The group had time to clamber onto a ledge (also described as a crevasse). –The flood didn’t descend as a raging wall. This was roughly 30 times its normal flow volume (perhaps triple the water height, with much more current speed). –The water came up fast, rising from 0.5 cubic meters per second at 3 p.m., to 18 cmps by 3:30. It was an up and back trip, unsual for canyoneering adventures. –It only took an hour for the group to walk a road to the river, go upstream around the dam, and get well into the slot canyon. –The Mangatepopo group didn’t leave until after lunch, presumably noon or 1 p.m. At 8:29am, Metservice issued an updated bulletin warning of thunderstorms, rising rivers and flooding. New Zealanders also have access to excellent satellite and weather radar imagery. –The weather service Metservice faxed a daily subscription weather report to the OPC at 6:15 am, mentioning intermittent showers and incoming weather, but not ‘thunderstorms.’ The storm front had been forecast for days. All students were clad in wetsuits, helmets and lifejackets.ĭetails of the incident are still emerging, but the basic timeline as reported by New Zealand and Australian media run thus: ![]() Only one rappel is needed (over the dam), but most of the gorge above requires boulder-hopping, pool jumping, and swimming while pulling oneself along the cliff walls via cables and handholds. It’s a technically straightforward canyon. This eventually opens up just above a hydroelectric diversion dam. Tongariro and plunges steeply to enter a narrow, boulder choked slot canyon. The Mangatepopo is a short, 15km-long alpine river that begins in high tundra bowls on Mt. Kiwi opinions generally fall into four categories: devout Christians who say it’s God’s will people offering only condolences and cautioning against judgement challenge fans who worry that socialist nannyism will eliminate adventure from our lives and yet others – many of them area locals, outfitters, and private adventurers – who express surprise that the group was in any canyon at all when a major, drought-breaking rainstorm had been forecast for days. The accident has jarred this close-knit island nation of 4.5 million people. Four students and the OPC guide survived. They were being guided by the Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC), located less than a kilometer from the gorge. Also dead is their college teacher, 29-year-old Tony McClean. Six of the dead were students, all 14-16 years of age. New Zealand is currently in mourning for seven canyoneers from Elim Christian College (high school) who were killed when a flash flood swept their 12-person group down the steep, bouldery Mangatepopo River last Tuesday afternoon (April 15th). Since then, floodwaters have killed six others in the park, most recently a man drowned in 2014, she said.Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! This week’s deaths marked the greatest loss of life in Zion’s history, surpassing a 1963 tragedy in which five people were killed by flash flooding in the Virgin River Narrows, Purcell said. Nearly an inch of rain fell on Zion in less than an hour on Monday, swelling the North Fork of the Virgin River, which Keyhole Canyon drains into through two tributary creeks, from 55 to 2,600 cubic feet of water per second.įlash-flood fatalities are rare in Zion, which is visited by more than 3 million people a year. One canceled and the other, a group of three, started before the seven-member team but passed them and made it out safely, she said. Keyhole Canyon permits were issued that day to two other groups, Purcell said. The National Weather Service did issue such an advisory that day but only after the seven canyoneers had already set out on their venture, she said. ![]() Purcell said park rangers would only decline to issue a permit in the event that an official flash flood warning was posted.
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