A Mid-Winter Swim?

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A MID-WINTER SWIM? 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night and the phone rings. I crawl slowly out of bed and answer it. Brian is looking for a search team for a most uninviting task = to search the upper - Ruamahanga gorge. Normally it wouldn't be bad but this is midwinter, with two feet of snow on the tops. Two and a half hours and five phone calls later we have a team fully equipped with wetsuits ready to report to the Police Station early in the morning. The usual amount of confusion reigns at the Police Station where we assemble. Departing by Police bus we arrive, in even greater confusion, at Levin. After three hours sitting in the sun waiting for the Iroquois to arrive, it is finally decided to utilize Capital Helicopter's Jetranger. Another delay as the Jetranger flies up from Wellington then at about 1.30 p.m. we fly onto the top of Pukematawai as the second team into the field. We plod slowly down and then up to Arete in the deep snow following the Massey Alpine Club team. Leaving the other team we head off into the mist and snow to reach the Twin's Saddle just. asthe mist begins to lift. After a quick look around for any obvious prints we plunge off down through the show and leatherwood into the head of the Ruamahanga. Half'an hours travel brings us clear of the snow and we stop to remove our longs. We travel down river via terraces and riverbed to cover as much ground as possible. Occasionally there are still pcols in the river which are still covered with a sheet.of ice, Eventually, at about 5 p.m., after an involuntary swia (without-wetsutt) and a sidle à scungy past a waterfall we stopped at a forks. Aquidk recee downstream reveals the first of the deep pools which-we have to swim. A brief look up the side creek revealsfa spot where we. camp in the fading light on-asmall terrace a few feet above the creek. a The long winter night passes slowly but not too uncomfortably then, as dawn breaks, wer eat breakfast and begin the energetic task of donning our wetsuits. Richard has a surf suit but the rest of us have full "wetsuits.

As we travel downstream the constriction of the wetsuits makes us use twice as much energy for each task and Gerry also complains he is overheating. The first of the pools soon fix this problem and the shock of the cold water is enough to take our breath away. An hour or So later, as we pass Dundas Creek the Iroquois beats its way overhead. We stop and gaze at the big bird then move on. Another two hours later the narrow slit gorge of Chamberlain Creek reveals itself and just downstream we stop in the weak sun for the first radio sked of the day. Levin base has nothing So before Richard turns blue with cold we move off down towards the last few'pools. An hour later with all fifteen pools swum the river begins to open out until we reach the flats above Ruapai forks. We gleefully pull each others wetsuits off and call up on the radio to find that the search is heading away from us. Definite signs have been found in the Park River. Twenty minutes later Search Headquarters advise all teams that the missing party has been picked up by Iroquois and that we must proceed to our nearest chopper pad. Two hours later the Iroquois touches down to pick us up and ten minutes later drops in Levin. After further delays and a quick debrief the bus heads southwards and homewards. The team was Kevin Thompson, Tony Gazley, Richard Struthers and Gerry Kennedy.