Do you feel confident with crossing a river? With New Zealand's abundance of rivers, every backcountry tramper must know how to safely cross a waterway if the situation requires. With expert teaching from Outdoor Training NZ (OTNZ), the Rotorua Tramping Club fine-tunes their navigational skills and goes deep into hands-on learning with group and solo pack-floating, entrapment and how to escape from a strainer.
A cascade of poor decisions – lack of experience, a hyperfocus on reaching their destination despite horrendous conditions and the separation of party members – results in the preventable loss of a young woman left behind on the Gillespie Pass. Examining the events leading up to this tragedy, Johnny Mulheron and Erik Bradshaw offer sound advice for trampers heading off the beaten path of the Great Walks.
Like living in a ski town on a powder day, Hokitika is a river town, and we get our fair share of ‘fat’ powder days – just the melted type.
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