A coroner has urged trampers to stop and call for help the moment they realise they are lost, rather than pressing on in the hope of finding the way back, after finding that a Christchurch woman died of hypothermia in Arthur’s Pass National Park about 700 metres from the track she had set out to walk.
Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame has released her findings into the death of Rebecca Woolley, who was 37 when she died on Mount Aicken on 30 October 2021. The Department of Conservation issued a public safety reminder on Wednesday in response to the report, saying the case showed how quickly a day walk can turn into a serious alpine situation.
Woolley set out that day with a friend on the Mount Aicken Track, an advanced tramping route that neither of them had walked before. At the bush line, around 3pm, her companion turned back with a sore leg. Woolley carried on alone into the unmarked alpine terrain above.
At 3.40pm she sent a text message saying she had taken a wrong turn but could still see the road below her. She was reported missing at 7.35pm, by which time the weather had deteriorated badly. A search team found her body the following day, roughly 700 metres south of the marked track in the Graham Stream area, the Otago Daily Times reported.
The coroner found Woolley died of hypothermia caused by prolonged exposure to cold and wet weather, with a spinal fracture from a fall as a contributing factor. Exactly how the two combined could not be settled. “Either she fell, injuring her spine and was unable to move herself to a place of shelter before succumbing to hypothermia, or she had become hypothermic before falling,” Cunninghame wrote.
Evidence suggested Woolley had removed some clothing before the fall. The coroner noted that paradoxical undressing, in which a severely hypothermic person feels a sudden rush of heat and starts taking clothes off, is a recognised symptom of the final stages of hypothermia.
The detail that runs through the whole finding is a simple one. Neither tramper was carrying a map, a compass, a GPS device or a personal locator beacon. Once Woolley was off the route in cloud and rain, she had nothing to fix her position with and nothing to raise an alarm with beyond a mobile phone in country where coverage is patchy at best.
The Mount Aicken Track ends at the bush line. Beyond that point the terrain is steep, largely unmarked and recommended only for experienced alpine trampers. DOC maintains poles and three large triangle markers at the key decision points where people have historically gone wrong, but there is no continuous marked line to follow.
Cunninghame made two recommendations. She asked DOC to review the timing of its annual marker inspection so staff can complete the check safely once snow conditions allow. She also asked the public to carry proper navigation tools and to know how to use them before entering unmarked terrain, and, if lost, to avoid trying to self-correct and instead stop and seek assistance early while communication options are still open.
DOC visitor safety and standards manager Andy Roberts said the department’s thoughts were with the family. “Our hearts go out to Rebecca’s family at this time. Her death leaves a huge hole for her family and friends,” he said in a statement released on Wednesday. “Following a tragedy in the same area in 2006, we installed more markers where it seemed trampers were taking a wrong turn and updated the information on our website highlighting the risks with this route and the difficult, steep terrain.”
Roberts said the markers on Mount Aicken were “all in place and in good condition at the time Rebecca Woolley was there”, although they had not yet had their spring 2021 check because of snow loading. DOC has since reviewed the schedule and staff now plan to inspect the markers in early October each year if snow conditions allow.
He said the wider pattern behind cases like this one is people leaving formed tracks without the gear or the experience to cope with what they find. “What we have seen over recent years is people going off tracks or routes and not necessarily having the equipment or the skills to deal with the conditions,” Roberts said.
“The New Zealand outdoors are amazing but can be unforgiving,” he said. “Our tracks and structures are maintained for people to use, but on unmarked difficult routes even while doing a day walk, you can get into challenging alpine terrain pretty quickly and you need to be very careful, take precautions by having the right gear, maps and communication devices. If in doubt, ask experts and seek advice on whether the trip is right for you and your experience and always check the weather forecast.”
Tramping deaths are rare against the number of people who go out, but they have held steady for years. Mountain Safety Council figures record 48 tramping fatalities over the past decade, 26 of them New Zealanders and 22 international visitors. Both the five-year and ten-year averages sit at 4.8 deaths a year. Search and rescue callouts are a much bigger number, with an average of about 546 people a year needing to be rescued while tramping over the past ten years, rising to 590 a year across the last five.
Part of what makes Arthur’s Pass deceptive is that a state highway runs through the middle of it. The road can be in plain view from high ground, as it was in Woolley’s last message, while the ground in between is steep, slippery and cut by streams that rise fast in rain. The urge to head straight down towards something familiar is exactly what the coroner’s advice about stopping and seeking help is aimed at.
Woolley was a student nurse and an experienced tramper. Her father Brett Woolley told the inquiry she was “an incredible person who lived life to its fullest” and added, “She is very much missed by all that knew her.”
Details of the coroner’s findings were also reported by RNZ.
Do you carry a beacon and a map on day walks, or only on longer trips? Tell us in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
Leave a Reply