Extreme sports misadventures mount up

Emily Jordan drowned while river-boarding on the Kawarau river last year. Photo / Supplied

Are adventure sport operators becoming more blase about safety?

Our tourism industry leader doesn't believe so. But our constant drive to experience more extreme sports creates more potential for things to go wrong.

"Operators are aware of what we have to lose," said Geoff Ensor, of the Tourism Industry Association.

Safety in adventure tourism was an ongoing issue and operators were learning how to make operations safer, he said.

But the country that markets itself on the best adventure sports is having a bad run. Massey University student Catherine Peters, 18, died after she fell 22m from Ballance Bridge on a bridge swing, on March 7.

Last Monday, in the Queenstown District Court, Mad Dog River Boarding was fined $66,000 after pleading guilty to two charges relating to the death of Briton Emily Jordan, 21, in April last year.

Operators had to balance an image of risk, thrills and adventures with safety, said associate professor of tourism Neil Carr of Otago University.

"Failure to provide both the image of risk and a record of safety endangers the sustainability of an adventure sports business as the absence of either will deter clients," he said.

"The problem, of course, is that for the thrill to be generated the risk must be real and hence, even with safety mechanisms in place, there is still a 'risk' of adverse consequences for consumers."

But he doesn't believe the industry is blase or safety standards are slipping.

"However, the importance of safety to adventure sports cannot be overstressed and as such it is certainly no bad thing to be asking questions about safety standards."

Adventure sports have claimed the lives of numerous people over the last few years.

Three people have died in avalanches in the last month. Ryan Campbell died in Queenstown after he was buried in 2.5m of snow, and Jonny Morgan and Australian Llynden Riethmuller were killed three weeks apart in avalanches on the Rugged Range near Methven.

February: British trainee doctor Thomas Donaldson died after falling from a boogie board while sand surfing in the Far North.

September 2008: Chinese tourist Yan Wang, 42, died at the junction of the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers when the 2.5-tonne jet boat she was travelling in flipped and trapped her underneath.

August 2008: British backpacker Sarah Katie Bond fell 50m to her death in Waitomo after losing control of a hired quad bike.

April 2008: six students and a teacher from Auckland's Elim College were swept to their deaths on a river canyoning trip in the Mangatepopo Gorge.