Not fair to put others at risk

WE'VE seen it so often before, many times with far more devastating effects than at the weekend, that it becomes tiresome to repeat the warnings, the cautions, indeed the pleas for common sense.

Nine people were lifted off two South Island mountains at the weekend; six Australians from Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park after a 36-hour ordeal and three from Temple Peak in Otago, after being caught in an avalanche. Rescuers said their safe retrieval was down to good luck rather than good planning.

This is by no means the first time - the list of such incidents is lengthy - that foreigners in particular have put themselves and others in harm's way, either by being ill-prepared in terms of experience or equipment when venturing into our unforgiving alpine environment, or simply by ignoring wise counsel from those in the know.

Obviously, whenever someone heads out into mountainous terrain there is an element of risk. Otherwise, what would be the attraction? People want to test themselves in these challenging environments and that's fair enough. It might mean going when conditions are not 100 per cent in their favour. It's accepted there's a degree of risk involved.

Unfortunately, in both cases at the weekend, the degree of risk went beyond what is acceptable. The six at Mt Cook six were ill-prepared for the conditions; no avalanche equipment, snowshoes or skis, and just one shovel between them.

Though one group member has rejected criticism of the expedition, saying it was a good time of year for it because the park was "not crowded with people", and also reasoning that weather of the type they encountered was equally possible in summer, the bad weather had been well signalled.

The six, now back across the ditch, can count themselves fortunate that a window of opportunity did open up for their rescue on Saturday morning and that they were not hit by the avalanches that passed on both sides of where they were huddled in their tent. It's questionable whether they were prepared for how quickly the weather can change in the Southern Alps, given the range's proximity to the Tasman Sea.

In the Otago situation, the trio had to be rescued following an avalanche after defying safety warnings, with the avalanche risk seen as "considerable". Their bloody-mindedness put them and rescuers in danger.

We can't reasonably legislate to stop people going into such situations. The best we can do is hope they listen to reason. But it's the New Zealand way that when people get into trouble we go in and get them, free of charge, putting people in harm's way. That's simply unfair. Lives should not be risked to go in search of the foolhardy, and anyone contemplating adventure needs to take that into account in their planning.

- © Fairfax NZ News