Caught between DOC and a hard place

UPDATED: Three trampers have reached safety after walking out of the Arthurs Pass National Park and have lashed authorities who refused a helicopter access to the park to rescue them.

The men left Barker Hut shortly after 7am, deciding to try their luck and walk to safety across the rushing White River.

Police and the Department of Conservation had last night urged the men to stay put in the hut, saying it was unsafe to cross the swollen river.

But the men were running short of food -- down to just a power bar and a small quantity of instant mashed potato -- and were concerned that forecast bad weather would keep them stranded at the hut for another six days.

They took advantage of a slightly lower river this morning but told The Press the decision to refuse them a helicopter rescue had made them take unnecessary risks in surging whitewater that was waist deep.

Speaking from Arthurs Pass, one of the men, Kerry Suter, said they had been lucky.

''We just legged it,'' he said. ''These people are looking at water levels down at Arthurs
Pass and they just can't imagine how bad it is up at the hut where we were.''

''It's almost like they were encouraging us to take risks just to make their point.''
Suter said the men had crossed the raging river by linking arms and moving slowly
together.

''It's a deadly canyon,'' he said. ''People have died in that river.

It's waist high and the rate at which it is flowing you can't even comprehend.''

Yesterday morning they contacted the Canterbury Mountain Radio Service, requesting that a helicopter collect them.

They offered to pay the $1300 cost of the flight.

However, the Department of Conservation (DOC) bans commercial helicopters from landing in the park, apart from in cases of medical emergency.

When police search and rescue decided yesterday that the situation was not an emergency, permission to fly in and collect the men was refused.

The Press spoke to one of the trampers, Auckland man Dana Hemmingway, over the hut's VHF radio yesterday.

"We need to get out and we wanted to hire a helicopter so that we do not have to rely on emergency services or anyone else," he said.

"They will not allow a helicopter into the park. It's ridiculous. We may now have to take risks and very serious risks to get ourselves out of here."

The trampers had walked south from Carrington Hut on Saturday, crossing the White River and stopping at their present location, near the head of the White River. Rain on Sunday and Monday swelled the river and cut them off. Further bad weather is expected for the rest of the week.

Paul White, from the Canterbury Mountain Radio Service, slammed the decision to deny helicopter access.

"The department and the police are telling them to wait for the river to go down, but it won't," he said. "The river will be higher tomorrow and DOC just haven't considered how dangerous it will be. It's a joke."

With Suter in the hut are his brother, Nick, and Hemmingway, a cameraman for Prime television in Auckland.

Kerry Suter's wife, Megan, said she was confident the group had the skill to survive, but was angry that their bid to fly out of the park had been refused.

"It is very concerning that they can't get anyone to get them out and they are stuck in this situation," she said.

"What are they meant to do? They don't have much food left. It's ridiculous."

The department _ keen to keep out joyflight operators _ has a strict policy preventing helicopter access.

"There is no injury and there is no-one at serious risk to their health so they are best just to sit tight in the hut," said Wayne Costello, the supervisor at the Arthurs Pass DOC field centre.

He said trampers in remote areas should plan accordingly and take extra rations.

"These trampers are safe in a hut. As long as they stay there and wait out the weather, they will be as good as gold," he said.

Hemmingway said the group would run out of food tonight.

"If we have to walk out in three or four days we will be doing so without having eaten," he said. "It's dangerous and we were trying to get the helicopter in to prevent an emergency situation developing."

Police search and rescue co-ordinator Craig Prior said the situation was unpleasant but not dangerous for the men.

"They are not injured, they are not lost, they are in a nice warm hut," he said.

Both police and DOC have urged the men to stay in the hut until conditions improve.

 

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