Unpredictable and determined
Insights from a successful search for a highly mobile man in the Whitcombe valley.
On Saturday, 29 June 2024, a man left the Hokitika Gorge car park for an overnight tramp, intending to be home around 5pm the following day. By 10pm on Sunday night, he hadn’t returned, so his girlfriend informed the Police.
“Our inquiries gave us significant concerns about the man’s wellbeing,” said Senior Constable Sarah Cook, who became the incident controller for the SAR operation. “He had little experience tramping on the west coast and had gotten temporarily lost on previous trips. The man did not leave any route intentions, nor did he have a tent, waterproof clothing or a distress beacon. With a heavy rain warning issued for Sunday night, we prepared to deploy search teams early the next morning.”
After processing the site of his vehicle for clues, the first field team headed up the true left of the Hokitika River, looking for signs of the man. “Without any detailed intentions to inform our initial response, the potential search area was vast. We wanted to quickly eliminate the possibility that the man was in another valley,” says Sarah.
Sources said that the man was stubborn and likely to keep going even if injured. Also, he probably wouldn’t think being overdue was a problem. As part of the containment plan, responders posted signs with his name on his car, at the road end of the adjacent Toaroha valley and in all the huts the teams visited. Near Rapid Creek Hut, the Hokitika valley narrowed, and a cableway crossed the river. “At this funneling point, we told our teams to go overboard with the ‘Police Emergency’ tape and written signs, so there was no chance he’d pass through without knowing we were looking for him.”
Although the heavy rain had abated, the rivers were high and low clouds made helicopter access difficult. A second field team was flown to Frew Hut, the most obvious overnight destination for a tramp in the area, tasked to search down the valley towards the car park.
The helicopter then checked huts in the vicinity: Rapid Creek, Serpentine, Frisco, Frew and Frew Saddle. “Further inquiries with the man’s employer revealed a comment about ‘heading to the bluffs’ which we thought could mean Bluff Hut,” says Sarah. This assumption was validated when a logbook entry was discovered at Frew Saddle Bivouac dated Sunday 30 June which read “heading to Bluff Hut’. At Bluff hut on the same day, another entry read “out Hoki River.”
Based on these clues, the team at Frew Hut were redeployed to Bluff Hut. They located footprints and followed them down the track towards the Hokitika River. At the river, they lost the trail. “The team sign-cut [searched more widely for footprints] before heading up to Frisco Hut. Further up the track they found more footprints, but after receiving a verified boot print trace during a helicopter resupply, the team established the prints by Frisco Hut were not the missing man’s.
The track down from Frisco Hut avoids the dangerous whitewater gorges of Frisco Canyon. However, the missing man hadn’t found that track and instead committed to following the true left riverbank.
Before dark on Monday, a third team was flown to Serpentine Hut. Meanwhile, the man continued down the riverbank, completely missing Serpentine Hut and the search team staying there. Katie Brennan from Land Search and Rescue Hokitika was in that team, who began their search the following morning. “Travel in the valley was very difficult, but when the route was close to the river, we’d keep an eye on the water as well as the land for signs,” says Katie. “The river posed some serious hazards, so we had good discussions on where to draw the line between what was safe for a field team to search, and what was appropriate for river or canyon specialist teams.”
As they searched, they spotted something out of place on the far bank, which turned out to be the missing man. “All we wanted was to cross the river and give him food, shelter and dry clothes,” says Katie. “But he appeared in reasonable condition, so we decided it wasn’t worth a risky crossing, especially with a helicopter nearby.” Katie’s team directed the man to shingle beach, where the crew from Precision Helicopters recovered him via a tricky hover load.
Sarah was full of praise for the responders. “This was a challenging search in difficult terrain for a very mobile man. We couldn’t have done it without the dedication of the volunteers from Land Search and Rescue Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport and Reefton. Precision Helicopters were also fantastic, with great flying and local knowledge. They also took the initiative to buy some hot pies, which they delivered to teams during tasked flights. The local community rallied around too, with offers of hot food and transport for searchers as they emerged from the hills. Morale was high throughout the operation, which undoubtedly contributed to the effective searching and a successful outcome.”
Insights
The importance of profiling the missing person. Thorough interviews with the missing man’s girlfriend, employer and parents built a clear picture of the man’s likely behaviours. Repeat interviews revealed additional intelligence, such as the type of shoe the man was wearing, and a vague comment about his intentions. This information informed the search strategy and helped to narrow down the search area.
Good use of local knowledge. Excellent personal knowl
edge of the area from the local volunteers and the helicopter operator allowed them to operate safely and effectively in the rugged terrain and adverse weather. Ben Nilson from Hokitika Land Search and Rescue gave excellent advice as part of the incident management team and Precision Helicopters were able to get teams in and out very efficiently.
Field teams operated appropriately in the river corridor. Much of the searching was along riverside tracks. Those rivers were steep, rough, running high and full of whitewater hazards. Teams understood that the search area should include the river but made sure they remained within the boundaries of their technical abilities. Teams did not search river features or cross rivers where those actions were more appropriate for river or canyon specialist teams.
Excellent choice of communications strategy. The primary communications method was High Frequency (HF) radio, via the Land Search and Rescue Long Range Digital Radio (LRDR) network. Signals reached a fixed installation in Westport, which were relayed to a laptop computer at the incident control point (ICP) in Hokitika. Teams were able to make contact each hour with the ICP. “The HF was excellent,” says Sarah. “Also, in the evenings, field teams could chat with one another to share information and boost morale.” The LRDR was a project initially supported by NZSAR, and this successful operational deployment has demonstrated its value and proof of concept.
VHF radios provided some connectivity between nearby teams during the day. InReach satellite notification devices were used, but less effective due to the time delay in sending and receiving messages.
Feature image: Courtesy Police
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This story was originally published in the April 2025 issue of Link magazine, which is produced by the NZSAR Secretariat for the wider search and rescue sector.