Lost Hunua tramper not 'experienced'
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| Wednesday, 20th June 2012 | Written by Josh Gale |
How do you define an experienced tramper?
According to newspaper reports like that in the New Zealand Herald, rescued Hunua tramper Ronnie Fong is classified as experienced.
This despite Fong mistakenly following a rodent bait line rather than the track he was meant to be on and continuing to move around throughout his three-day ordeal even though he knew he was lost and searchers were looking for him.
Police SAR coordinator Sergeant Dene Duthie, who ran the operation that rescued Fong in Auckland’s Hunua Ranges said newspaper reports describing Fong as an “experienced tramper” are wrong.
Fong, 38, got lost on Saturday June 16 when he mistakenly followed a rodent bait line and couldn’t find his way back out.
He sent a text message to friends at 3:30pm that day saying he was delayed, but wasn’t seen or heard from again until SAR personnel found him near Mangatangi Dam at 7:30pm on Tuesday June 19.
Sergeant Duthie said Fong has been going for walks on tracks nearly every weekend for the last three years, but that doesn’t amount to an experienced tramper.
“He has done a lot of walks, in New Zealand and overseas, but I wouldn’t call him an experienced tramper,” Duthie said. “I don’t know where [the media] got that from. He’s done nothing off track.”
Duthie also said Fong has not completed any Mountain Safety Council bush craft courses. Fong had two maps with him, Duthie said, but they were to no avail.
Former SAR co-ordinator and life member of the Palmerton North Tramping and Mountaineering Club Kevin Pearce told Wilderness “descriptions about people’s experience are often misleading”.
“Experience is always relative,” Pearce said. “You can be doing much the same thing for 10, 20 or 30 years without getting much experience.
“Experience comes from a diversity of activity and doing it with different people, at different times of the year, in different mountain ranges and through surviving the odd mishap and getting lost.
“A lot of people described as experienced are relatively inexperienced.”
Duthie agrees. He believes some tramping clubs and trampers are “losing their skill level”.
Duthie said he knows people who’ve joined tramping clubs and all they’ve done is walk on formed tracks, which doesn’t necessarily build new skills.
“Fong has been getting out there for the last few years almost every weekend walking tracks, but that's all he's been doing,” Duthie said. “You might have done a lot, but that doesn’t mean you’ve improved your skill levels.
“People need courses to show them and to do things that improve their skill level.”
The search for Fong, Duthie said, was complicated by the fact he kept moving to try to find his own way out and left no clues to help searchers find him.
At night, Fong tried to signal helicopters with his torch, but because he was under dense canopy the pilot couldn’t see the light.
To aid rescuers, lost trampers should leave lots of sign, such as broken branches or symbols made out of stones, and find an open space with little or no canopy and stay there.
“If you’re lost, find an area that’s open and then use a light source like a torch or mobile phone to signal a helicopter when it comes over at night,” Duthie said.
According to newspaper reports like that in the New Zealand Herald, rescued Hunua tramper Ronnie Fong is classified as experienced.
This despite Fong mistakenly following a rodent bait line rather than the track he was meant to be on and continuing to move around throughout his three-day ordeal even though he knew he was lost and searchers were looking for him.
Police SAR coordinator Sergeant Dene Duthie, who ran the operation that rescued Fong in Auckland’s Hunua Ranges said newspaper reports describing Fong as an “experienced tramper” are wrong.
Fong, 38, got lost on Saturday June 16 when he mistakenly followed a rodent bait line and couldn’t find his way back out.
He sent a text message to friends at 3:30pm that day saying he was delayed, but wasn’t seen or heard from again until SAR personnel found him near Mangatangi Dam at 7:30pm on Tuesday June 19.
Sergeant Duthie said Fong has been going for walks on tracks nearly every weekend for the last three years, but that doesn’t amount to an experienced tramper.
“He has done a lot of walks, in New Zealand and overseas, but I wouldn’t call him an experienced tramper,” Duthie said. “I don’t know where [the media] got that from. He’s done nothing off track.”
Duthie also said Fong has not completed any Mountain Safety Council bush craft courses. Fong had two maps with him, Duthie said, but they were to no avail.
Former SAR co-ordinator and life member of the Palmerton North Tramping and Mountaineering Club Kevin Pearce told Wilderness “descriptions about people’s experience are often misleading”.
“Experience is always relative,” Pearce said. “You can be doing much the same thing for 10, 20 or 30 years without getting much experience.
“Experience comes from a diversity of activity and doing it with different people, at different times of the year, in different mountain ranges and through surviving the odd mishap and getting lost.
“A lot of people described as experienced are relatively inexperienced.”
Duthie agrees. He believes some tramping clubs and trampers are “losing their skill level”.
Duthie said he knows people who’ve joined tramping clubs and all they’ve done is walk on formed tracks, which doesn’t necessarily build new skills.
“Fong has been getting out there for the last few years almost every weekend walking tracks, but that's all he's been doing,” Duthie said. “You might have done a lot, but that doesn’t mean you’ve improved your skill levels.
“People need courses to show them and to do things that improve their skill level.”
The search for Fong, Duthie said, was complicated by the fact he kept moving to try to find his own way out and left no clues to help searchers find him.
At night, Fong tried to signal helicopters with his torch, but because he was under dense canopy the pilot couldn’t see the light.
To aid rescuers, lost trampers should leave lots of sign, such as broken branches or symbols made out of stones, and find an open space with little or no canopy and stay there.
“If you’re lost, find an area that’s open and then use a light source like a torch or mobile phone to signal a helicopter when it comes over at night,” Duthie said.
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