Two dead in the Tararuas
Original post
I'm not sure what's happened here, but it's sad news nonetheless.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/318598/two-trampers-found-dead-in-tararua-forest-park
It sounds as if it was a weekender somehow gone wrong, apparently from Waiohine Gorge (west of Greytown/Carterton) towards Alpha Hut and back.
85 comments
It does seem a strange case, given the information available.
The Cone - Neil - Winchcombe - Alpha route is strenuous (if it was in fact their route) and something runners or light weight trampers might attempt.
If the men were not widely separated and near the hut this suggests a sudden onset of hypothermia at the end of a long day, probably with little food eaten and inadequate clothing.
Drinking alcohol "for warmth" might produce a sudden drop in core temperature.
1 deleted post from
Gaiters
i think we should be careful what we say about the deceased and show respect,
people who know the deceased may be reading this.
I'm sure they are but it's bloody weird. we are allowed to speculate it's the nature of media in all its forms.
if that was someone i knew and i saw someone who didnt know them wrongly speculating on a public about them using drugs or alcohol, i'd be ropable...
speculation has to draw a line somewhere or its just getting into the sewer
If we wait then I'd be fairly sure there will be more verified facts to come out about this in time. Today's release seemed about the minimum Police could probably have gotten away with to nullify some of the confusion that's been out there with the presumption that they'd been talking the more direct route, but the fact names haven't been released yet possibly means the family aren't all even reliably notified.
Seems to have been very limited information released about the victims so far. Eg, country of origin, experience levels. If the latter was low, they could quite easily have run their fingers along the map when making their plans with no real idea of how much they were biting off. But you still imagine that they would have had to have been pretty unfit, inexperienced and ill-equipped to die of hypothermia with no rain about in November. Unless they (and presumably their spare clothes) got soaked in the crossing they reportedly would have had to have made.
The early suggestion was the Bull mound track which requires crossing the Turenekau but where they were found fits in with the much longer trip over winchcombe with no river crossings. Saturday was windy in Wellington and a strong wind can wear you down very fast.
Interestingly I remember a thing from Doc a year or so ago about closing the Bull Mound Omega and Block 16 tracks and removing the markers. Those tracks still show on Topomap.co.nz but are they on a new paper map or Doc info sheets? They may of picked the route from Doc maps along with local reports and not realised that the route on the map wasnt the described route.
One possible scenario: the longer the day you do, the bigger the risk you don't keep up energy intake with energy expenditure to the point you run out of sugar in your body from ingested sugar or carbohydrates, combined with fatigue, then your energy drops and risk of hypothermia is greater in cold conditions...
lack of adequate clothing and shelter can add to the likelihood of phypothermia
I was quite a way to the north on the weekend (Ruahines) where the weather was worse but indicative of what they may have faced. On Saturday the wind was absolutely brutal (no going on the tops, hard enough on the farmland). Camped out Saturday night and noticed quite a temperature drop in the night. I agree with Tararua hunter with the route taken over the tops hypothermia is quite understandable.
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| Started by | izogi |
| On | 21 November 2016 |
| Replies | 84 |
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