I'm one of the many thousands lucky enough to have spent a week (as a 12 year old, and as an adult on a kayaking instructors course) at OPC in the TR National Park and have fond and not so fond memories of the harsh weather, walks, activities and consequences of my decisions such as:
- taking a short cut (funny how the apparently easy way always turns into the hard way) through the cutty grass on the way back to the buildings
- my chest seizing up being first jumping into the water and
- a horror tramp up from the springs across Tongariro in the drizzle and racing the fading light back down through the tussock, our group strung out over a mile behind me and the instructor who was setting a cracking and I thought unreasonable pace but who wasn't about to offer explanations until the eventual shelter of a camp site in the tree line. Slept well that night.
I learnt valuable lessons that have served me very well ever since about preparation, fitness, assumed limits, challenging yourself, that there are times when we can grow from being driven hard, sometimes without explanation in order to achieve, and that there is a difference between percieved and actual risk, and that I truely love chocolate and cashew nuts.
My picks for the outcomes of the review. The OPC will:
1 begin using the latest Met Service weather information
2 upgrade their communication gear for instructors to recieve the latest weather info
3 establish 'no go' limits for activities using objective measures of risk factors such as stream height and change over 30 minutes.
Just goes to show "the highest safety accreditations and .....operating at the highest standards" are no guarantee of safety.
Who wants a 100% guarantee of safety. Not me.
My kids will be going to the OPC and I'd just love to go again.
Been meaning to do their risk management course for a while now and I'll bet it will be world class.
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