After 55 years of helping save lives in some of the most rugged parts of New Zealand, the service will go off-air at the end of the month.
“I think we can hold our heads high,” says Ian Gardiner, of the Canterbury and South Island Mountain Radio Service. “There have been a lot of rescues, and a lot have been avoided by us being able to communicate.”
Twice a day every day of the week, at 8.30am and 7.30pm volunteers read MetService weather forecasts and take calls from parties in the mountains or out in the bush.
New technology, plus the difficulty in finding volunteers to keep the service going, has prompted the decision to shut down, Gardiner says.
The service covered Canterbury, West Coast, Westland, Nelson and Marlborough and 15 years ago took over the Southland Field Radio Service. Read more from Stuff.
$5m lifeline for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts
The government has promised up to $5 million to the liquidators of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts to ensure the 2023 ski season can go ahead.
The company was officially put into liquidation last week, after a vote on who would take over the ski-fields ended in a stalemate.
Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan said the funding would allow time for the liquidators to decide who to sell the business and assets to.
Last year the government said it would provide no further financial support, but Acting Prime Minister Carmel Sepluoni said the government was stepping in now because nobody else would.
“We have to step in here because no one else will for the interim, but we are looking to find a longer-term solution.” The money would not be going directly to life pass holders, Sepuloni said. Read the full story from RNZ.
Northland walking tracks’ reopening could take longer than expected
Some of Northland’s most popular walking tracks are closed in the wake of severe weather that has hammered the region. Further rain over the last few months has meant that reopening the tracks could take longer than expected.
About 28 tracks across Northland are now closed. The Department of Conservation (DoC) said reopening the tracks, which are a major domestic and international drawcard, could be a “long process”.
“We appreciate everyone’s patience during these closures,” he said. Around 200 visitor sites across the North Island have been impacted by recent weather events, with 550 incidents of asset damage recorded. This includes more than 240 tracks. Read the full story from the NZ Herald.
Teen hiker dies in extreme heat in Texas desert; stepfather dies seeking help
A 14-year-old boy fell ill and died in extreme heat while hiking Saturday in Big Bend National Park in Texas, officials said.
His stepfather died seeking help for the boy when the vehicle he was in veered off its path and crashed down an embankment beneath an overlook, the National Park Service said in a statement.
The park service said the teenager was hiking with his stepfather and an older brother, all from Florida, along the Marufo Vega Trail, near the U.S.-Mexico border, as temperatures reached 48 degrees Saturday.
The older brother was unharmed, the park service said. He had tried to carry the teenager back to the trailhead, it said. Read the full story from NBC News.
‘Belly of the shadow of death’: Belgian hikers recount seven-hour trek in Jasper snowstorm
Raf Verbraeken and Arthur Van Eeghem, got the full Canadian experience finding themselves knee-deep in a June snowstorm on a harrowing 25km hike back to safety that took more than seven hours.
The pair checked the weather in town and there was only a promise of rain. However, as they were making their way back to town, the mild rain turned to a cold, heavy deluge that soaked their kit and eventually turned to snow.
“We just thought that it’s gonna maybe snow for a couple of hours and by the morning it will all be gone. But it didn’t turn out that way because there was snow overnight. It was like we were walking through the belly of the shadow of death,” said Verbraeken.
Officials said that some 55cm of snow and 100mm of rain fell in the national park, prompting road closures and the rescue of some 60 visitors. Read the full story from the Edmonton Journal.
