incident on tongariro alpine crossing

[wayno]

this is taken off a facebook thread posted yesterday, note people as ill prepared as this are extremely common on the Crossing.. and dont come to the attention of authorities most of the time...

TOURISTS - PLEASE USE THE RIGHT GEAR AND GUIDES This guy missed out on his Darwin Award this weekend...... by an ultra slim margin. We found him on the Tongariro crossing, he attempted it in Jandals (thongs, Flip Flops), that jacket and jeans. Lost his jandals and jumper in a fall, what a surprise, No gloves, no hat, no food, no water, no over trousers, no map, no compas, solo attempt etc. When we found him he was on his way down, trying to get to his car in bare feet (He had made it to the top and fallen down Red Crater I think) and having fallen his hands were well cut up. His brain had switched to survival mode and he was focused on walking the last 5+ km of snow, ice and sharp volcanic rock to his car. NOTE TO REMEMBER - His brain was so focussed on survival, survival instinct kicked in, that I had to insist he stopped and let us help him. He was initially refusing help. Stopped him, gave him warm chocolate drink, bandaged his hands, put socks on feet and hands and then another Kiwi party came down (also dragging down with them two more terrified, bleeding, Frenchmen who at least had sneakers on, not much use). A member of this other Kiwi group had a spare set of boots and agreed to take our guy down as well so that I could carry on with the Venturers. Had to put the boots on him, he could not do it for him self Had to fix his hands, he could not do it for him self. We then started up again and found two more idiots coming up behind us, also in jeans, sneakers etc. We turned them around too, they were Polish. This guys is from France. Very close to being "his name WAS from France.
Jolyon Russell‎Tongariro Alpine Crossing - Adrift Outdoors

TOURISTS - PLEASE USE THE RIGHT GEAR AND GUIDES

This guy missed out on his Darwin Award this weekend...... by an ultra slim margin.

We found him on the Tongariro crossing, he attempted it in Jandals (thongs, Flip Flops), that jacket and jeans. Lost his jandals and jumper in a fall, what a surprise, No gloves, no hat, no food, no water, no over trousers, no map, no compas, solo attempt etc.

When we found him he was on his way down, trying to get to his car in bare feet (He had made it to the top and fallen down Red Crater I think) and having fallen his hands were well cut up. His brain had switched to survival mode and he was focused on walking the last 5+ km of snow, ice and sharp volcanic rock to his car.

NOTE TO REMEMBER - His brain was so focussed on survival, survival instinct kicked in, that I had to insist he stopped and let us help him. He was initially refusing help.

Stopped him, gave him warm chocolate drink, bandaged his hands, put socks on feet and hands and then another Kiwi party came down (also dragging down with them two more terrified, bleeding, Frenchmen who at least had sneakers on, not much use). A member of this other Kiwi group had a spare set of boots and agreed to take our guy down as well so that I could carry on with the Venturers.

Had to put the boots on him, he could not do it for him self
Had to fix his hands, he could not do it for him self.

We then started up again and found two more idiots coming up behind us, also in jeans, sneakers etc. We turned them around too, they were Polish.

This guys is from France. Very close to being "his name WAS from France.
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9 people like this.
Wayne Monastra I knew he get into issue when i spoke to him that day lol
11 hrs · Like · 1
Wayne Clark doesnt matter what the conditions, people still go up there in streetwear.. some of the shuttle companies dont care, as long as they have a jacket of some random description, they let them go
11 hrs · Like · 3
Wayne Monastra the pix are funny and he was following me..lol..silly fool
11 hrs · Like · 1

Jolyon Russell Hi Wayne Monastra. It was much more than an issue when i found him, he really was on the cusp of failing health wise when I stopped him. I had a lot of teenagers with me to teach them basic alpine stuff so he became a great lesson for them. Sad thing is that I was reluctant to say anything earlier in the day when he passed us going up the valley (we did a slow trip to focus on gear and navigation). I think I will be a little/lot more aggressive when i see these idiots in the future. He was so close to proving Darwin right.
10 hrs · Unlike · 1
Wayne Monastra Hi, I work for a local guiding company in Nat park and was the last guide on our group of 28 and i was about 7-8 min from the main group and i saw him..the weather was pretty average uptop and he walked all the way to the top of where we were in jandels and i approached him to ask if he was ok..i strongly suggested he return the way he come after he told me his plan was to follow us to the carpark and get the shuttle bus back...when i told him there were no shuttles unless he booked one, he tried to score a ride on the bus i was on....i was one of 4 guides with a large group and we only had small vans for the clients plus all our gear...his only and safest option at the time was to return the way he came safely as possible, and i offered to assist him down to red crater where said he was ok...he had nothing what so ever with him...and i asked him how would he keep warm and he said he would just keep moving...silly man....even when i hike over seas the first thing i always do is seek local advice on the area i intend to hike in....pity this guy never had the smarts to do the same...the out come could have been so much worse .....if my responsibility was not with the paid clients i was with that day i would have gone out with him...but im sorry to say he was not my responsibility and people need to start using their brains in these sorts of areas....as of late we are seeing people doing stupid things almost daily....
10 hrs · Like · 1
Wayne Clark next couple of days the wind chill won't be above -13. good luck to anyone up there in streetwear.
9 hrs · Like · 2
Wayne Clark http://www.metservice.com/mountain/tong ... ional-park
New Zealand's official weather forecasts & warnings - Meteorological Service of New Zealand...
www.metservice.com
Latest New Zealand Weather Forecast, including Tides, Snow Reports, Radar Maps and NZ Weather Maps. MetService.com.
9 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
Wayne Monastra no ones been out the last day or two...so we should be safe...a good fire and some dvds is called for i think...oh and a glass of red
9 hrs · Like · 1
Jolyon Russell Wayne Monastra I totally understand and support what you did, I had 9 Venturer Scouts with me and was responsible for both them and ultimately the two other adult leaders. He said he had spoken to someone up top and discovered that there were no buses so he turned around. He fell very badly, immediately after leaving you, lost his jandals and jumper, cut up his feet and hands. In the end, your 28 are more than one. He was in deep deep trouble when i stopped him so i had to do something and it all worked out (i was going to turn my party around and take him down, have to do this for the scouts).. Look on Tripadvisor.com, they are all there telling others to go up in sneakers and a hoodie. Blind leading the blind.
9 hrs · Edited · Like
Wayne Monastra What...i feel bad now...he must have fallen shortly after talking too me...do you know where he ended up....i will look at trip advisor and have alook...is there a way to contact them and update there info perhaps?
9 hrs · Like · 1
Jolyon Russell Trip advisor just has tourists telling each other how easy it is in their trip reports. Just put up a trip report for the crossing on Trip Advisor after one of your trips up there, thats quite legit. Give out some advice in your trip report. I have put the same post as this thread on Trip Advisor and intend to put up another with a gear list. ........ i have no idea where Kranik (His name sounded like that) ended up as the other alpine group consented to take him down and they had boots for him....... what a lucky break that was.
9 hrs · Like

[GPSGuided]

"Ill prepared" was a gross understatement. There was no preparation by the description.

[wayno]

"Ill prepared" was a gross understatement. There was no preparation by the description.

he was aware that shuttles do run at either road end of the track, so he'd picked up a bit of information, but a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, you have to prebook the shuttles, especially at this time of year, they don't run by default, in bad weather they usually don't run at all. he could have turned up to an empty road end and have to try and get himself back to his car at the start, the road at the end of the track isnt used that much either.
as one person commented, lots of comments on tripadvisor about how easy the walk is... maybe in summer in perfect weather for someone with some fitness. a lot of people treat the crossing as "just another activity" and dont make any preparation for it. just step out in whatever clothes are comfortable at the location where they are staying which could be at a much lower elevation..

[michael_p]

I remember driving past Tongariro in mid December a few years back and it was covered in snow. Not surprised then to see people getting caught out. Very deceptive area.

[wayno]

http://geonet.org.nz/volcano/info/tongariro/cameras