Rogue operators accused of ignoring bad weather advisories and delivering trampers to the Tongariro Crossing in potentially dangerous conditions have received a sharp warning from the Department of Conservation (DoC).
The government department yesterday emailed shuttle drivers threatening to remove their permissions if they fail to comply with the rules.
Normally, members of the public can drive themselves to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, considered one of New Zealand’s most spectacular one-day hikes.
But since the recent fires in the Central Plateau, only shuttle operators have been allowed to access the crossing.
It’s on the condition that they cancel all bookings when bad weather advisories are in place. Operators get advance warning - around 4pm daily they are emailed the advisory for the following day, which is then confirmed the following morning at 5am.
DoC operations manager for Tongariro Libby O’Brien told the Herald “the Alpine Crossing can be deadly in challenging weather conditions, and the weather advisory is an important safety tool to protect hikers from ... high risks.”
A weather advisory was in place on Saturday morning and Niwa Weather had advised the public to stay away from the crossing. A local told the Herald winds were gusting over 70km/h.
An email sent by O’Brien to shuttle operators early on Saturday morning read, “Hundreds of manuhiri [visitors, were] on buses ready to hike the crossing when the bad weather advisory had clearly been applied.
“Today, I had to make an extremely uncomfortable call to allow buses to take people to the trail start given the huge number of people already at the track,” O’Brien said, “but I do not want to be in this position again, for the safety of our manuhiri but also because it is wildly unfair for those operators adhering to the rules.
“I want to be very clear: if there is a bad weather advisory in place we cannot have businesses operating on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
“It does not matter when the wind picks up - if the advisory is in place, it’s a no-go for that entire day.”
O’Brien said DoC will be cracking down on operators who put guests at risk.
“I will be very firm with this - you will lose your privilege of being able to operate in this special place and we will look to cancel concessions” she wrote to the operators.
Ruapehu Scenic Shuttles posted to Facebook saying it was “absolutely disgusted” some shuttle companies had ignored the terms of their DoC concessions, and it had left them wondering if “playing by the rules is worth it.”
Another operator, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald the decisions of companies who decided to operate in bad weather risked leaving visitors in dangerous and volatile alpine situations.
“There were people going up to the crossing on Saturday that were in the wrong gear in strong winds,” they said.
“One was up there with a short skirt, there were others that went up with sandals, the usual bad stuff that they shouldn’t be wearing in those conditions.
“And they were taken up by shuttle operators because only shuttle operators are able to access the crossing because of the fire.”
O’Brien told the Herald that DoC knows a small handful of shuttle companies took bookings on Saturday, “and we are looking to confirm exactly which operators these were.
She said in future they will not be making a concession like they did this weekend.
“We will consider the appropriate action against the operators who ignore the advisory. I have made it very clear to our transport operators today that we take these breaches seriously, and we will look to cancel concessions in the future when operators knowingly break the rules.”