Bushwalk Australia

Another soul lost after falling through a crevasse on Mt Cook. Supposedly an Aust soldier on an alpine training exercise.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian- ... ztlpd.html

Has this season been particularly harsh on walkers/trampers/climbers? Reading a few more incidents than I'd like. RIP.

Rip.

Damn. Is it a worse season or just reported more? Hard to say. Sorry for all the families

its not climbing season, theres avalanche danger... they were probably just moving around the plateau for glacier experience.
video might not be viewable from aus
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/austral ... eo-6029834

Thanks Wayno. Can be viewed here in Oz.

more info
Special forces troops lose desperate battle to save mate
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11294655

http://www.3news.co.nz/Soldiers-death-s ... fault.aspx

Apparently the deceased was the instructor to the commando training group with extensive experiences. Most unfortunate.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/australi ... ztxf4.html

GPSGuided wrote:Has this season been particularly harsh on walkers/trampers/climbers?

No. You may be confusing the two prominent incidents. Or my searching has not shown up any other deaths on Mt Cook this season at all.

A low snow season may have contributed (but surely is not the major reason) to a snow bridge collapse and a fall into a 40m crevasse results - in NZ.
A prior heavy snow event/accumulation after a significant weather Low saw a snow slope get triggered by snow-boarders - in Victoria.

also for 2014 in NSW;
The 25-year-old had failed to return home from a snowboarding session in Perisher and was found [deceased] in a wooded area without trails late on Wednesday night.

A seven-year-old boy, died after being buried by snow that came loose from his lodge at Mt Buller in Victoria. He was found nearly two hours after he went missing, just 40 metres from where he was last seen.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... zsvgy.html

Commando on Mt Cook;
http://www.news.com.au/national/nd-army ... 6991469629

The Mt Cook area is a dangerous alpine environment and seven people were killed on the mountain last year. Extreme training is part of the job for special-forces soldiers and since the Vietnam War more have been killed during training than in actual operations.

Snowboarders in Victorian back country;
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victor ... 032bceb21f

A slab of snow and ice 30m wide and more than a foot thick, ripped from the mountain carrying both men to their deaths... Victoria Police Search and Rescue Sergeant Simon Brand said once you saw the video you could understand the power in the avalanche the men faced. “It created significant damage,’’ he said. “It swept everything in its path including trees, rock and earth. We don’t have many destructive avalanches in Australia but ours are like concrete not powder. And with the conditions we are seeing we still have a huge avalanche risk, this season.’’

Reading a few more incidents than I'd like. RIP.

How many incidents would be to your liking?

there's usually several deaths a year in NZ in the mountains.
mt cook national park, a couple of hundred deaths so far. mt taranaki 80 deaths
all the major parks have had numerous deaths.
drowning, injury, hypothermia are regular killers
for every death sho knows how many near misses there are, most trampers i know have had close calls at some stage or other, mainly when we were in our teens.
i only personally know one person who has died, never found him, somewhere on the three passes route

Wollemi wrote:How many incidents would be to your liking?

None. But that's clearly not realistic. In any case, it was an impression based on the number of news reports. As a matter of fact, I have also read somewhere that this winter season has been somewhat more "nasty" than those in recent past.

GPSGuided wrote:

Wollemi wrote:How many incidents would be to your liking?

None. But that's clearly not realistic. In any case, it was an impression based on the number of news reports. As a matter of fact, I have also read somewhere that this winter season has been somewhat more "nasty" than those in recent past.

I don't think so. its nothing out of the ordinary.... better uptake of emergency beacons year by year is getting far more people out of dangerous situations far faster... theres a reasonable no of rescues going on, but i wouldnt say thats anything out of the ordinary... rescues are so frequent here they dont usually get much of a mention in the press unless there is something out of the ordinary, ie large no of people or stranded for a while. the quick rescues often dont get a big mention, just buried in the rest of the news...
i have google alerts set up for sar events in nz , so i tend to see most of the ones that get into the press.
our helicopter rescue pilots are as good as they get, they do some pretty amazing work rescueing people in appalling weather and extremely rough terrain.

I wasn't specifically referring to NZ only, but combined reports.