Hutbook Search Story

When I went to Herepai hut a couple of months ago, there was a very interesting, slightly long, story written up in the back of the hut book about a search that took place back in the 1970's in the area.
I've transcribed the photos I took of it for your reading pleasure :)
I have corrected some spelling (excluding the original poster misnaming Chamberlain Creek as Chamberland and Mangahou instead of Mangahao), but the sentence structure is the same as I could interperet.
I have no way of knowing when exactly the report was written up - and the author did not sign their name to it.

In the late 60's a scout party went missing on East Peak. The scout master separated from the other three scouts to find the route, but didn't return. The three scouts started to get very cold and decided the best thing to do would be to get lower down, so they dropped into Harris Creek (not know what side of the ridge they were on).

The next day they made it out to Mangahou dam and alerted the caretaker there. The next day a full search was mounted which involved the Police, Army, and Air Force, plus many tramping clubs members. A base was made at Bryant Farm and search headquarters was a caravan.
The army put up tents and provided hot meals for everyone. The Air Force [unsure of word] helicopter only made three flights as the wind became too strong to fly.

Three search parties got flown in to various locations. The rest (searchers) had to walk to their allotted search areas. As the search proceeded the weather progressively got worse (N.Wester). High winds on the main ridge were atrocious.

It was difficult to stand up and even breathe facing the wind. Fine gravel was picked up by the wind and thrown in your face. Also we were soaked to the skin by torrential rain. Conditions were so bad we were told to go to Dundas Hut. Half way there we were forced off the tops because we couldn't handle the wind.

We made a makeshift camp on some bench above Chamberland Creek, south of West Peak. A tent could not be pitched so we tied the tent out flat and got under it. I must say I was [pretty?] comfortable considering the conditions. The bottom of my sleeping bag got wet, but other than that, all were well apart from not being able to boil the billy.

The next morning we moved off at dawn, and headed back towards East Peak. We finally got to what we thought was Ruapai Peak and made a radio sked to base. We were told to proceed back to Putara Hut as the conditions were too dangerous to search in. When we got to about Hines, the rain stopped and the wind was still so strong it instantly dried our clothes out, which helped to warm us up. I remember I was wearing two jupara parkers and soaked through. Finally arriving at Putara Hut, the hut was full of other search parties bulging at the seams.
The next morning a radio message called the search officially off, as condition were atrocious for searching.

Some months later a party found the remains of a pack and sleeping bag in Chamberland Creek. The scout masters remains were never found. It was said much later that he had serious health issues and probably bit off more than he could handle, also endangering the other scouts in the party.
Possibly the hard right turn you make at East Peak may have been mist by then and got them into trouble??

Interestingly, underneath this account was another statement, from Phil Doole, one of the Venturer Scouts who was on the original trip:

Some clarifications to the above account:
1. The events happened in early September 1973 (40 years ago).
2. I was one of the 3 Venturer scouts with Ken Balfour. We were returning to Putara Hut from a bivy between Pukemoremore and Dome (we did not reach Dundas Hut the day before)
3. We reached Ruapae Peak (not East Peak) - confirmed by the pipe which is still on Ruapae. Hail & sleep, we couldn't confirm the route off towards Hines, Ken headed back towards East Peak. I dont recall why. We waited over an hour then had to make a decision to find shelter. We opted for the quickest descent into Harris Creek headwaters. Herepai Hut did not exist then, descent in the open over Herepai Peak did not seem like a good option at the time.
4. We bivied in the top of Harris Creek and continued out to the Mangahou River Hut and then on to the caretakers house at the dam, taking 1.5 days. The weather had cleared and at the time we had no concerns for Kens safety, thinking he would have made it out and would be looking for us (we were not due out until that day as it was a 4 day trip).
5. Finding Kens gear in Chamberlain Creek is a puzzle. Perhaps it was the Ruamahanga River, he may have come to grief in Ruapae Stream?

The 40th anniversary of what came to be known as Operation Balfour was covered in articles in the Wairarapa Times Age and Wilderness Magazine in 201, both of which are worth a read.

Mums go wild

Hut #45

20-21 September 2014

Team: Me, Sarah, Denise, Karen, Romana

Herepai Hut, Puatara Road end, Tararua Forest Park

What a weekend! I would say 4 seasons in two days, but really, it was a spring blast of winter for most of the weekend. This trip was a special one - my first overnight away without Spike. Sure, he had spent nights at Granma and Pops before, but I had not gone away overnight without him. As such, it was my first overnight tramp in just over two years, with the previous being a road end south at Blue Range while 7 weeks pregnant.

Friday afternoon there was a flurry of emails - the weather forecast for the weekend was ominous. Foul weather any which way you read it. Lovely. After one punter pulling out earlier in the week because they were unwell, another pulled out because of the weather forecast, and I was briefly concerned we were going to all decide not to go. The question was put to the chief guide and club prez as to whether perhaps we should be going - a party where every member had either not tramped in multiple years, or had only done one tramp - into the teeth of such a storm. "Dont worry", they said, "Its sheltered, a fantastic all-weather tramp".
So off we went.

Saturday morning. It rained most of the way north, stopping literally only while we were at Mitre 10 Masterton using their bathroom and buying a biscuit or two on our way north. It started hailing as we headed north out of town, and the Putara Road was not far off starting to flood as we got nearer to the road end. The hail stopped long enough to get our packs on, and then started again as soon as we stepped onto the boggy, muddy trail.

It was a very wet walk - the track was marked by the fact it was a fast-running stream. Side-streams that would usually go unnoticed were running fast enough that some party members required assistance to get across them. As we started climbing, the hail started to settle on the ground, anywhere there wasn't running water. When we got to the top of the hill, the decision was made that there was no way we were going to try and get down the hill to Roaring Stag as originally planned - we were all too cold, and soaked through. The pouring rain and cold weather had meant no-one had stopped for a proper lunch either, we had all been surviving our slow plod up the hill with whatever snacks we had shoved in our raincoats at the van.



Plus it had now started snowing. Snow was settling on top of any flat patches of water. The ridgeline was exposed to the wind, and it bit straight through our wet gear. On we moved. The walk through to Herepai seemed to take a really long time as the weather continued to get colder (not aided by the fact I had no watch!). The snow was settling quite thickly under the trees, and was hiding traps. In one section, I stood on a submerged tree stump, and promptly slipped, landing on hands and kees in just under 10cm of icy water, with both knees landing on other submerged rocks / stumps / something. Agony.

Nothing for it though - I wasn't going to sit around in the cold and cry. At some stage here I thought I saw the hut, but was mistaken. I even looked two or three times to be sure before I told Karen and Denise. But I was wrong. The smell of woodsmoke 5 minutes later was fantastic. We had arrived. The fire was going, we could get inside!

I dont know whether it was the fact we were all so cold to start with, or what, but the fire just seemed to take forever to actually do its job of warming the place up. Probably not helped by the wind driven snow on uninsulated double-metal walls (inside and out) that literally ran with condensation - absolutely nothing dried overnight, including the floor.

That said, we had an awesome time chatting with a group from the Rangitikei Tramping Club who we were sharing the hut with. They were the best kind of people to share a hut with - welcoming, friendly, inclusive. They made hot drinks for everyone, kept the fire going, told stories, shared the rest of their dinner when some of ours didn't work so well, and volunteered to clean the hut in the morning.

Sunday dawned fine. Sunshine! It had stopped snowing about an hour after we arrived at the hut Saturday night, and the difference in the track on the way down was incredible - almost no standing water, and no streams running down the hill. The barely crossable side streams were back to barely noticeable, and the river had dropped substantially. I would say we made it back to the van "dry", but given we had all put wet clothes back on before we left the hut, it would be more correct to say we didn't get rained on, although it did spit a bit as we were getting sorted to go.

 

A quick stop at the bakery in Kirupuni for a pie, and at Schoc for a treat, and we headed off home. It eventually turned out that my sore knee was an impact sprain. A month later and I'm still in physio, and its still tender to touch in the wrong spots. But at least I can walk again!

Hut Bagged: Herepai Hut (1 night). First visit.