Weather Causes Chaos

Hi guys I have just completed the Routeburn,Caples,Greenstone all in one go 8 days i am still in Te Anau for another day.I had to walk from the Greenstone hut to mc keller hut it took 10 hours the weather was so crap it was not funny we had 200 mm rain in 8 hours and just got to mc kellar hut with out drowning in the greenstone river but what a cool tramp it was i will put pics up when i get back Lindsay

More info from the Otago Daily Times here http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/50804/trampers-airlifted I see they answer izoqi's question too.

Funnily enough I had a big chat with a colleague in the weekend about beacons. He's been climbing/tramping for... erm ...ever.., and helps me out with routes, advice, gear etc. Kindly, he always shows interest at my (poor) photos and stories. Anyway, the conversation was about beacons - I asked if (since I'm enjoying solo stuff and increasing my horizons) should consider one. It sparked an excellent debate, I wondered, why, given I walk in 'busy' areas and hardly ever off-piste, I would need one. My argument was, get shelter up, hang tight, my wife will call LandSAR and I'll be found waiting, well equipped. His rather sage reply was that when you've slipped on a root, broken a leg and ended up lying in the stream it's (in reality) very hard to even consider getting sheltered, dry, warm, fed and hanging tight. He proffered further that while I might not die from a simple leg fracture, a few nights cold, wet, hungry and in shock waiting to be found could prove "problematic". He went further to suggest that even something as simple as a branch in the eye can be totally debilitating, the nausea, pain, disorientation... Kidney stones came up for discussion too. The old nugget about man-hours on the ground, 3 choppers searching for a lost tramper 2 days overdue vs. an hour return flight to pickup an injured tramper, came up too. For me, the outcome is, make one at 300g, the size of a coke can for $275 I'll carry it anywhere. I wonder how many objections would be overcome by a lightweight, inexpensive solution. But damn, I'd like to think that if I carried one I'd be bloody reluctant to use it, pride, damned pride. Back on topic how much of the Dart trampers' decision to "push the big red button" can be mitigated by knowing that if they're 2 days overdue someone's raising an alarm anyway?

It is better not to discuss more about distress beacons. Price will go up if we do, I think.

Im with you. stop talking about them and this will hopefully come down in price http://www.aviationsafety.co.nz/personal.htm 275g and smaller than a can of coke

I am after a Mini-Sat 406Mhz PLB (personal locator beacon without gps). It is small, compact and equiped with a 10 year battery and is of 10 year warranty http://www.kti.com.au/plb.htm

bigpaul - we just need them to fix that price!

I keep a PLB in the boot of my car, its a good feeling knowing that if I ever get trapped or lost in my boot I would have a chance of rescue.

That actually makes sense...

I thought about Peters mate with his ever increasing supply of pills looked at my own mountain of medication then the investment in gear and consider that my wife may like to cash it up in the event of expirey. As immenent expirey would be the only time I could see myself considering pushing the button. That is if I could find it when needed Like Mad Pom. I would have thought if you are considering purchase DZ that the Gps version made more sense. I put my pack down in some crown fern once and had to spend half an hour looking for it. I like the look and apparent size of the version you suggest but havnt seen it in NZ. Most have the appearence of small bricks.