Skiers join search for missing Canadian bushwalker at Kosciu

[DarrenM]

No logbooks at all the main trailheads. Huts yes.

[north-north-west]

The log book idea sounds best i reckon. Cant say im familiar with the area but id be surprised if there wasnt log books there?

Don't think so. Can't say I've ever seen a log book on any of the Main Range access points.

[north-north-west]

Too many daywalkers to make it feasible, really. Worse than Cradle Mtn. Only KNP trackhead I'm sure has a walkers log is Round Mountain.

[Lophophaps]

Logbooks work for the more experienced walker. Others would not use the books properly, and if there's a crowd are likely to just walk on. Would they check out? Could lodges, motels and the like be encouraged to ask clients to fill out an intentions book at their accommodation? What about day trippers driving into KNP being required to fill out an intentions form at the vehicular entry point? It's a lot of admin for the one party in 10,000 that meets with danger.

[tastrax]

Personally I think we all need to look after ourselves. In this day and age it takes only a couple of minutes to let someone know what you are doing either by facebook post, phone call, email, note in the car etc. Its not that hard, and if you add in the technology available with smartphones, GPS, PLB's and other tracking technology then we can all sleep easy at night and our loved ones will know what is going on. Talk to your family and friends so they know your abilities, the gear that you are carrying and you will enjoy the outdoors safely.

Sure government agencies and private individuals can also support us with intention forms, PLB hire etc but in the end its your responsibility to be prepared and capable for the walk/adventure that you are undertaking.

[Lizzy]

+1 Tastrax. People need to take some responsibility for themselves. I did an overnighter up there a couple of years ago and hired one of the Nat Parks PLB's & more importantly told family my trip intentions. since then I have bought my own PLB which is nice to have just in case and saves the hassle of planning to hire/borrow one.
It's not hard these days to do a bit of research on the Internet to get a good idea of most walks.... Amazing how many don't seem to bother. Recently picked up some scouting gear from a river after they ran into whitewater which they did not know was there..... A quick Google would have shown them that and they could have chosen a different paddle rather than have worried parents, a helicopter search and lost gear....

[north-north-west]

+1 Tastrax. People need to take some responsibility for themselves. I did an overnighter up there a couple of years ago and hired one of the Nat Parks PLB's & more importantly told family my trip intentions. since then I have bought my own PLB which is nice to have just in case and saves the hassle of planning to hire/borrow one.

Yeah, same here. When I did Hannells I hired a PLB from DubberParks in Khancoban. First time I had one but it did make me a little more comfortable about being up there.
Especially as that was one of those Christmases where it did the mini-blizzard thing. Got out but it was good to know I had options.

Personally I think we all need to look after ourselves. In this day and age it takes only a couple of minutes to let someone know what you are doing either by facebook post, phone call, email, note in the car etc. Its not that hard, and if you add in the technology available with smartphones, GPS, PLB's and other tracking technology then we can all sleep easy at night and our loved ones will know what is going on. Talk to your family and friends so they know your abilities, the gear that you are carrying and you will enjoy the outdoors safely.

Sure government agencies and private individuals can also support us with intention forms, PLB hire etc but in the end its your responsibility to be prepared and capable for the walk/adventure that you are undertaking.

Very much agree, but there are always people - and in tourist hotspots they are often the majority - who don't know that they don't know what they're doing. Mr Srawn was very much one of those. And they are the most likely to get into trouble when the weather goes off. And that means that SAR personnel - public or private - are always going to be put at risk over the ignorant.
So the more we do to educate the public, the better.

[Strider]

Posted to Facebook this morning. Interesting viewpoint from the family.



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[north-north-west]

Clueless and in denial.

I know that park - both the Main Range and much of the rest of it - far better than anyone in that family ever will, and I have no doubts about the ease with which someone can come unstuck out there, nor about how a body could remain unfound for years.
Sorry about your loss, but there is no conspiracy in this, no Ivan Milat type behind the disappearance, no cover-up. If anyone has set up this to make it look like something it isn't, it was Srawn himself, knowingly - although on the evidence that is highly unlikely.

As for no-one ever having not been found - wasn't there a bloke who went missing somewhere out towards Teds/Chimneys Ridge who wasn't found? I can remember reading notes in the hut logbook from the searchers . . .

[Travis22]

I agonised for ages last night about replying or not to that post on FB.

Its so horrible to imagine what they are going through but your absolutely right NNW, that post is absoultely rediculous and they are in total denial of the facts.

Stephen Crean went undiscovered for 2 years and his final discovery was said to have been by pure chance. There are numerous bodies of missing persons who vanished in our dense bushland over the years out there.

Sadly i think the odds of finding Prabhdeep are a billion to one given the extremely limited number of people who will venture into the thick bushland where he may have ended up.

Travis.

[Lophophaps]

NNW, +1. There are many others on this forum, PWS, S&R, and in bushwalking clubs who have our level of experience and would agree with you. I read the Coroner's Report in full and found it to be very balanced. It's quite sad that the family will not let this go, will not accept facts.

There's a thread in this forum about an experienced walker who was blasted by wind and cold, perhaps also snow, near Tate-Twynum, nearly losing his tent. He fared as many of us would. Take away the experience, decent clothing, the tent, sleeping bag, and food and nearly all people would not survive one night. Two nights and the outcome is certain. There's not a lot that we can do to change the views of the family. All that could be done at the time was done. If Pradh is on the Main Range he is dead. He may be alive if he left the park, but why should he? Maybe the family could quantify what they want done.

[perfectlydark]

So they organised that massive search party to..prove he wasnt there?

[walkon]

Starting to see why the young bloke didn't wear the right gear, leave info and know what he was getting into. Apples Don't fall far from the tree and with the odd behaviour that the family is showing.....
Grief does strange things to people and whilst I hope they find peace soon. I doubt it's anywhere close at the moment

[Supertramp]

As bad as this might sound.
I think it is time for the people of Australia to make contact with this family to make them aware of the reality of the matter. They are now badmouthing Australia due to it's understanding of the area & wanting to call the search off, due to the very possible chance that Prabhdeep Srawn is gone (deceased). How many people can survive a night with no adequate gear in Kosciuszko National Park at that time of year if the weather was to change? I can't think of one, can you?

[Lophophaps]

Someone like PWS could make contact, but would the family listen? The family ignored the advice of experts two years ago, ignored the Coroner, and seem to be unfortunately distant from reality. If the logic of the situation was made known them - and I think that they know the facts - might this be twisted to make us look bad? Or should be say nothing and then be charged with ignoring them? An easy answer eludes me.

[north-north-west]

If Pradh is on the Main Range he is dead. He may be alive if he left the park, but why should he?

Not just why, but how? He left the hire car at Charlotte Pass. Surely, with the publicity this has had, if anyone gave him a ride they would have reported it. If he had organised alternative transport, wouldn't that have been discovered? Use of available funds - credit or debit cards, bank deposits - would have left a trail. Or did he just walk from Charlotte Pass to Fiji in the clothes he was wearing, with no money, no food, and no preparation?

It's a dreadful thing for the family to go through, but they need to accept the obvious. Although I'm not surprised they don't. An old friend of my family - a woman who helped take care of me when I was a child and whose son I babysat - disappeared with her son and the yacht they were sailing across Bass Strait. Even a decade after the disappearance, her sister wouldn't accept that they were dead. It's a dreadful form of self-torture.