Personal Locator Beacons (PLB)
Recently two of our club members were on a trip and had to set off their PLB. They had been tramping over some rough terrain and it continued to worsen until they realized that they could not continue upwards as they did not have the confidence and ability to scramble over the upcoming exposed rock and snow ridge in the rising wind. Descent was difficult terrain and going down is always harder. Night was not too far away, a forecast gale force weather front was starting to come in. There was no where unexposed to camp and set up their tent safely.
They made the right choice. They set off the PLB and advised the club contact of their situation, including that no-one was injured. It is never an easy thing to do and they took time to make the decision. They were airlifted out quite quickly before the full force of the storm came in and saving the necessity of sending up a team on foot. The Search and Rescue were satisfied with the decision making and so is the club. The PLBs are there for your safety.
Summer Trip Schedule – Coming Soon!
We are still looking for trip leaders and the link can be found here:
https://www.wtmc.org.nz/for-trip-leaders
Be quick as the brand new shiny trip schedule will be published soon!
If you want to go on any of the trips and they look like they can not be accessed via the ferry but require a flight, contact the leader in advance. It will be a lot cheaper in airfares! These are some of the trips which will need flights:
• Wanaka Rock Climbing
• Christchurch Mystery rock climbing
• Mt Adams
Long trips on the new schedule
As this year Anzac day falls the Friday after Easter there is the possibility of doing an 11 day tramp without taking too much annual leave. There are already three trips on the schedule to some great places. Although these trips have a nominated leader, due to the scale of the trips you should expect to be designated some task in the planning. You also should contact the leader quite a long time in advance.
Finally Happy Christmas and good tramping wherever you will be!