Anne River Hut - StJames Walkway

sigh...tents should be carried on all routes unless you carry a fly or some emergency shelter or can get choppered out that same day. People have been known to break their legs!

There's a similar but less urgent warning at http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/canterbury/waimakariri-area/st-james-walkway/track-description/ Even DoC's St James Walkway brochure only says "During the summer it is recommended that you carry a tent as accommodation within the huts is limited and available on a first come basis." Earlier in the same pamphlet it inconsistently (unless you're pedantic) says "All parties should be self-sufficient in case of an accident or huts being full." The pamphlet's at http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/canterbury/st-james-walkway-brochure/ And as you've pointed out, if the advised attitude is that extra shelter's only needed because we now all know that a hut is now missing, I wonder what the people already walking the track are going to do when they show up to a burnt out hut. DoC seems to have accepted that a lot of people go out unprepared for the unforeseen, and is just trying to plan around unprepared people in popular places with a safety net. It's consistent with the generally lax attitude in chasing down people who don't pay hut fees, but simply accepting that it happens a lot (and annoyingly pushing up fees for everyone else). Trying to play devil's advocate, maybe it's more economic this way if a majority of these people fly in, go outdoors unprepared a few times and fly out again to be replaced by fresh new untrained people. There's not much long term gain in training newly arrived visitors to follow safe practices when they're not going to properly get the message until they're on the way out of the country again.

I guess there are times when we have all left the tent behind and relied on the hut. I remember one blisfull trip not so long ago made all the more pleasant by the fact we weren't lugging a tent. It's probably a reasonable assumption to make that the hut will be there and you might at least get some space on the floor, If it wasn't I guess we would make do. But more to the point in this thread.. I wonder what happened at Anne Hut? WHAT DODO BURNT THE HUT DOWN?

Probably one of those pratts with time on their hands and a candle burning their initials into the wood work

The old Hawden hut was burnt down by ashes being deposited under the hut. Maybe it was a similar stunt. The Squid Hut mysteriously burnt down while Permolat was discussing whether to invest their energy in that hut or Mid Styx. Do we all assume someone wanted to make the decision a no-brainer...Funnily enough I had been dead keen to visit the hut that w/e. Just as well I didn't, I would have been gutted (too).

Hey pmcke, you're famous for your heavy packs! Never thought you'd mind carrying a tent. Ours is a 2 skin, 2 person tent that weighs 1.6kg as the full tent and can be pitched as a fly only, weighing 960g. I wouldn't trust it in a windy spot though! It's a multi-pitch Montbell Hexagon.

On the topic, one of the people who was present when Heritage Lodge (Ruahines) burnt down in 2005 posted their side of the story here: http://www.windy.gen.nz/index.php/archives/273#comment-11747 (disclaimer -- it's a comment on my blog)

Yes, mustn't be too judgemental. I met the guy who was the last fellow to be in Powell Hut before it burn't down. He was a strange fellow and at first I wouldn't have put it past him to do it. Said the Police gave him a real grilling. However he was a DOC volunteer and had the keys for the DOC locker at Jumbo plus he was checking hut tickets, so he must have past muster. My guess is that it is probably someone had a little accident with a liquid fuel stove. I have seen even experience trampers being very casual about the way they handle white spirit sometimes. You have to be so careful with how you handle that stuff. Filling a stove inside is a big big no no, yet I have seen people do it when other stoves are around or candles are burning etc. Apparently that is what happened to Te Iringa Hut, someone had a wee fuel fire on the cooking bench and couldn't get it under control.

Hi, unless you are talking of a different hut now and I didn't notice that: Just follow the link in the second last post before this one and read the story of the leader of the group who was there when it happened. Bottom line: The hut was very poorly maintained and a known accident waiting to happen; the fire place and chimney were not in order, meaning most likely the chimney had not been cleaned for ages, resulting in a normal fire causing a roaring chimney fire which the group tried to put out with great effort, but were unable to so had to evacuate and walked out a night. From the car park, they saw the orange flash as the hut itself finally went up in flames. Lesson learned: Have a careful look at any hut before you decide to stay, and even if you do that, you still can't trust it to not go up in flames over night. Possibly worth considering packing a smoke detector, actually. If a fire develops while you're sleeping, you're dead. Cheers, Matt