Police criticise unprepared trampers

Police say the poor decisions of trampers are putting many lives at risk. Photo / File

Police are highly critical of two poorly equipped groups of athletes who had to be plucked to safety by helicopter from Arthur's Pass while training for next month's Coast to Coast endurance race.

Police had recently fielded many calls regarding overdue trampers from concerned friends and family who had minimal information about the overdue groups, Sergeant Sean Judd said.

"Police are left trying to make critical decisions ... this is slowing down our ability to respond and putting lives at risk."

The first search and rescue operation was launched at noon yesterday after four women were caught in bad weather. They were forced to stop at the Goat Pass Hut after one became hypothermic, using the Department of Conservation radio at the hut to call for assistance.

Despite the bad weather, a rescue helicopter from Garden City in Christchurch was able to uplift the group and fly them back to Arthur's Pass where the woman was treated for mild hypothermia, Mr Judd said.

Shortly afterwards, the Rescue Coordination Centre received a beacon activation in the Deception River area, only a few kilometres north-west of the Goat Pass Hut.

This group was also using the same section of the Coast to Coast course as a training run and was caught in the bad weather.

Creeks in the area rose rapidly, trapping them between two tributaries. The same rescue helicopter was able locate them and fly them back to Arthur's Pass.

"The groups were not equipped well enough in regards to their clothing to be in that area in that weather," Mr Judd said.

"This simply comes down to a poor decision to enter into mountains when the forecast was for heavy rain. It was pure luck that visibility remained sufficient to allow the rescue helicopter to get in and extract the groups, as a prolonged stay in the mountains waiting for ground teams to assist them could have had a very different outcome."

Mr Judd said the groups should have followed the example of Land Search and Rescue dog handler Duncan Hamilton, previous competitor in the Coast to Coast event, who had planned to take a group through the same route yesterday but, after checking the forecast, postponed the trip.

He was called to Arthur's Pass to assist in the rescue.