MEDIA RELEASE: from the Mountain Safety Council on behalf of the Outdoors Intentions Steering Committee

Going tramping or Camping this Summer?

Tell someone your plans via Outdoors Intentions and it may save your life

New Zealand’s outdoors is a great place to be and for the vast majority it’s an enjoyable and safe experience. However many unfortunate incidents occur and often they involve people who underestimate the planning, preparation and sometimes the skills required for the outdoors activity they are undertaking.

In a joint initiative aimed at reducing the number of search and rescue incidents, leading outdoor safety organisations, including land-orientated search and rescue agencies, are urging both visitors to New Zealand and residents to get familiar with New Zealand’s Outdoor Safety Code and complete the Outdoors Intentions process.

Rule number two of the Outdoor Safety Code is: ‘Tell someone’. At its most basic level that means if you are going tramping or hunting or engaging in other land-based outdoors activity, you should tell someone who is not on your trip your plans. You should also give them a date and time at which they should raise the alarm if you haven’t returned safely.

“One of the core principles of going into the outdoors is that safety is your responsibility,” says Mountain Safety Council CEO, Darryl Carpenter.

“We believe that by encouraging people to ‘plan your trip’ combined with providing an accessible and user-friendly Outdoors Intentions process, means that taking responsibility is now much easier,” added Mr Carpenter.

This idea is nothing new and for many years, the Mountain Safety Council provided a pink ‘Backcountry Intentions’ form which could be left with family or friends and even at some DOC visitor centres. However, in light of progress in outdoor safety preventative messaging and technology, this form has been phased out and replaced with a refreshed Outdoors Intentions process which is far more accessible for everyone.

While the essence of the Outdoors Intentions process hasn’t changed, the mechanisms by which you can now ‘tell someone’ have increased and improved to include:

• an online form which users complete and send to a friend or family member
• a form which can be downloaded and printed or completed electronically
• links to approved external online providers

“Spending a few minutes completing a form (whether you choose to do it online or not) could be life saving. Providing detailed and quality information such as where you are going, where you are planning to stay, who is with you and what equipment you are carrying is invaluable to search and rescue teams and can vastly improve your chances of being found and rescued quickly,” says NZ Search and Rescue’s Secretariat Manager Duncan Ferner.

“If you make sure you complete the Outdoors Intentions process each and every time you go out, there is far better chance of getting to you quickly, should the alert be raised. It is simple, the better prepared you are the better your chances says Mr Ferner.

To find out more about AdventureSmart and Outdoors Intentions and how you can plan and prepare for your outdoors activity, please visit www.adventuresmart.org.nz

ENDS: 498 Words
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes to Editor:

The Outdoors Intentions process is for land based outdoors activities only. There are separate systems in place for boating and air activities.

AdventureSmart, the Safety Codes and the Outdoors Intentions Process for land-based recreational activities are all part of the New Zealand Visitor Risk Management Programme (VRM) which is a collaborative project funded primarily by New Zealand Search and Rescue (NZSAR) and project managed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council.

The VRM programme consists of a number of projects designed to encourage outdoors participants to ‘get ready and get outdoors’ but to take responsibility for their own safety by planning and preparing well in a bid to reduce the number of search and rescue incidents.

© Scoop Media