Thompsons Track claims 4WDer

[cave weta]

death up Thompsons Track

Copied from infonews.co.nz http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=1&t=72&id=45929

BAY OF PLENTY

Police are considering what part alcohol played in a man's death at the centre of a multi-agency body recovery operation currently underway in the Kaimai Ranges this morning.

Sergeant Graham McGurk of the Matamata Police said the alarm was raised in the early hours of the morning.

"It appears a group of people in three four-wheel-drive vehicles have travelled up Thompson's Track, a 4wd access only track over the Kaimais between Te Aroha and Katikati, and made camp for the night near the summit.

"The group have been drinking and one member of the party has decided to drive his vehicle up to a lookout on the summit and unfortunately his vehicle has gone over the edge ending up about 100m down in thick bush."

Mr McGurk said the man's companions became concerned they hadn't seen him after about 15 minutes and walked up to the lookout where they saw that his vehicle had plunged over the edge.

"It's took a while for the alarm to be raised and this track is accessible only by 4wd. The first responders were the Katikati Volunteer Fire Brigade who had to walk to the crash site from the end of Thompson's Rd.

"The 31-year-old Auckland man's body remains trapped in the vehicle and we're currently exploring options on how to recover both him and the vehicle."

Mr McGurk said agencies involved at the scene include the Waikato Police Search and Rescue, a Tauranga based rescue helicopter, St John ambulance and the Fire service including a high angle rescue team from Hamilton.

The recovery operation is expected to take several hours.

Note to media, access to the site is limited to 4wd vehicles only, it is asked media not try and access the scene with vehicles without that capability less further recovery operations become necessary with the current operation expected to take several hours.

Additional update - The body of the deceased person has been recovered from the vehicle and is currently on the summit awaiting the funeral director. Witnesses are currently being spoken to and statements obtained. It is still unknown as to how long Police will lbe at the scene completing examinations.

[trailblazer]

i ws supposed to be up there today 4wdriving but had to work instead. Rip fellow 4x4er.

[camchain]

More bad news. I'm not much of a drinker these days but we had a beer (one) after the ride today and I was thinking I might do it more often. Fast beer buzz really finished a great day very nicely. What a bloody shame, another family and set of friends in misery.

[flyingcr250]

More bad news. I'm not much of a drinker these days but we had a beer (one) after the ride today and I was thinking I might do it more often. Fast beer buzz really finished a great day very nicely. What a bloody shame, another family and set of friends in misery.

i feel bad for the family of the man losing him so close to xmas,

it seems to me that this was a completely AVOIDABLE accident, surely the drink driving message doesn't just apply to the road.

never the less it is very sad to lose a family member under such tragic circumstances

[CookMySock]

The drink driving message has little to do with the road.. it's to do with pisshead redneck idiots thinking they are invincible. I doubt this is ever going to change... It will just move somewhere else where it's not regulated, like boating..

Steve

[cave weta]

Sadly- I see so much of it. and although I hate to generalise, I do see evidence that points squarely towards 4WDers.
Often when Im riding tracks in the Coromandel that are used by the 4WDers, I see places where they have become stuck. branches and pungas and rocks thrown into muddy holes and clay sprayed all up the trees behind where they were stuck. almost without exception- this scene is littered with several Woodstock 8% cans. -If they have a vehicle capable of carrying full ones in- why cant they carry the empties out!!??

These guys are so hard on the environment! and the other thing is obvious... towards the end of their 'adventure' they have consumed far more alchohol than is safe for someone to operate machinary in difficult conditions. Oh- then of course they must drive home down public roads too!

After 30 years of off road adventure riding I have become to think of us as mechanised extreme athletes- sort of Steve Gurneys on wheels.

but after 30 years of seeing how 4WDers treat the same areas I have lost all respect for them as responsible users of the environment.

Obviously, there are the good ones who only leave tyre tracks
- but whenever I see bottles, cigarette butts,woody cans, broken vehicle parts, Steel spikes sticking out of the ground that they have driven in to winch off, churned out log filled holes and massive erosion on banks where they go up and down repeatedly in the same place - Im always left with pictures in my head of Bogan -Joe Dirt- Trailer Park boys.

There ya go - Rant over! - just had to get it off my chest.. Of course, I do feel for this idiot's friends and family.

[paddy]

The drink driving message has little to do with the road.. it's to do with pisshead redneck idiots thinking they are invincible. I doubt this is ever going to change... It will just move somewhere else where it's not regulated, like boating..

Steve

I think you'll also find it's about professional businessmen/women. Doctors. Mothers. Fathers. Even the likes of police officers and other emergency workers...

[one fast tl1ooo]

Sadly- I see so much of it. and although I hate to generalise, I do see evidence that points to 4WDers.
Often when Im riding tracks in the Coromandel that are used by the 4WDers, I see places where they have become stuck. branches and pungas and rocks thrown into muddy holes and clay sprayed all up the trees behind where they were parked. almost without exception- this scene is littered with several Woodstock 8% cans. -If they have a vehicle capable of carrying full ones in- why cant they carry empties out!!?? These guys are so hard on the environment! and the other thing is obvious... towards the end of their 'adventure' they have consumed far more alchohol than is safe for someone to opperate machinary in difficult conditions. Oh- then of course they must drive home down public roads too!

After 30 years of off road adventure riding I have become to think of us as mechanised extreme athletes- sort of Steve Gurneys on wheels.

but after 30 years of seeing how 4WDers treat the same areas I have lost all respect for them as responsible users of the environment.

Obviously, there are the good ones who only leave tyre tracks
- but whenever I see bottles ,cigarette butts, cans, broken vehicle parts, Steel spikes sticking out of the ground that they have driven in to winch off, churned out log filled holes and massive erosion on banks where they go up and down repeatedly in the same place - Im always left with pictures in my head of Bogan -Joe Dirt- Trailer Park boys.

There ya go - Rant over! - just had to get it off my chest.. Now I can enjoy Christmas- Best wishes to all you environmentaly concious dirt bikers out there.:rolleyes:

HAY not all 4wders are like that... I have been 4wding all mt life, And our club DOES NOT LEAVE ANYTHING BEHIND.. what we take in we TAKE out.. So don't blame club's !!!!! I think you will find it is more a group of mate's out hav'in fun than a club.... ALL club's have rules, And NO drinkin on club run's is one of them..

[cave weta]

HAY not all 4wders are like that... I have been 4wding all mt life, And our club DOES NOT LEAVE ANYTHING BEHIND.. what we take in we TAKE out.. So don't blame club's !!!!! I think you will find it is more a group of mate's out hav'in fun than a club.... ALL club's have rules, And NO drinkin on club run's is one of them..

You see- thats the responsible ones- rules and responsibility makes them invisible once they are out of there- we get so many 'casual users' who just dont give a fuck!

EDIT: Its like they are out there to prove that they have climbed that mountain- drunk a dozen cans each and made it down again - and they leave their fuckin monuments up there! The mentality of these people is there for all to see.
its not my opinion - it is a fact!

[one fast tl1ooo]

These so called group's of mate's.. are helping to get all the tracks closed. (over nz) By doing what they are doing... As our club is 34 years old, And we have seen this time and time agian... The like of doc will only let you in to some place's by permit only.. So they go in and cut lock's as they don't give a fuck.. . So i will be surprised if the man who died was in a club at all..

[camchain]

The two main studid chemicals, testosterone and alcohol a bad combination. Add a shot of adrenaline and that's a pretty potent cocktail. These guys will no doubt be feeling sick over not grabbing the keys, but too late now. A saying comes to mind: "Death stalks the unwary."

Not good to hear of grog litter etc. being left up in the bush, I just can't understand the mentality of that. A big indicator of a careless attitude. It only takes a small group to give the rest a bad name though. But with that in mind, you'd think the rest would pick up the other's trash pronto. Not wanting to be a goody-2-shoes but I often end up picking up other peoples paddock trash when I do the quick walk around before leaving an event.

[cave weta]

The two main studid chemicals, testosterone and alcohol a bad combination. Add a shot of adrenaline and that's a pretty potent cocktail. These guys will no doubt be feeling sick over not grabbing the keys, but too late now. A saying comes to mind: "Death stalks the unwary."

Not good to hear of grog litter etc. being left up in the bush, I just can't understand the mentality of that. A big indicator of a careless attitude. It only takes a small group to give the rest a bad name though. But with that in mind, you'd think the rest would pick up the other's trash pronto. Not wanting to be a goody-2-shoes but I often end up picking up other peoples paddock trash when I do the quick walk around before leaving an event.

+1 from me! - Im the one who brings the bloody woodstock cans out so that people dont think its us!

[camchain]

+1 from me! - Im the one who brings the bloody woodstock cans out so that people dont think its us!
Never doubted it for a second Cee Dub. Hope not seen as trivial talking about trash on a thread about a very sad death, but hard to imagine being up in the bush, enjoying being up there and trashing the place as well. Carelessness is what it is, all round. In this case it ended up in someone paying the ultimate price.

[cave weta]

Never doubted it for a second Cee Dub. Hope not seen as trivial talking about trash on a thread about a very sad death, but hard to imagine being up in the bush, enjoying being up there and trashing the place as well. Carelessness is what it is, all round. In this case it ended up in someone paying the ultimate price.

Jeez where is my head at!- Yes I put up this thread myself shocked that we should have a death in our playground. But then when we got talking about the alchohol I went off into my little rant!

Please excuse me and believe that I am shocked and saddened that a family should lose someone this way so close to our festive season!

[trailblazer]

its not just 4wders. i was up thompsons track a few months ago and a group of dirt bikers went past us and when we caught up to them they were sitting on the side of the track having a couple of bourbons. Then we noticed that they had a back pack full of them. When we came back down we noticed they had left about 8 or 9 cans behind. Who took those out it wasn't the dirt bikers that left them there. So you can't just put all the blame on us 4wders.

[flyingcr250]

we should do a mission up there this weekend, if it isnt closed

[camchain]

You're alright CW. Being pissed off about what you've seen up there is a good thing, and I reckon your observations are very relevant too. Lack of respect for surroundings was surely a real factor in what happened.

Besides being a tragedy for families, this sort of news won't bode well for continued access and freedom to enjoy NZ backblocks, we can't just take it all for granted. I don't think there will be too many DOC reports floating around about what a great thing off-roading is. Protectors of snails & moss would probably be glad to see all of us out of there.

Hmmm bourbon must be the devil's grog if it affects angelic dirt bikers badly as well. What the hell is wrong with some people?

[trailblazer]

we have also come across a bit of a hut a few hunters had made up there and had left a whole heap of piss cans and food cans behind aswell as a heap of other rubbish so i guess it is all waiks of life that has irresponsible tendancies. It makes me sick and we usually leave with someone elses rubbish if we come accross it. On the positive note i cn't wait till i can ride a dirt bike up there aswell.

[cave weta]

its not just 4wders. i was up thompsons track a few months ago and a group of dirt bikers went past us and when we caught up to them they were sitting on the side of the track having a couple of bourbons. Then we noticed that they had a back pack full of them. When we came back down we noticed they had left about 8 or 9 cans behind. Who took those out it wasn't the dirt bikers that left them there. So you can't just put all the blame on us 4wders.

Thats a nice little story... I see what you did swapping over the bad guys for the good guys in my story- very clever that!

[trailblazer]

it wasn't about who was good or the bad guys i was just saying don't tar all 4wders with the same with the same brush. Not all of us leave our rubbish behind drink drive while on a trip or dig great big holes.

[Danger]

Its not just 4WD's its people and their rubbish and a general lack of respect. Should see the rubbish thats left behind in our local park by the touch rugby players at this time or year, and I picked up a small bag of glass from a small beach on a off shore island earlier this year left behind by boaties I guess, and our local sandspit that has endangered Dotterels nesting on it at this time of year has discarded fireworks littering the place after some clowns Guy Fawkes celebrations. So its people in general that have a lack of respect for the environment, whether or not they are in 4WD's or on bikes it doesn't really matter.