Subj : Tourists underestimate alpine hikes due to misleading online content
To   : All
From : News Person
Date : Mon Apr 08 2024 01:30 pm

Online content is misleading tourists into attempting hikes they are
ill-equipped for, leading to several rescues being mounted across the South
Island.

Wanaka Search and Rescue chairman Bill Day said nearby Mount Brewster is a
"popular" example where the terrain turns from a "nice bushwalk" to requiring
"advanced route-finding skills".

"We're rescuing a lot of people, we've had someone die there and we've had
people that if we weren't there, they wouldn't be home for Christmas."

The problem is social media only showing the good bits, he said.

"People want to show they've had a good day. and so they don't show the hard
bits.

"People who have had a bad day there don't show it at all."

When you go online, you tend to see a "picturesque walk that ends up in a
fabulous swim in a glacial lake," said Day.

"It's not all that way."

In the last year, volunteers mounted 10 rescues from the area.

"We want people to have a good time in the outdoors. what we want people to
do is have a better understanding of where they're going and what's required."

Day recounted a recent rescue where tourists were hanging onto trees after
ending up in a riverbed during a storm.

"They were in the process of dying, and we had to winch them out at night in
relatively difficult weather."

Search and Rescue is one of the few purely voluntary organisations left, Day
said.

The helicopter and pilot are paid for by the taxpayer, but other staff are
unpaid.

"They're quintessential Kiwi good bastards that get out of warm beds on
stormy nights and go looking for strangers."

Day suggested tourists "get good advice" and carry an emergency beacon.

"This is the thing that takes the search out of 'search and rescue'," he
said, holding one up to the camera on Breakfast this morning.

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