods seem to be the only things taught these days and for the most part they work well. However what happens if something goes wrong. Ive seen a video of a group of 4 that lost contact with the bottom and ended up some distance downstream. Ive seen arguments about returning to rope crossings where the first person has to cross solo with a rope attached and the last person just ties on and lets the current do the work but its hard work for the first person and one has to think about where they end up if it goes wrong. They will pendulum on the rope and you dont want to end in trees. Whatever you do have a plan B. I tripped half way across the Orongaonga which was quite high but not really in a mild flood. Ended up on my knees with August river water around my armpits and flowing well. Luckily it was the only trip Ive ever completed with a walking pole. Without that I would have had no option to stand back up. It would of been a swim which would of been ok as I was heading downstream.

Being aware of crossing river braids if possible can save a big single crossing, though that can involve local knowledge or being prepared to move upstream to find them. The river crossings on a tramp I do frequently in APNP have become very familiar to me in different flows and even at night a couple of times (a low risk necessity....late for work) but that’s never an excuse to take them for granted. The rope method works well and does give a measure of confidence to some folk but is prone to it’s own issues as Geeves mentioned and not practical for solo crossings. The key is experience based confidence and always being prepared to swim/float to your run out zone. There’s nothing worse than falling in and panicking, so anticipate it. Especially in group with mixed experience if someone breaks off or falters and things come unhinged. Practice beforehand if possible with newbies. And cross up from a bend if you can. It can make the run out a lot easier. I’ve never done it in high flows but if your run out is good then packfloating is often an option. Sure you get fully wet but you get across. In the end it’s about practice, confidence and caution.

Tramping club does pack floating at finish of the River Crossing training day. Sternum strap unclipped, on your back, feet first. If you're using a good dry-bag as a pack liner, easy as. But it's an ejector-seat scenario. As an escape if needed. Not a recommended strategy for regular river crossing. With group crossings we're interlinked. So long as you keep the line straight and perpendicular to the flow, the littlies get excited afterwards about being floated through the deep spots. The linking is THAT good. Keep remembering the 3-some that crossed independently. The little Malaysian girl didn't like it & tried to turn back when in difficulty. Got swept away.

i thought she got stuck half way and the others rushed across without her

>Any proven 'River Safe' techniques for assessing a crossing? Rule of thumb: multiply water velocity in metres per second by maximum depth in metres. Any result approaching or above one is going to sweep you away. A big problem is that often in pool and drop rivers, the only place to cross is above a rapid. In the rapid is too fast, steep and bouldery. Immediately below the rapid is deep and fast, below that is just too deep, it then shallows out as it goes into the next rapid. So often you're crossing at a place where getting swept away will get you in real trouble. I think this document from Brian Wilkins is useful. Lots of discussion/opinion at the start, techniques for crossing with rope start at section 2 about page 33. https://www.fmc.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/Wading-Back-Country-Water.pdf

assuming you can work out water velocity, most people won't

@ Ian_H I've just finished carefully reading that "Wading Back Country Water" document from Brian Wilkins. I have to say it challenged a lot of my assumptions and has caused me to rethink my ideas on river crossing. It could do with an executive summary, but it's absolutely worth the read. Thanks for linking to it.

From Ian_H referenced PDF ""The common first event, well documented, is the legs being lifted off the bottom."" I've read through the PDF a few times now & downloaded to my hard-drive. Thanks. It was Yessica Asmin (Indonesian), panicked, swept off a rock & probably knocked unconcious, while crossing Pompolona Creek on The Milford T. May 19th, after bridges had been removed end of season. There was a severe weather warning for heavy rain issued shortly after their departure. They crossed individually. Thanks for the lead, Waynowski.